Lou Frank, longtime teacher and popular three-sport coach at Cherry Hill High School East, has died at 87

Lou Frank, 87, formerly of Cherry Hill, longtime physical education teacher and popular three-sport coach at Cherry Hill High School East, mentor, and volunteer, died Sunday, July 14, of age-associated decline at Masonic Village in Elizabethtown, Pa.

Mr. Frank earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education at Temple University in 1958 and spent the next 43 years teaching students at now-defunct Heritage Junior High School and Cherry Hill East, and coaching boys’ gymnastics, track, and wrestling teams at the high school. Energetic and gregarious, empathetic and available, he was more than just a teacher and coach to many, and one of his former students said in an online tribute that he “genuinely cared for the students’ well-being.”

Other students and colleagues called Mr. Frank “a great man” and “a fine, fine teacher,” and a younger gym teacher he mentored at Heritage praised his “expertise, patience, and positive approach to everything.” Mr. Frank told the Courier-Post in 1988 that he asked only one thing of everyone he taught or coached. “Do the best they can every time out.”

He routinely checked report cards to make sure his athletes were winning in class, too, and all of his students were welcomed at his home. “Whole teams would ring the doorbell unplanned but with an open invitation to play pool and eat ridiculous amounts of food,” his family said in a tribute.

He started a boys’ gymnastics team in the 1960s at Heritage and became coach of the high school team in 1977. His teams went on to win five straight South Jersey League Southern Division championships in the late 1980s, and the 1990 team was the first from South Jersey to win a state championship.

He broke his nose twice, he told the Courier-Post in 1982, by catching gymnasts who missed their marks, and he coached so long that he worked with the sons of athletes he had coached decades before. “Coach Frank supports everyone who comes out for the team,” gymnast Nick DiProspero told the Courier-Post in 1994. “He wants everybody to try. He used to say you never know what you can do until you try.”

He took charge of the boys’ track team in 1986 and led the 1988 team to its first Olympic Conference American Division championship in 15 years. Dozens of students tried out for his teams, and he told the Courier-Post when he was named track coach of the week in June 1988: “There is a lot of camaraderie on our team.”

An assistant wrestling coach at East in the 1980s, he took over in 1989 and was so influential that the booster club created the annual Lou Frank Award for its outstanding wrestler. He reluctantly retired in 2001 and was inducted into the Cherry Hill East Athletic Hall Of Fame in 2023.

Mr. Frank also taught swimming, martial arts, and self-defense. His favorite mottos were that there are no mistakes, only learning opportunities, and there are no bad kids, only tough situations.

“The most important thing is for the kids to be able to compete,” he told the Courier-Post in 1991. “The focus and determination that is required [in sports] is great for them. It can even lead to their studies.”

Louis Joseph Frank was born June 5, 1937, in Philadelphia. He grew up with his younger brother, Phil, and graduated from South Philadelphia High School.

He was a gymnast, swimmer, and lifeguard as a young man. He turned the family basement into a darkroom because he was interested in photography, and he worked on both his high school and college newspapers.

He lived two blocks from Lois Grobman in South Philly, and they met as teenagers and married in 1959. They had daughters Stacie and Beth, and lived in Pennsauken and Cherry Hill until moving two years ago to Elizabethtown.

He vacationed with his family in Margate, worked many part-time jobs on the side, and volunteered with youth wrestlers after he retired. He collected coins and stamps, and liked to play chess, checkers, and cards. He was a whiz at yo-yo tricks and told memorable bedtime stories to his daughters and granddaughters.

He belonged to the Masons for decades and was codirector of a seven-week summer day camp in the 1970s. “He was a mensch,” said his daughter Beth. “He loved what he did. He was selfless, and he was so much fun.”

In addition to his wife, daughters, and brother, Mr. Frank is survived by three granddaughters and other relatives.

Services were held on July 21.

Donations in his name may be made to Maccabi USA, 1511 Walnut St., Suite 401, Philadelphia, Pa. 19102.