HERBERT J. MOLS
by Mary Mols Siedman
Herb was born in 1915 on Best Street in Buffalo, New York, to Dutch-German immigrants. His father, Joseph P. Mols was the North American turnverein (all-round gymnast) champion in 1905. Dr. Mols was a popular and respected Naturopathic doctor whose patients included many of the early Buffalo industrialists who were seeking a healthy life outside the smoke-stacked urban environment they were creating along Lake Erie and the Niagara River. Herb was the eldest son in a family of highly accomplished children. His sister Edith was a groundbreaking female physician wh graduated from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) in 1930. His youngest brother Robert W. Mols, a gifted flutist and composer, earned his doctorate in music from the Eastman School of Music, and in 1953, he and two others started the music department at the University of Buffalo, where he taught composition and theory. He also created the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra and the Cheektowaga Symphony Orchestra.
Herb attended Fosdick-Masten High School where he competed in swimming, x-country, track and basketball; and where his love of sports was born. His other love, forestry and the environment, had its origin in many places: One, planting thousands of trees on his parents’ 14 acres in Eden, New York – a health retreat Dr. Mols created to encourage healthy exercise, fresh air and sun for his patients. In Eden, south of Buffalo, his mother Paula, an avid bird watcher, created a massive rock garden. Another strong impression was felt during a summer-long trip as a teenager to the wild west of the 1930’s in a model-A car with his father and brother Charles. It was on this trip that Herb was awestruck by the environs of the national parks, particularly Bryce Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite and other sites of natural beauty.
Herb was a prodigious and accomplished student who graduated early from high school at the age of 16. During his trip west he made a point of visiting Stanford in Palo Alto. However, his parents thought that one more year in high school might be advantageous, and so he lived with his sister Edith, a pediatrician practicing in Florida and attended a post-grad year at Florida High School in Tallahassee before beginning college at Cornell.
During his four years at Cornell, Herb participated in football, basketball, and baseball.
He gained an undergraduate degree in Agriculture and a Master’s degree in Forestry; and first prize in the Pack Essay. It was at the corner of Tioga and W. Court Street that he spotted Ithaca High School graduate Ruth McGordon Cass. Ruth was a perfect fit for Herb. She was captain of the Ithaca High School varsity girls basketball team and also Athletic Editor of the 1933 Ithaca High School Annual. They had many shared interests and married in 1936. They honeymooned at the Yale bowl in New Haven.
Herb joined the forest service and assisted in the aftermath of the Great Hurricane of 1938 in New England. They made their home in Vermont with daughters, Sandy and Brenda. During WWII, Herb was stationed at St. Simon’s Island Naval Air Station, Georgia, before being deployed in the Pacific and it was there as an instructor at the Naval Radar Training Center, that he and John Wooden formed the softball and basketball programs for the men at the navy base. Herb served in the Pacific Campaign in Guadacanal and Palau as a radar technician on the USS McKinley and the USS Appalachian. He was awarded two Bronze Stars by the Navy.
It was after the war, with the addition of a baby son Gary, that he starting discussing options with a Navy buddy which led to the proposition of a teaching position at a progressive private school in Snyder, the Park School of Buffalo. Herb met with the charismatic headmaster of the school whose philosophy meshed with his. With his Cornell training in the sciences, Herb found himself as head science teacher, providing students with an education in Chemistry, Biology and Physics. After just a short time, Herb saw the need for the inception of a sports program that would provide exercise and competition for all the students of the school, boys and girls alike. Herb and Ruth bought a home on Chateau Terrace in Snyder just next to Park and their family grew with three more children, Susan, David and Mary.
On the 52-acre campus, there was plenty of room to create football, baseball and soccer fields for the boys; and soccer, field hockey and softball fields for the girls. Sports became a mandatory program for all students offered from 3pm-5pm. Students who would not normally be drawn to sports felt welcomed and were supported by players who wanted them to improve for the good of the team. A key to HJM philosophy is to involve as many students of varying talents as possible for the common experience, and the benefits of exercise and team work. He never just concentrated on the athletes with the most natural talent.
It was in the 1950’s that Herb became affiliated with the Niagara Association of the Amateur Athletic Union (A.A.U.). He started by participating as an official in track and swim meets, and soon was helping as an administrator and organizer of swimming, track, basketball, boxing and gymnastics. He had a swimming pool built at the Park school (60’ in length) and in 1953 he hosted the first Town of Amherst swim meets there in the summers until 1960. Due to the limited size of the pool, he was instrumental in the creation of the Amherst Recreation Center. It was also at this time that Herb branched out nationally and was elected to the National A.A.U. Committees of Track and Field, and Basketball. In January, 1957, Herb was re-elected as Chairman of the Amherst Recreation Committee where he characteristically conceived not only youth recreation but rather “the formation of a recreation program for…residents of all ages…. Everything from marble shooting tournaments to shuffleboard and from ice skating to swimming.” In 1955, Herb co-founded the Connie Mack Little League in Snyder with local baseball legend Omar Lane. The league became so successful, that their All-Star team made it to the New York State Little League final in 1958, just one victory short of making it to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.. He also co-founded the Amherst Junior Football League. Sons Gary and David along with hundreds of other local boys benefited from this quality program meant to provide the sport of football to boys under the age of 14.
As Athletic Director of Park School, Herb saw that his small school, boasting a 6-man football team, would have to find similar-sized schools to participate with. Therefore, he created the C.U.P.S. league, the Conference of Upstate Private Schools. His Park School teams of boys and girls traveled weekly to Rochester, Syracuse and Pebble Hill to enjoy the experience of competing with opponents from other schools. These excursions were beneficial to the students in ways other than the physical pursuits. They now had the additional experience of travel and camaraderie. Once a year, there was an overnight visit with students from other schools boarding with Park families and sharing the Olympic spirit of integrating with others and visiting new places.
After Herb’s two-year stint as President of the Niagara A.A.U., he became Secretary of the Niagara A.A.U. Soon the two desks in the family dining room (covered with sign up sheets and reports) were transferred to the front sun porch and served thereafter as the headquarters for the Niagara AAU. Athletes from all over the Buffalo area remember traveling out to Chateau Terrace to pick up their registration cards for 50 cents, which entitled them to participate in every sport under the AAU umbrella. He continued to organize and officiate at Buffalo swim meets, track meets (Olympic Development) and distance running (Skyline, turkey trot), decathlons, and basketball. There really wasn’t anyone more prominent and knowledgeable in Western New York’s A.A.U. scene than Herb at that time.
Herb was appointed to the US Olympic Men's Basketball Committee in the early 60’s, and in the summer of 1963, he was asked by the National A.A.U. Basketball Committee to travel with a national basketball team to South America on a goodwill tour sponsored by the State Department. This trip, during the cold war, influenced his idea of interrelating sports with exposure to other cultures which he felt could help make the world a better place.
After the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, it was apparent to the U.S. Olympic Basketball Committee that in order to stay competitive with international teams, an Olympic development program should be instituted so that the amateur players, primarily from college, would have more familiarity with each other prior to the 1972 games in Munich. So in 1970, the Committee set up a Basketball Goodwill Tour of Russia and Eastern Europe. They held a selection and training camp at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Herb was charged with organizing the camp, securing competent volunteers as well as selecting which players and coaches would represent the US.
The following spring, Herb hosted a visiting Russian basketball team to the Buffalo area and games were played versus U.S. All-Stars at the Buffalo Aud. That summer, Herb Managed the US team at the 1971 Pan Am Games Cali, Columbia, When he returned, he appointed the travelling (assistant) manager of the U.S. Olympic Basketball team. In Munich, Herb and Ruth were strongly impressed by the pageantry of the opening ceremonies and the goodwill exchanged at the Olympic Village. This feeling of goodwill contrasted with the horror of witnessing armed terrorists climbing the walls of the Olympic Village dormitories directly across from their rooms. In spite of the atrocities committed at the Munich airport, it was decided to continue with the games.
The gold medal game between the United States and the Soviet Union is probably the most famous and controversial in Olympic history. It appeared the U.S. team had won until 3 seconds were added to the clock. After the Americans won the game again, the head of the IOC basketball committee (with no authority) came onto the court and had the clock set back to again add 3 more seconds. This time, due to confusion and misunderstandings (language), the Russians hit a basket to win the game. The U.S. team gathered in the locker room and decided not to accept the silver medals. Herb wrote and submitted the official United States Protest of the game. In the HBO film “3 Seconds to Gold” memorializing this event, many of the still photos were taken by HJM. As a footnote, in the year following the Olympic games, Herb invited the Russian team to the United States for a reciprocal goodwill tour to the one in 1970, and scheduled several games in Buffalo and Niagara Falls for local fans. He developed such a friendly relationship with the Russian team that they were invited two more times to play at Niagara University and the Buffalo Aud in 1974 and 1975. Herb also served as manager of the United States team at the Mundo Basketball (World Basketball) tournament in Puerto Rico in 1974.
In 1974, the Niagara AAU offered Herb a full-time position as Executive Director, and new headquarters were established on Harlem Road in Amherst. He continued to serve as unofficial ambassador inviting Russian basketball teams to play local “all-star” teams at the Buffalo Aud and Niagara University, as well as serving as Manager of the U.S. Basketball team which participated in the World Basketball Championships in Puerto Rico in 1974. From his Olympic experience and other international exchanges, Herb was inspired by the concept of nations coming together for a shared purpose. With his network of connections in the amateur sports world of Western New York, he saw an opportunity for the state to create its own “Olympics.” In the fall of 1977, he met with officials of the other AAU regions to discuss a similar program in New York, and is considered by many to be the Father of the Empire State Games. From his AAU office, using his organizing and administrating skills, he took steps to ensure the venue at Syracuse University, which provided the facilities and accommodations for the first Empire State Games. Not surprisingly, Herb served as head of the Western New York delegation.
After seven successful years at Syracuse, Herb had an idea: Bring the games to Buffalo! He met with and encouraged officials at the University of Buffalo to provide their facilities and found sponsors to give the financial support necessary to bring the games to Buffalo. The first year was a resounding success. Local businesses were eternally grateful for the added business and revenue in a recession-hit town. The following year, 1986, everything fell into place for a return to the Buffalo venue. Herb was at his apex. As the extremely successful games concluded, his co-commissioners asked Herb if he would do the honor of putting out the “eternal flame” for the closing ceremonies scheduled for the following day. Herb received the news with pride and humility. At the UB cafeteria, after midnight, Herb was sitting at a table surrounded by friends and colleagues when he suffered a massive heart attack and died. His family, in his stead, extinguished the flame on the following day. A procession of uniformed athletes representing all the New York regions led the funeral on foot down Main Street. Many spoke at the funeral of his undying love of sport, his influence on so many students and athletes of all ages, and of his immense accomplishments.
The accomplishments and changes that Herb Mols made to the sports landscape in Western New York are unparalleled and yet the story is not complete without describing who Herb Mols was as a man, and what he meant to those whom he mentored. Since his death there has been an outpouring of sentiment toward a man who left an indelible mark on the lives of students and young people. Many of the students venerated Herb, who developed his own brand of coaching that bridged the act of participating in team sports with the task of digging deep into your personal reserve and giving it all you have. He taught athletes to be selfless. He asked that everyone give it a try. Herb also had the ability to “leave the game on the field,” and didn’t bring the game home. He was an advisor and a role model. He felt pride in the Park School of Buffalo while he was there and exhibited great spirit and devotion to the school.
He felt the same way about the ideal of amateur athletics. He made countless connections with many different people in different sports. He was fair-minded; giving as much attention to the synchronized swimmers as the judo or distance runners. He treated the coaches of competing schools as colleagues. Attached are testimonials from two former students who have poignantly recounted what he has meant in their lives. Many of his former students have coached for their childrens’ teams and adopted the same basic plays Herb installed at Park.
Herbert Joseph Mols passed away in 1986 and it is a tribute to his memory and a mark of respect that now, after twenty-five years, his admission into the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame will provide the recognition he so richly deserves.
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fn. Personal tragedy hit in 1979 when his daughter Brenda was diagnosed with brain cancer and died in Feb. 1980 at the age of forty. One and a half years later, his beloved wife of forty-five years Ruth passed away.
His posthumous recognitions include:
Herbert Joseph Mols - Defensive Player of the Tournament Annual Award, acknowledging his many years of service as Chairman, Executive Secretary and tournament host of AAU Men’s Basketball. “He served as President and perpetual Secretary of the Niagara Association of the AAU; as the manager of the United States team that participated in the 1971 Pan Am games; as manager of the 1972 United States Olympic Team and the 1974 team that participated in the World Championships. He was a long-standing member of the AAU Men’s Basketball Committee and was also considered the ‘father of the Empire State Games.’ The award is presented to a participant in the AAU National Men’s Championship voted as the best defensive player.”
“Athletic Award”- Amherst Chamber of Commerce, Given in Cherished Memory and presented in honor of a Lifelong Commitment to Amateur Athletics Sept 30, 1986.
Park School of Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, first inductee into the Park School Sports Hall of Fame, June, 1996.
Niagara Track & Field Hall of Fame - Inducted in 1998. “September 13, 1998, marked an important and historic day in this area for Athletics. On this day we recognized the significance of Herbert J. Mols’ influence and his impact on the sport in the Niagara Association. This honor is well deserved and long overdue.” Marc Grosso
He is also being honored by the Park School of Buffalo at their centennial celebration in 2012.
