Another football coach has realized a dream at his alma mater. Paul Maturi ’81 began his climb through the football ranks at Forest Meadow Junior High and progressed to Lake Highlands High School.

Maturi played in college at Harding University, and after graduation, he coached for the university as a graduate assistant. Harding Academy in Tennessee lured him away, and he coached there for three years until the big call came from Coach Zoffuto and Coach Higgins. LH needed him, and Maturi’s dream of coaching at LH became a reality.

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He met his wife, Jana Frantz ’83, in high school when he played football with her brother Brett ’79. But it wasn’t until Maturi and Jana were both in college at Harding that they began dating. They have two daughters, Haley who is four and Molly who is just a few months old.

Brett, the matchmaker for Paul and Jana, lives in Arkansas with his three children. He is a claim adjuster for Wal-Mart.

Kelly Frantz ’76, Brett’s and Jana’s brother, lives in Albuquerque, N.M., and works as a hospital administrator. He is married and has three children. Their sister, Nikki ’75, lives in Lake Highlands and works as a legal secretary. She is married and has three children.

You may ask what a grandfather with this many grandchildren does to keep his sanity. Well, many of you have probably seen Ernie Frantz on national television.

He throws hankies in the air and is booed and hissed by millions. He is a professional football referee. Look for him the next time you watch a pro game – his uniform number is 111.

Dirty Dining

It’s not Dirty Dancing that had Todd Haddock ’83 and wife Biz Davis Haddock ’84 in the spotlight, but rather Dirty Dining.

I mentioned in last month’s column a little about Biz. She and Todd are on the front of Biz’s mom’s cookbook, Dirty Dining. All sorts of wild things ran through my mind when I heard the title, but the real story is that this recipe book not only has great cooking ideas, but great ideas for preparing an entire romantic evening.

It was just such a brainstorm that caused talk show host Rolonda to invite Todd and Biz to New York so they could talk about the book on her nationally syndicated show.

From the Golf Course to the Race Track

Between making guest appearances and posing for cover shots, you can find Todd Nasscar racing – in which he has logged more than 1,000 hours – golfing or hunting.

Nasscar says that when he graduated from LH and was about to enter college, his brother convinced him to work for Interstate Battery Systems of America instead. Nasscar says that because he liked to play around, college probably wasn’t the best choice.

He was right, because he’s doing well, which he says is going to be a surprise to his former LH teachers. Today, he manages the Southeast Region for Interstate Battery. His territory includes Florida, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, so he finds plenty of opportunities to play golf.

Nasscar also was excited to report that he and his wife are expecting a baby in September.