Lippincott lit up the room with his zest of life

By JEFF OLIVER
MVI Sports
I will never forget the first time I met Herbie Lippincott.
I was at Memorial Stadium in Monessen talking with middle school football coaches and I saw this little kid with the most beautiful smile in the dressing room. I asked the coaches who is that kid with the reddish hair and big smile and I was told if I liked his smile, wait until I see him play football.
I watched Lippincott play football and baseball at Monessen and he was tremendous at both sports. But his bubbly, effervescent personality and smile always overshadowed his athletic ability.
I developed a great relationship with the guy behind that smile that never ended until I was stunned to hear of his passing Monday at the too young age of 57.
I would venture to say anyone who knows Lippincott was probably as shocked as me to hear of his passing because there just aren’t many people who had the zest of life that he shared.
And even at his age, he was still a physical specimen.
He lit up every room, every dugout, and every area he ever held court in.
I say “held court” because no matter what he did, he never did it in a quiet fashion. It just wasn’t his style.
I coached him in the old Mon Valley Collegiate Baseball League and I’ll never forget his chatter from his spot in center field.
Chris Murdock was our ace pitcher and when he was on the mound, other fielders were chattering things like “C’mon Chris, C’mon Doc.”
Not Herbie. He was out there chanting, “Hit him in the head, Chris. Hit him in the head.” He meant no malice; he just wanted to give the batter something to think about other than Murdock’s excellent stuff.
Then there was the game we decided to let him pitch. Herbie was worth the price of admission.
As he took signals from the catcher, he would stand on the rubber and smile into home plate.
And if he struck the batter out, he would laugh out loud. He would cover his mouth with his glove, but that didn’t matter.
That was Herbie. He enjoyed everything he did.

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