COLLEGE: NCAA national title winning coach Mel Lorback dies at age 76

• by Soccer America , May 27, 2004

Melvin Lorback, who coached West Chester University from 1957 to 1991, died at 76 of leukemia. Lorback guided a West Chester squad that included former Indiana University coach Jerry Yeagley to the 1961 national title.

''Coach Lorback was instrumental in my success as a coach,'' said Yeagley, who started IU's program and won six national titles with the Hoosiers. ''The instructions and lessons I learned playing for him were important in shaping my future. He truly taught me what it means to be a champion.''

Lorback helped develop coaching education programs for the U.S. Soccer Federation and served as chairman of the NSCAA coaching and teaching committee for 15 years and NSCAA president in 1974.

Lorback was born in Rochester, N.Y., on Aug. 31, 1927 and grew up in Brockport, N.Y.