A coach's memory, Bob Reade will tell you, tends to dismiss the losses.

But even a coach with as many wins as the former Augustana and Geneseo football legend can't forget a classic 3-0 loss in the second round of the 1974 Class 3A playoffs to Paul Unruh's West Chicago Wildcats.

"It was a tremendous football game," Reade said of a contest that also became the start of a tremendous relationship.

"Outstanding, a perfect gentleman," Reade said Tuesday of his first and lasting impression of Unruh, who coached those '74 Wildcats to a state title and then went on to coach at Moline High School and as an assistant under Reade at Augustana.

Funeral services for Unruh, who died Friday after a battle with Parkinson's disease, are at 11 a.m. today at Riverside United Methodist Church in Moline.

Unruh, 72, was head coach at Moline from 1977 through 1984, where his teams won Western Big Six Conference titles and advanced to the Illinois playoffs in 1977 and 1979.

Unruh was 43-32 at Moline before "retiring" to the Augustana sidelines, where he spent 14 years working for Reade and then Tom Schmulbach.

"Character, knowledge, the ability to work hard," Reade said in listing Unruh's chief attributes as a coach. "He was loyal to the players more than anything else. He knew the way he wanted to play the game, and he taught it very well."

Don Davis, who coached offensive lines opposite Unruh's defensive lines at Augustana, described Unruh as a football coach's football coach.

"He had a real soft, low-key style, but he had a real clear way of presenting and teaching and getting to the kids," Davis said. "He wasn't a growler or a yeller. He just taught and coached."

Unruh continued to teach physical education at Moline High until 1993.

"I taught beside him, and he was just a great guy," said current Maroons athletic director Todd Rosenthal. "What a great man to be around. Just a mild, great gentleman."

Unruh is survived by his wife of 52 years, Marlys, and by four sons, two of whom followed him into prep football coaching.

Tom Unruh coached at Streamwood and Erie. Jim Unruh continues to coach at Carthage Illini West, where his teams have won four state championships and appeared in eight state title games.