They honored one of the Metro area’s 10 teams to have won a state football championship Friday night when the 1982 LaSalle squad was feted during Xavier’s home game.

The ceremonies got me to wondering about the other coaches who have led Metro teams to state titles.

Tom Kopatich was the LaSalle coach then. He took the Lancers to back-to-back Class 2A championships, compiling records of 10-2 in 1982 and 12-0 in 1983. Kopatich now is an administrator at Ottumwa High School after a long and decorated coaching career.

Xavier is the only Metro school to win a state title in the last 22 years, that coming in Class 4A in 2006. Duane Schulte was the coach then, as he is now.

Despite the fact the Metro has had a dearth of state championships, there is still one former coach besides Schulte who is active on the sidelines.

Greg Purnell coached Linn-Mar to playoff crowns in 1985, ’89 and ’90, and scored two other state runner-up finishes. Purnell now is the head football coach and Director of Annual Funds at St. Francis in Wheaton, Ill.

Purnell’s squad won a Class 5A Illinois state title in 2008 and the Spartans currently are 3-1 this season, losing Friday night to the No.10-ranked team in Lombard Montini, 28-7.

The other Metro state championship coaches?

Jack Fisk and Tom Good, two of the best this area’s ever had to offer, both are deceased. Fisk took the 1972 Jefferson team to the first large-school playoff title. Good directed Regis to a state title in 1978.

Marion’s lone state championship came in 1980 under Bob Thurness. Many in Marion will recall that memorable run, as the Indians capped a 12-0 campaign with a 12-6 victory over Atlantic in the UNI-Dome for the Class 3A crown.

They’ll have to take Thurness away from football kicking and screaming. He went on to coach Coe College with distinction and now is the commentator on Kohawk radio broadcasts on KMJM.

One of the more interesting stories of a Metro state championship alum is that of John Oertel, who guided Prairie to the top of 3A in 1981. Three years after that, Oertel moved to North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City and embarked on a long career coaching women’s basketball. Oertel retired at the end of the 2010-11 season after 28 years and 428 victories.

I have had the privilege of being on the sidelines for that 1972 Jefferson state title and covering the other nine teams that went all the way. They all had a common denominator – a solid, yet distinctive, head coach – along with a collection of players whose accomplishments still are celebrated today.

(Mark Dukes is former sports editor of the Cedar Rapid Gazette. He is co-host of The Gym Class radio show weekdays from 3-4 p.m. on KGYM-AM 1600, FM-107.5 and FM-106.3.)