Community remembers Vel Heckman, former Lakeview High football coach

Velles “Vel” Heckman was a lot of things to a lot of different people. 

To some, he was the All-American lineman for the Florida Gators football team; to others, he was the hard-nosed football coach at Lakeview High School; and to some, Heckman was a friend, neighbor or father, ready to lend a helping hand when asked. 

Heckman — a football player, a coach, a friend, and a father — died Sept. 24, 2024, at the age of 88.

Regardless of what Heckman meant to you, there’s no denying his positive impact on those lucky enough to have been around him. 

As a young football player from Allentown High in Pennsylvania, Heckman spent his earlier days either dominating on the football field or helping at the family seafood store; that is until those two worlds collided and he became a Gator. 

The story goes that a scout from the University of Florida football staff made his way up to the family’s seafood store to see if Heckman was Gators material. 

“From the way Vel told the story, he was working at his dad’s store, carrying seafood in the back warehouse,” said Curt Myhre, Heckman’s neighbor of 15 years. “A scout from the Gators got there and kind of wandered in the back door of the warehouse looking for Vel. At the same time, Vel was lugging things around and he kind of crashed out of the freezer carrying these two bags of clams with his glasses all frosted up and a cigar in his mouth, and he saw the guy was there. 

“Vel asks him if he can help him, and the scout says I’m looking for Vel Heckman; I’m a scout from the Gators,” Myhre said. “And Vel says, let me go find my dad and runs inside. He told me the reason he ran inside wasn’t to find his dad; it was because he wanted to hide his cigar. The funniest part of the story was that years later, Vel found out that when he was inside hiding his cigar and finding his dad, the scout went over to the bags of clams Vel was throwing around like a box lunch or something and tried lifting them up and saw they were 75 pounds each. The scout almost couldn’t get them off the ground, and this young kid with a cigar in his mouth was just throwing them around like nothing. The scout said as soon as he saw how heavy those clams were, he knew he had to get Heckman down to Gainesville.”

Although Heckman went on to become an All-American at Florida and become a lifelong Gators fan, if it wasn’t for some dedicated coaches, Heckman may have never finished up his time in school. 

“My dad was a huge Gators fan all through my life; he bled orange and blue, but he actually tried to quit the University of Florida twice,” said Rena Cross, Heckman’s child. “He really wanted to go back home to help his parents at the seafood business and because he was homesick. He actually ended up hitchhiking all the way from Florida, from Gainesville to Pennsylvania. And the University of Florida coaching staff sent somebody up to go get him and bring him back both times.” 

Following his time in Gainesville, Heckman found himself moving to Winter Garden to become the Lakeview High football coach and athletic director — and to paraphrase one of his former players, he brought a completely difficult culture of high school football to West Orange County. 

Alan Hays, a member of Heckman’s first two Lakeview High teams, said his new coach brought an expectation of excellence and toughness from his teams that changed the program. He would describe Heckman as tough but fair, and like most people who knew the old ball coach, Hays had the perfect Heckman story to demonstrate why he described him that way. 

Hays remembers a game in DeLand, and anytime the offense needed three or four yards, they had this running back dive play that would guarantee they’d get those yards. So, when the offense reached near the goal line, Hays was certain that dive play would get called and he would score the touchdown. 

“We were down there, inside the five-yard line … and at the time, I had my mind made up that coach was going to call that dive play straight ahead,” Hays said. “I could just imagine me scoring that touchdown of the dive play, but then they called a sweep to the left side and I ended up getting clobbered by what seemed like the entire defense, and at halftime, coach chewed me up and down the sideline. I mean, he questioned my manhood and everything else because I didn’t score. He was tough on us when he thought we could do better, but to show the kind of man coach was and how fair he was, on the following Monday, at practice, in front of the whole team, he apologized to me, because he had looked at the film of the game and saw the mass of people that had tackled me and he said, ‘That’s my fault for calling the wrong play.’ 

“That was almost unheard of, for a coach to admit he was wrong and apologize to a player like that, but that’s the kind of man Vel was,” Hays said. “He would never tear you down unjustifiably; he would hold you accountable, but he always treated us fairly.”

Heckman wasn’t just that way with his players; he was more than fair with his peers. He would put himself on the line and fight for his fellow coaches.

“There’s not enough words that I can possibly say that can describe what Vel Heckman meant for the community of Winter Garden or what he meant to me,” said former Lakeview High basketball coach Warren Little. “I met Vel … when I was hired to be the junior varsity basketball coach a Lakeview and after my second season there, the varsity coach, Dick Lindsey, left. So, Vel asked me if I wanted to become the head basketball coach, and I thought he was kidding. Now, you have to understand that this was back in the late 1960s and early 70s, and although we had integration at the time, it wasn’t a favorable thing, so I didn’t think the Orange Belt Conference was quite ready to have me be a head coach. But Vel had the courage to name me, a black man, head coach of the basketball team, and he stood by me 100% of the way. I’ll be quite frank with you, Vel is the reason I’m here today and was able to do all that I did for Orange County Public Schools as an administrator and dean. I attribute all of that success to Vel …  I feel that he was like the wind beneath my wings. That’s how much he uplifted me throughout my life.”

In the same way Heckman was viewed as a mentor and role model to his players and fellow coaches, as a father, his children also viewed him as an example to follow. 

“He just was larger than life, you know?” Cross said. “My dad was my hero. … Growing up, he raised us tough and really instilled that work ethic in the three of us — my brothers Mike and Lee and myself. He raised us to say ‘Yes sir, no sir,’ but he also was always the first to have fun with us, to pull us on water skis at Lake Butler. He always wanted to go skiing and fishing with us. … He loved helping people out; even in recent years, we’d be doing some work on our land, like building fence, and he’d be the first one, even when he was like 85 years old, to offer to help.”

Cross recalls her dad wanted to help so much that he would take off his football coach hat and try to put on the hat of whatever sport she was playing to try and help. 

“He was always ready and willing to be supportive,” she said. “I was a gymnast and a diver and a cheerleader, and he would always be at my events. He was my biggest fan and my hero. I remember whenever I was struggling with something in my athletics ... he would try to get out of the football coaching mind and into the gymnastics or diving mind or what I needed and do whatever he could to encourage me.”

Mr. Heckman passed with his wife, Frances Geddings Heckman, by his side. The two were married in 1999. Vel is survived by the mother of his children, Barbara Platt Heckman (married 1959-1993) and their three children: son Mike (Jan) Heckman, son Lee (Amy) Heckman and daughter Rena (Mark) Cross. Vel and Frances shared her children, son Sean (Kathleen) Jensen, daughter Amanda (David) Sprague. Altogether, Vel was loved by 11 grandchildren and seven-great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life ceremony was  held from 3-7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, at the Ocoee Lakeshore Center and was  open to anyone who wishes to pay their respects. The Heckman family asks that those attending wear Florida Gators colors, orange and blue.