Bob Herlocker has been a teacher and a coach for 39 years, 25 of which have been at Napa High. Herlocker began his coaching career at Hiram Johnson High School in 1970. Herlocker made several stops along the way to Napa High, including to his alma mater Hogan High in Vallejo, then onto Vintage High School where he was the offensive coordinator for the CIF Section Championship team in 1980 as well as for the 1983 Section runner-up team. He began coaching at Napa High in 1985 when he became the offensive coordinator for the Indians. Herlocker had a brief stint as the Indians JV softball coach, but in 1988 he turned his attention to baseball and he became the pitching coach for fellow Hall of Fame inductee Mike Brown for four seasons. In 1988, he and Brown led Napa High to a Section Championship in baseball, the school’s first ever Division I Section Title. In 1990, Herlocker became the head coach of the varsity football team, guiding the Indians to three MEL Championships and an appearance in the Section Championship game in 1994. The team was the first in Napa High’s history to win 13 football games in a season, only to later be matched by the 2007 team, of which Herlocker was the offensive line coach. Since the Spring of 1993, Herlocker has coached the Boys Golf Team, earning a MEL title in 1998. Though he continued as head coach of the golf team, Herlocker stepped down as head coach of the varsity football team in 1996, after compiling a record 47-26-1. He continued to work on staff as an assistant coach and also freshmen football for several years, where he always said, “the real teaching about the game happens on the freshmen level.” He returned to the varsity staff in 1996 as the offensive line coach. He has coached many of the great football players that have come through the Napa community including the late Russ Orrick, Pat Hodge, Roger Wilkenson, Tony Trosin, Levi Cohen and recently John Boyett and Jake Croxdale. Herlocker was also able to coach two of his nephews, Joe and Ted LeMasters, during their high school careers as members of the Indians football program. Current head football coach Troy Mott said, “Bob is the best football coach I’ve ever been around. Most everything I’ve learned as a coach and a teacher, I have learned from Bob. His passion for kids is what is most impressive. I know he has a profound impact on me when I played for him and he is partly the reason I became a teacher and a coach. I don’t know if he wants me to admit this, but his coaching style is what I have tried to emulate.”
