Napa Valley College: Napa High School Athletic Hall Of Fame: Dunlap's SoCal Football Coach Lured Him To Napa

Press release from Napa Valley College:

2022-02-27

Jerry Dunlap was getting close to completing his master’s degree in education administration at the University of Nebraska when he got a call one day from Lars Christensen, the principal at Napa High School.

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The two had a close connection, as Christensen was on the coaching staff at Buena High School-Ventura, where Dunlap was a three-sport athlete, the team’s quarterback and the Ventura County Scholar Athlete of the Year.

“We had kept in contact all through college,” Dunlap recalled recently. “He knew I was finishing up my master’s. He asked me if I wanted a job. I said, ‘I need a job.’ It was a Friday. He asked me if I could be to Napa on Monday.”

Dunlap, who played football at powerhouse Nebraska, accepted the job offer. He packed up all of his belongings and drove from Lincoln to Napa.

“I graduated on that Saturday. I told him that I’d be there. I drove 26 hours on I-80 and made it to his house Monday morning. I’ve been here 29 years,” said Dunlap.

“Everything I had was in that car, my mom’s old Oldsmobile. I found an apartment and got to work with coach (Bob) Herlocker (as Napa’s quarterbacks coach) right away. It was great.”

Dunlap was at Napa High for 23 years, from 1993 to 2016, teaching and coaching. He was the head football coach for nine years, from 1997 to 2005, and won four Monticello Empire League championships. He was also an assistant on coach Troy Mott’s staff when Napa won the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title in 2007.

This press release was produced by Napa Valley College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.