Vavra goes out a winner

This is the time of year when we hear about coaching changes.

                We hear about coaches whose team did not perform.

                We hear about coaches who were not leaders.

                We hear about coaches who had poor judgment.

                What we don’t hear

Terry Vavra addresses well-wishers
 at a reception honoring him
on his retirement

about are those coaches who go out as winners.

                We did on Friday we did.  And it wasn’t the coach of a football, basketball, hockey or baseball team.

                It was the coach, if you will, of a Fire Department.

                Friday was Terry Vavra’s last day as Buffalo Grove Fire Chief, a post he held for seven years.  The retirement, announced Feb. 9 in a corporate-flavored press release on its web site, the village cited Vavra for his service including, notes the press release, “...negotiate two labor agreements, instituted a Battalion Chiefs testing process and served on the Lake County Fire Chiefs Board for the last five years, most recently as President in 2014 …”

                The release includes the gratuitous quotes from Village Manager Dane Bragg (“…Terry has been a steadfast public safety executive showing his capabilities in leading the fire service..” ) and from Village Board President Jeff Braiman (“…“Terry has been a dedicated chief who has served the Village of Buffalo Grove with a commitment to excellence. He has managed his department to treat all citizens with dignity and respect while carrying on their duties in a professional and courteous manner…”). 

Terry Vavra gets a warm send off

                Interestingly, there does not seem to be a Village Hall-based reception or proclamation planned for Vavra as there has been for other retirees.  Read into it what you want.

                What was held was a reception Friday afternoon at the Fire Station on Highland Grove that was sponsored by the Buffalo Grove Fire Department and, not interestingly enough, by the village.

                But my guess is Vavra liked it that way.

                His 35-plus years as a fire fighter (he was with Lisle Woodridge for 28 years before coming to Buffalo Grove) made him more than a chief; he was clearly one of the men and women in the department.

Village Clerk Jan Sirabian shares a moment
with Terry Vavra

                As a coach, he had the respect in the locker room – and in the community.  Bragg cited that in the press release noting that “…“His service to the community and his care for the operation is second to none…” 

                And to the professionals on his staff.  As I scrambled in to the reception, I caught most of Vavra’s comments to the crowd at Friday’s reception.  And one of the most telling things he said, typical of Vavra, was that Buffalo Grove’s fire fighters don’t just “care for people; they care about people.”

                And where does a sentiment like that start?  At the top. With the coach.

                Vavra professionalism was reflected in not only the fire department operated, but how represented the department. Whenever the Fire Department or one of its professionals were honored by the Village Board – which happened many times – Vavra beamed with pride, not because he was the chief, but because of what the men and women in the department had achieved.

                Vavra’s was quiet about his future plans, saying only that (pub aside) he had some things in the fire.

                Which does not surprise me.

                No matter what, odds are he’ll step up and build another winning team.

                Because that’s what good coaches do.

                And Terry Vavra did it well for Buffalo Grove.