As coach of the men’s lacrosse team at Towson State College, Carl Runk commanded respect.

When a defenseman for an opposing team ran up and started screaming in his face during a game in the early 1970s, Runk tried to keep his cool. But then-freshman Bob Griebe saw the veins popping in Runk’s neck — and he couldn’t let his coach take all the heat. So he took a swing at the player. Chaos ensued.

The next day at practice, Runk addressed his team: Who jumped off the bench and punched that guy? Runk didn’t typically condone fights, and Griebe was sure he was getting the axe when a friend volunteered his name. Instead, Runk turned to him and said, “I’m buying you a steak dinner.”

“He was just a terrific coach,” Griebe said. “But even more than that, he was just a terrific person that cared an awful lot about people.”

Griebe is one of many players who say Runk changed their lives for the better through his guidance and friendship. Runk, who built Towson University’s lacrosse program into a national force and led the school’s nascent football team, died on Nov. 24 of cancer. He was 88.

Runk was born on March 25, 1936, one of 13 children raised by Anna and George Runk and Josephine McGill. Runk didn’t often talk about his childhood in Baltimore, but when he did, it often went like this: “We didn’t have money, we didn’t have a whole lot, but we had love, and we had family,” said his son, Keith Runk.

Carl Runk attended Patterson Park High School, where he participated in football, lacrosse and wrestling. It’s also where he met the former Joan Johns. She was a year older than him, and over the 61 years of marriage that followed, he never let her forget it, their son said. After graduation, Runk briefly played football at the University of Maryland before transferring to the University of Arizona.

After college, the couple stayed in Arizona while Runk coached the university’s men’s lacrosse team, Keith Runk said. They welcomed three sons, Carl, Keith and Curt, and returned to Maryland after Curt fell ill and lost his hearing. They also had a daughter, Brenda.

Carl and Joan Runk’s relationship was “unmatched,” Keith Runk said. On the rare occasion his parents would bicker, it was usually because Carl Runk unexpectedly invited a handful of his players home for dinner. Runk frequently offered a hand to his players whenever they needed something — a place to stay, a hot meal, a dinner table on a holiday, his son said.

That is perhaps his most enduring legacy. Runk joined Towson in 1968 as coach of the men’s lacrosse team, then in its 10th year. He would go on to coach the team for 31 years — which included 24 winning seasons — and guide the program through a transition from NCAA Division II to Division I in 1980. His accomplishments included a national championship victory in 1974 and another national championship appearance in 1991, according to Towson University.

Among other accolades, he was selected for the Towson Hall of Fame and the Intercollegiate Men’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Runk also wrote two books, the instructional “Carl Runk’s Coaching Lacrosse” and the more personal “Along the Way,” which included funny coaching stories.

He also coached Towson’s football team through its first season in 1969, taking on the job after the hired coach abruptly quit. He held the position for three years, according to the university.

“Coach Runk is the father of Towson lacrosse,” said Shawn Nadelen, the current coach of the Towson men’s lacrosse team. “His towering presence was palpable, but it was his immense love for his players and Towson University that is his eternal legacy.”

Frank Mezzanotte, who played lacrosse for Runk early in his Towson career, said the coach was “instrumental” to his success both during and after college. Mezzanotte was admittedly a bit hotheaded as a young adult, he said, and Runk helped him learn how to control his temperament and be a team player.

Mezzanotte went on to coach lacrosse and said Runk’s legacy continues to live on through him and so many others who pursued coaching careers. Runk was creative and strategic and often beat competitors with greater resources, Mezzanotte said.

And he did it all while cracking jokes and telling stories in a way that only Runk could, he added.

“He laid the foundation of that program,” Mezzanotte said. “Anybody who does construction can always tell you the foundation is what makes or breaks a house or a building. And that’s what he did — he built a tremendous foundation for a very highly successful program.”

Joe Ardolino, who also played lacrosse for Runk in the 1970s and later became an assistant coach for the Towson team, said players learned from him “almost through osmosis,” Ardolino said.

“He never talked about winning — never — it was just how we did things,” Ardolino said. “The will to work to win was pretty much his motto. You’ve got to be willing to work in order to be successful, and that’s what his expectations were of players, and he was a man that motivated you through his personality.”

Put more simply, Runk should be remembered as a “winner,” said Vince Angotti, the former Towson men’s basketball coach and one of Runk’s closest friends.

Mark Reuss similarly played lacrosse for Runk and later coached alongside him. He said Runk was a “big man” who demanded a lot from his players. He “got everything out of you,” Reuss said.

Reuss said Runk was like a second father to him, and Runk would do anything for his loved ones.

Indeed, Runk valued family and friends more than almost anything else, Keith Runk said. After Curt Runk lost his hearing, his father enrolled in sign language and audiology classes at Gallaudet University, and he taught American Sign Language at Towson for two decades, according to the university.

Toward the end of Runk’s life, his son recalled, he would tell his family: “The best thing about cancer is that I’ve got all of you together.”

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