The Russell E. Blunt East Coast Invitational at Wallace Wade Stadium this weekend is expected to draw up to 2,500 school-age athletes. The event also draws up memories of the man after whom the host Durham Striders named the meet.

Blunt, who died in 2004 at age 95, coached high school athletics for more than 60 years. Most of those years were at Hillside High School, where his Hornets won 17 state track and field titles. He retired at 88 and coached his way through several generations of athletes while retaining the directness conveyed in his name.

One of his sprinters got to complaining in practice about having to run too much; claimed he was going to tell his daddy on Blunt. "You do that," Blunt said. "He didn't like running laps either. But he did, just like you're fixing to."

Blunt's magic extended to kids from rough neighborhoods. He gave expectations, a work ethic and hope. They gave him results.

He was a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, the N.C. High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame and three other halls of fame. A Massachusetts native, he graduated from St. Augustine's College in 1936 where he began his coaching career. His football teams at Hillside had a 95-76-6 record from 1955-73.

As the years piled up and he contemplated the inevitable end, Blunt stuck to his name with good humor. Dr. Brenda Armstrong, his god-daughter and a cardiologist in Durham, told him he couldn't die because there wasn't anywhere big enough for his funeral.

Blunt: "Well, you better starting thinking of one."

The service was in Duke Chapel.