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Coaching Is In Franks' Blood

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By LARRY BUGG Tribune correspondent

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 23, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - When it comes to high school coaches, prep athletes can get a wide range of mentors.

Some of the coaches have their job because someone needed to fill the slot.

Some are decent coaches who will do what they can for their athletes.

Then, there are some who know their sports and genuinely want their athletes to succeed and become better people.
Steve Franks is the knowledgeable, caring and highly motivated kind that athletes want to work with.

Franks brings a varied career with a lot of achievement to the coaching table.

Franks, 55, is an intensive reading teacher at Gulf High. He is also the boys and girls weightlifting coach and the junior varsity football coach.

He also is a master scuba diver and a master powerlifter.

Over the years, he also has been a commercial airline pilot and a flight engineer.

He showed some athletic ability when he was in high school.

He played a cornerback on the Northeastern High football team that won a state championship in 1969. He went to school in Elizabeth City, N.C., which was 40 miles from his home.

He also wrestled and won a district title in the 139-pound weight class.

After he graduated from high school, Franks found himself flying, though not as a pilot.

He joined the U.S. Coast Guard and served for 26 years, flying on a C-130 transport plane as a flight engineer. He retired as a chief flight engineer.

He was stationed in North Carolina, Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico before returning to Florida to retire. He was last stationed in Clearwater.

He earned a bachelor's of science degree in business administration from the University of South Florida in 1997.

After that, he became an airline pilot for 10 years with Capital Cargo International Air.

He has been teaching at Gulf High for three years.

He has been married to his wife, Cynthia, for 28 years.

He said he is very grateful she has been supportive and flexible enough to deal with the moves the Franks have had to make over the years.

"She is a saint to put up with all I did," Franks said. "When I was in Puerto Rico, she stayed in Clearwater. I love that woman to death."

They have two daughters. Heather, 25, is a teacher in McDonough, Ga. They have another daughter, Justine, 16, a varsity cheerleader at Gulf.

When he was stationed in Hawaii from 1980 to 1983, he trained with Gus Rethwich, a world champion powerlifter.

"The people who owned the gym were international powerlifting referees," Franks said. "That's when I got into powerlifting. I came back to Florida and won two American Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation titles in Pinellas County. I competed on a state-wide level, but the highest I placed was second."

Franks won titles in the squat.

He is going to compete this fall in Fort Lauderdale.

Franks said he will compete in the bench press, the squat and the dead lift. His best in the bench press is 335 pounds in the 180-pound class. His best squat was a title-winning 575 pounds.

His best dead lift was 500 pounds, placing him second behind a lifter who lifted 510 pounds.

As a lifter, Franks finds that the most satisfying part is the feeling of accomplishment. The thrill is similar for lifting and coaching.

"I just like the feeling of strength to challenge that weight," Franks said.

"I like taking kids that have never lifted and helping them win titles, like Carmen Figueroa, Joe Turnbull and Jordan Holding.

"I have seen the kids come from being everyday kids to having much better self-esteem. I like to watch kids grow."

This year, Gulf lifters Mike Centanni and Holding both won national titles May 10 at River Ridge High. Centanni was the 129-pound winner, and Holding won the 139-pound class.

Holding plans to study engineering at the University of Florida. Centanni is a junior and has one more year.

"He should win the state title this year," Franks said. "I promote the kids. These are the kids who are going to grow up and change the world. It's all about my kids.

"There are kids who want to go into some sport, but some of them are not good enough to go into football or basketball but they can go into weightlifting. It is always you and the weight. My girls weightlifting amazed me.

"I said I am going to walk you right through the process. The kids want to know that somebody believes in them. Their self-esteem went right through the roof.

"I watched a girl go from lifting nothing to 95 pounds on the bench."

That girl was one of Franks' great projects.

"She said 'Coach, I am a winner,'" Franks said. "I did something I never did before."

Gulf lifter Ashley Mizrahi took second (110 pounds) in the nationals this year.

"This year, she will win her weight class at state," Franks said.

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