Carrboro Special Olympics coach wins coach of the year award

A few years ago, Anna Coleman rounded the final turn of her first middle school cross country meet to see her Special Olympics coach cheering her on.

“I love the way he cheers for me every time I come around that track,” Coleman said.

Thanks to the work of her coach of three years, Bernie Prabucki, Coleman was able to begin running cross country competitively — and she still does today.

On Sept. 23, Prabucki, a Carrboro resident, won the 2012 Coach of the Year award from Special Olympics North Carolina — an organization that helps more than 38,000 intellectually disabled athletes train and compete.

Prabucki has been a volunteer coach with Special Olympics for 18 years and has coached athletes of all ages in many different sports.

Prabucki greets his athletes with a joking attitude, a Mickey Mouse shirt and his bellowing laugh.

“Even though they pay me a million dollars a year to coach, if I had to I would do it for free,” Prabucki said with his signature laugh.

Keith Fishburne, president of Special Olympics N.C., presented to Prabucki during one of his team’s practices.

Prabucki said he wasn’t expecting the recognition.

“You don’t do it for the awards,” he said. “The reward is watching the athletes grow and improve.”

Prabucki said one of his favorite coaching moments was two years ago when one of his athletes, Gillian Fink, won a silver medal in the 2010 National Special Olympics.

He said Fink, normally a 100-meter sprinter, trained for a month to compete.

“To watch her effort, determination and intestinal fortitude brought tears to my eyes,” said Prabucki.

Megan O’Donnell, spokeswoman for Special Olympics N.C., said Prabucki is the second local coach to receive the award.

She said Prabucki is a master teacher and entertainer.

“Bernie has a knack for relating to the athletes,” she said. “They love coming to practices just as much as competitions, because he makes it so much fun.”

“Practice is like a big party every Tuesday night.” said Sharla Coleman, Anna Coleman’s mother and one of Bernie’s assistant coaches.

But Prabucki does not work alone. He said Colleen Lanigan, the director of Special Olympics Orange County, plays a large part in the success of his program.

And he said the athletes put in work, too.

“To work with and coach the athletes — to not only walk a lap around the track, but to run and compete in a mile or half-mile race — is priceless,” Prabucki said.

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.