Herbert Zettl Biography

Herbert (Herb) Zettl was born on August 5,1941 in Hungary. In 1945 his family fled to Germany. Living in post war Germany was not an easy-going experience. His family would receive care packages from America in which there would be a can of SPAM that would become one of his favorite meals. During his years in Germany he enjoyed playing youth soccer. In November of 1955 the Zettl family had the opportunity to come to America through a sponsorship by a Baptist Church in Webster, NY. Herb Zettl started high school as a freshman, but one struggle was that he did not know any English. One of Zettl's teachers, Mr. Castor used to stay after school in his freshman year to teach him and his older brother English. Also, while attending high school he worked part-time at Wegman's. In his senior year he was instrumental in starting a varsity boys soccer team, on which he played the center-half position and was also the captain.

Herb Zettl did not plan on attending college after high school until the minister encouraged him to pursue higher education. With this encouragement Zettl attended Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, WV where he majored in history and earned a bachelor's degree. In addition, Zettl worked about 28 hours per week as an orderly at a hospital to pay for his tuition, room and board. After completing his undergraduate degree, he was encouraged to further pursue his education and attended the University of Vermont. Not only did Zettl earn his master’s degree in history, but he also met his wife, Rhoda, during this time. Zettl also attended the University of Maryland and Carnegie-Mellon for post graduate studies.

Rhoda typed and sent out two to three dozen "blind" applications to different institutions around the country. A few colleges got back to him and one was Springfield College. In 1969 Zettl was brought on as an assistant professor of history, specializing in European and Russian history, as well as team teaching in the course Man and Society. During his time at the college Zettl had the great honor of becoming a coach, serving as the first women's varsity soccer coach. Zettl coached for 17 seasons, 1980-84 and 1986-97, retiring from coaching in 1997. His teams won numerous New England championships. He was also named three times as the New England Coach of the Year. An endowment fund for women's soccer was established at the college in his name.

While at the college, Zettl directed Model UN conferences for high school students, American Lung Association Breath Games for children with asthma, and youth soccer camps for boys and girls. In addition, Zettl had the honor of serving as the Distinguished Professor of Humanics from 1985-87. While Chairman of the All College Representative Assembly he was instrumental in having the College adopt a new academic calendar going from a trimester system to a two-semester system. In 2004 he received, from his Alma Mater, the Alumni Achievement Award for professional and community service.

During his time at the college Zettl was appointed Chair of the History and Political Science Department from 1971-1976, and was elected as Chair of the Social Science Department from 2000-2012. He retired from the college in 2015 as a Professor Emeritus.

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