Ron Kantowski on Clark County’s coaching family, the Gerbers of Green Valley High, a father-son tandem that will stand together on the Gators sideline this season

By Ron Kantowski

Thursday, June 15, 2006 | 7:20 a.m.

There's this tradition in the Gerber household: Brothers Dave and Chuck preside over Thanksgiving dinner and talk football.

That doesn't exactly make them unique. But with five Nevada state high school championships between them, the scope of their conversation isn't limited to how badly the Detroit Lions are playing.

And it usually isn't about all that hardware in the trophy cases of their old schools, either.

Oh sure, the brothers will usually raise a glass to Bobby Lozzi, who had the distinction of kicking a game-winning playoff field goal for both coaches. Lozzi is a grown man now, but the Gerbers still argue about which brother is going to legally adopt him.

But as for patting each other on the back well, that might work for the Shulas or the Bowdens or the Stoops boys or even the Cleavers on Nick at Nite.

The Gerbers, on the other hand, have never been into blowing their own horns. Blowing each other up is more their style.

"Thanksgiving dinner, you got stuff put on your head most of the day," Dave recalled, breaking into one of the belly laughs that punctuate any conversation you might have with him, now that winning high school football games no longer seems as important as it once did.

That is about to change. Dave's son, Matt, recently was named head coach at Green Valley High School. As far as anybody knows - the local high school record book is about as comprehensive as a Tijuana taxi driver's auto insurance policy - he is Southern Nevada's first second-generation head coach.

His father, meanwhile, has agreed to become a first-generation assistant coach. Matt Gerber, 32, said it didn't take much to coax Dave Gerber, 63, out of retirement.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't have to ask. He told me he was going to coach with me," said Matt, who played quarterback for his old man at Valley High School in 1990-91.

Dave Gerber was head coach at Bishop Gorman High from 1972 to 1979. He won two state championships. Chuck Gerber, 65, was Dave's defensive coordinator and took over as head coach when Dave resigned to deal cards at Caesars Palace and work on his master's degree. Chuck was head coach at Gorman until 1987. He won three state titles.

Dave became the head coach at Valley in 1982 and spent 10 years there. His Vikings teams went to the playoffs seven times and were state runners-up twice.

I teased Chuck that those must have been the years when Gorman didn't recruit very well.

The Gerber Three recently got together after Matt put his team through a workout at Green Valley. When I asked who had the series edge between Dave and Chuck, they played dumber than Terry Bradshaw with no timeouts.

Finally, Dave fessed up. "He had more wins, for sure. There were some great, great moments, but it's always been a friendly rivalry. Our folks would come from Kansas, and they would stand on one side for one half, and on the other side for the other half.

"And whoever's side they stood on usually played," well, poorly - although he didn't use those words exactly.

I asked Chuck if he had any desire to get his whistle out of mothballs, too, and join his brother and nephew on the sidelines.

"No," he said with a stony glare, as if I had just asked to borrow his car keys.

"So you'll be satisfied sitting in the stands and second-guessing them?"

"Absolutely," he said.

More belly laughs.

When order was restored, I asked Matt if the Gators were going to run his offense or his dad's.

Before he could answer, Dave said it would be Matt's.

"If we use mine, it'll be the single wing and leather helmets."

Let the laughter continue.

While father, son and uncle seemed to be enjoying the moment, Dina Gerber was getting nervous. One of these years, Dave's wife and Matt's mom is going to find out what it's like to relax and go to a movie on a Friday night. But it won't be this one.

"I'm really happy for him," Dina Gerber said of her son. "But I've got mixed emotions. It's so gut-wrenching for me. I haven't had to do this for a long time. We'd go to the games when Matt was offensive coordinator (at Durango High School), but that's different. It's a whole different level of pressure when you're a head coach."

Her husband knows that.

Her brother-in-law knows that.

And by the time they get around to slicing the pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, I suspect her son will know that, too.