Raymond G. Frey, 92, of St. Johnsbury, Vt., passed away on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019. A Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019, 11 a.m. at the South Church Building at 1052 Main St., St. Johnsbury, Vt. A full obituary will follow. ST. JOHNSBURY - Raymond G. Frey, founder of the St. Johnsbury Academy track and field program and coach for its first 30 years, died Thursday evening at his home. He was 92. Teacher, athletic director, assistant headmaster, involvement with the local Junior Olympics and the St. J Rec Department - there was little Frey didn't do in his 30-year career at St. Johnsbury Academy. He coached 21 state champions in track and field, and cross country as well. His boys' teams won 16 state titles, including six in a row (1965-70), and another five straight from 1980-84. It all resulted in numerous honors, including induction into the Vermont Principals Association (VPA) Hall of Fame in 2008 and, 10 years later, his being named in April 2018 to the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame. Coach Frey was a legend," said SJA Headmaster Tom Lovett in a statement on Friday. "His athletes remember him not only for his expertise and successes, but for the way he challenged and motivated them through positive encouragement. Even today, these athletes, many of them leaders in their fields, mention him as the example and model of what it means to lead with class. Throughout his retirement years, he never stopped coaching, showing up at Academy track meets and pulling athletes aside for some one-on-one coaching lessons. I know of several athletes during my tenure as headmaster who improved through his advice and direction." One particular memory didn't come to Frey at the April 26, 2018 Vermont Sports HOF induction held in South Burlington. "In 30 years of coaching, with 90 kids each year, you're asking for the impossible," he said at the time. "There were so many good kids, if I named a few I'm sure I'd leave a few out, and that would be an insult to them. I couldn't pinpoint just a few. I had athletes who set state records and who were great athletes in many events." The track and field facility was renamed the Raymond G. Frey Track in a June 2010 ceremony in which some 100 people braved the rain to honor him. He estimated at the time that he'd coached some 1,500 student athletes in his 30-year Hilltoppers career. I learned a lot under Ray. I give him a lot of credit for helping me out in the early years" of Tom Conte's 17-year tenure as SJA athletic director, former AD Conte said on Friday. "I saw Ray just recently on his birthday, when he turned 92. [Current AD] Dave McGinn had two parking spaces reserved for us at the football game." Ray was a gentleman's gentleman, and really, the model athletic director," Conte added. "He was very particular, and precise in what he did. He had a specific idea of how things should be run." After he became athletic direcor, Conte recalled a time during basketball season when he was distributing schedules and rosters at a game. "Ray looked at the schedule and said, 'Tom, are these league or non-league games'. I didn't have that on the schedules," Tom recalled with a laugh. "But he was that particular about things. He was a perfectionist. It was the little things he did. It's hard to explain. I just can't say enough about him." Frey was a standout multisport college athlete at Fairleigh Dickinson University, from where he graduated in 1952. Personally, he always supported the best in me, showing me the same encouragement he showed his players, mixing in good humor and high goals," Lovett stated. "From the very beginning, he showed me what it meant to be a member of the Academy community, telling me in my first year, 'Don't ever forget - the students come first. Always help them to be better than they think they are. Always keep your passion for their success'. "I have never forgotten it."