Nebraska Wesleyan University Athletics

Alonzo “Lonnie” Tapp enrolled at Nebraska Wesleyan in 1968 as part of the Crossroads program, which was created by the United Methodist Church to help minority students attend college. While at NWU, Tapp earned four letters in football as a running back and two letters in wrestling (167 lbs.).
            After earning his bachelor’s degree in education, he returned to Lincoln High School where he coached sophomore football. Tapp also taught at Whittier Junior High, until he decided to attend grad school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While working on his master’s degree in physical education, which he received in 1981, Tapp returned to Nebraska Wesleyan for two seasons as a graduate assistant coach.
            He then spent a year at Westmar College in LeMars, Iowa, before moving to Tyler, Texas, where he joined the staff at T.K. Gorman High School. In 1982, Tapp was named the school’s Teacher of the Year, and in 1984, he helped guide T.K. Gorman to the Class 3A State Championship while serving as the football team’s defensive coordinator.
            Soon after, Tapp was hired at Benson High School in Omaha, and he’s been there ever since. He currently teaches History, African-American History and Ethnic Studies and is in his 18th season as the head football coach. His teams have qualified for the playoffs in seven of the past 10 years. Tapp earned Benson’s Teacher-of-the-Year award in 1986 and was named Metro Conference Coach of the Year in 1994 and 2001.
            Until recently, he also served as the head girls’ track and field coach. In this capacity, Tapp has coached several individual state champions, including three consecutive years of winning the 4x100 relay. In 1994, Benson finished third as a team at State, and the following fall, he led the football team to the state championship game. Tapp was selected to serve on the Shrine Bowl coaching staff for the North as an assistant in 1991 and as the head coach in 2002. He also coached an all-star team, which played in Australia (1998).
            But despite all of his accomplishments, Tapp says being able to coach his two sons, Michael and Brooks, ranks as one of the highlights. Michael went on to earn three letters in baseball at Nebraska Wesleyan, and Brooks, who played on Benson’s 1994 Class A Runner-up team, earned a football scholarship to the University of Nebraska-Omaha. For the past four years, Brooks has served as an assistant football coach for his father at Omaha Benson.