John Rock graduated from Valley Forge in 1971. After graduating from Baldwin-Wallace he returned to the Parma City Schools as a Social Studies teacher for 39 years until his retirement. During that time he worked as a head swim coach for a total of 26 years, 5 years at Parma and 21 years at Valley Forge.

As a head coach for the VF boys swim team, the swimmers posted a record of 172-85-6. The team won conference championships in all three different conferences in which Valley Forge participated during John’s tenure as head coach. These included the Lake Erie League Erie Division, the Pioneer Conference, and the Northeast Ohio Conference Lake Division. Six swimmers qualified for the OHSAA state swimming & diving championships and two were selected as Valley Forge Athletes of the Year.

Outside of the pool, John has been successful as a certified OHSAA official in baseball, swimming & diving, and football. As a baseball umpire, he has worked seven OHSAA state championship games was inducted into the Suburban Umpire Association Hall of Fame and was selected as the NFHS Umpire of the Year for Ohio in 2017. His current position is as Athletic Commissioner/Assigner of Officials for the Patriot Athletic Conference.