In some ways, it was a walk back into San Mateo County history. Dick Vermeil, the highly successful former NFL and college football coach, returned to the Peninsula last week. He did so to honor the memory of Homer Zugelder, a friend and one-time colleague when both men were on the faculty of Hillsdale High School in San Mateo early in the 1960s. Vermeil, whose St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl in 2000, is retired from coaching now. He travels throughout the country giving motivational speeches and doing some commentary work on football telecasts. Vermeil, as he was as a teacher and a coach, is a superb public speaker. During ceremonies to name the Hillsdale gymnasium for Zugelder, Vermeil spoke for perhaps 15 to 20 minutes. It was riveting stuff. He discussed the basics, the qualities that make up true leaders and people of character and substance. In a very real sense, it was a talk devoted to those, like Zugelder, who don’t put on airs and who remain grounded in their friends and families. In other words, they are quite the opposite of the usual sad parade of terribly flawed oddball celebrities on whom American culture spends so much time and money. Vermeil has never changed. For those of us who knew him nearly a half-century ago when he first arrived at Hillsdale, it’s refreshing to see and hear him now. An emotional guy, he’s the antithesis of the likes of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Dennis Rodman. Vermeil doesn’t crave the limelight. Instead, he tries to deflect it. He’s been a class act from the start. No wonder his message tends to resonate. In excess of 300 folks turned out for the Hillsdale event. There was more than one standing ovation for Vermeil. It was a memorable occasion.