(Neola) Gaylord Schelling is this week’s guest on the Why I Coach podcast. He coached football and baseball at Tri-Center as well as Atlantic and is now retired.
After spending the first six years of his career as a teacher and coach at North Polk, the Northwestern College graduate shifted gears and got out of education altogether. He went to Dallas to work in sales with his brother. While he had success, he elected to move back to Iowa to raise his family and get back into coaching. He landed a Tri-Center which was much closer to his wife’s hometown of Villisca.
One of the memories former Tri-Center football players from the 1980’s will tell you about was when coach Schelling used to pad up for practice from time to time. “Yeah, I did that.” Schelling laughs, “It probably wasn’t so good. When I first did it at North Polk it didn’t bother me so much, but when I got to Tri-Center and I had been removed for six or seven years, it hurt a lot longer than it did before.”
Schelling utilized his passion and emotion to become a successful coach, but he also had a knack for making everyone he interacted with feel valued. “They want to know if you really care about them or you just want them there to help you win games. I think it’s important that everyone is included. Everyone is important and it doesn’t make a difference what position you play or if you’re #1 or #2 or #3 at your position, you’re still important to the team.”
Schelling was inducted into the Iowa High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2007. He guided Atlantic to the 2002 state football championship and in 29 years he won 173 games. Schelling coached Tri-Center to the 1987 state baseball championship. In 1986 they were the state runner-up.
Schelling lists several coaches who have had a big impact on him. Among those he worked with during his time in Atlantic include, but aren’t limited to: Mike McDermott, Josh Rasmussen, Gene Schmelling, Lynn Barnes, Joel Simms, Kipp Harris, Roger Warne, Dale Retallic, Lee Saathoff, Paul McKay, Larry Blake, Jeff Wester, Dick Kranbeck, Justin Williams, and PJ Hedrington.
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