(Adair) He coached high school sports for 52 years including two state championship football seasons with Adair-Casey. Ron Peck graces the “Why I Coach” series with his presence.
Landing a job with the Bombers was not a complicated process for the Nebraska native and Wayne State alum. “It was kind of a funny thing. It was in August and I was looking for a job. I kind of didn’t want to drive that far. I’m 130 miles away from Adair, but I got this interview.” Peck says Keith Myers was the Superintendent at the time and Myers asked Peck why he should hire him. Peck replied, “I’m looking for a job and you’re looking for a guidance counselor.” Peck says he planned to stay only one year before finding something closer to home, but “I liked my boss and I liked the kids and I just got to liking the place and I stayed 12 years.”
Under Peck’s direction, Adair-Casey won state titles in the 2000 and 2001. “The biggest key was we had linemen that were so big and strong. Most teams didn’t really have a chance. We had so many big strong linemen. It was unbelievable the talent we had.”
Coach Peck credits assistant coach Scott Frohlich for putting a big emphasis on the weight room. The Bombers hosted the championship game in front of a huge crowd in 2000 and beat Elk Horn-Kimballton 25-24. “The thing I remember the most was wide left.” Peck laughs, “We were ahead of them by I guess a point and they had scored and had a chance to either go for two and try to win it or kick a point and tie it. We’d stopped them every time they went for two so they decided to try and kick it and it was wide left. I still see the thing going wide left. That was a good place for it to go.”
They defended the title the next year with a 54-30 decision over Aurelia. The coaches were competitive, but they had their fun too. One example is racing a golf cart around the track. “We were trying to make it a quarter mile in under sixty seconds in my golf cart. I couldn’t do it. Frohlich was an old race car driver back in the day. He said ‘That’s the problem. Let me drive.’ And by golly we got it. We got it under sixty.”
Peck’s last game with the Bombers was a 28-20 loss to Sentral, Fenton in the 2003 state championship game. “I was 62-years-old and I used to play black jack quite a bit. I remember one time I had a blackjack and the dealer had an ace up. I said ‘What am I supposed to do.’ And he told me, ‘Let me tell you something. When I’m going to pay. You take it.’ I kind of used that theory for social security. I was 62 and the government wanted to pay, so I took it.”
After his time with Adair-Casey came to an end, Peck continued to help out as an assistant coach in Nebraska for 14 seasons. After that he turned his 9-hole round of golf into an 18-hole round and never looked back. During his career, Peck won multiple state titles in both Iowa and Nebraska, but believes his best work may have come during a 1-8 season. “We had to play Ogden my last game and they hadn’t won any either. The reason we won was we were still motivated to win a game and they didn’t give a hoot. I thought that was maybe the best coaching I ever did. You lose eight games in a row and you still get them wanting to play you are doing something right I think.”
Peck began his career at Marathon, Iowa where he coached both basketball and wrestling in the same winter. He also had head coaching stops for football at Colo, Maple Valley, and Beemer (Nebraska).
Previous Coaches
(Click to listen)
John Kesselring, Adair-Casey alum
Eric Maassen, (AHST grad) Sheldon
Jerome Hoegh, Atlantic grad (West Sioux)
Gaylord Schelling, Atlantic and Tri-Center
Dick Strittmatter, Atlantic native
Chad Klein, Audubon Native (Kuemper Catholic and Boone)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Monte Riebhoff)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Steve Ahrendsen)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Scott Weber)
In Memory of Bob Monahan, Audubon (Curt Mace)
Steve Pelzer, Cumberland-Massena
Andy Hensley, Cumberland-Massena grad (Tri-Center)
Jason Mehrhoff, Anita Native (Carlisle)
Eric Hjelle, Elk Horn-Kimballton grad (Underwood)
Brett Watson, Elk Horn-Kimballton alum (Waukee Northwest)
Warren Watson, Elk Horn-Kimballton
Chris Stimson, Elk Horn-Kimballton
Scott Yates, Elk Horn-Kimballton
Jan Jensen, Elk Horn-Kimballton alum
Seth Poldberg, EH-K grad and Guthrie Center coach
Marc Bierbaum, Griswold grad and Iowa Western track/cross country assistant
Trevor Gipple, (Griswold grad) SW Valley
Curt Schulte, Harlan graduate (Glenwood)
Liz Stein, Harlan graduate (Audubon and Underwood)
Angie Spangenberg, Harlan and Red Oak
Eric Stein (Harlan grad) Iowa Central
Darrell Burmeister, Nodaway Valley
Lanny Kliefoth, Nodaway Valley
Dan Schleisman, Shelby-Tennant and Treynor
Chad Harder, (Walnut Grad) Tri-Center
Josh Abel, (Walnut grad), Tri-Center
Kevin Suhr, (Walnut Grad) Blue Valley High School, KS
