Trying to get it right

I am proud to write an article about Van Troxel.

The football coach has my full admiration for the job he did at Lake City High School.

I had four sons attend Lake City High School starting with a freshman the first year the school opened. This allowed me lots of time to observe how Van genuinely cared about his players. He held them to a higher standard of student behavior. This was because the students were part of his program.

Van was respected by his student athletes because they could see through his actions and commitment that he really cared about them as people and as players.

Lastly Troxel was also a winner. This means losing was not something he cared to be associated with.

IT WAS plain from the beginning that Lake City would become a great football program. Coach Troxel’s time commitment to the football program was second to no one’s. He expected his players to work hard and be committed to the program as he led by example. His principles of hard work, massive time devotion, and genuine caring for the players took his program from doormats to state champs.

A FUNNY story demonstrates coach Troxel’s desire to win. His first year coaching the varsity team did not win a game. Besides winless, they did not score a single point at home the first year.

The second year the scoreboard blew down in a wind storm. This happened around the second or third game of the season and Lake City still had not scored a point on their home field.

The head of maintenance, Bryan Martin, and some of his workers meet with Van. Van was demanding that the scoreboard be fixed immediately. The maintenance crew began kidding the coach that he didn’t need the scoreboard at all because his teams never scored any points. Van Troxel was not laughing with the rest of this group.

The scoreboard was put back up. The next game Lake City scored 3 points.

Coach Van Troxel continued his march to building one of the best football programs in the state.

Jim Landers is a retired dentist and a former wrestling coach and official. He can be reached at 819-3579 or at skibums6@aol.com.