Tragedy again  strikes Cd'A

To the many young men he coached through the years, Dean Lundblad, Sr. was a strong leader, an incredible mentor and a dear friend.

"His sons have been my longtime best friends. He was a coach to me, a stepfather," said Dirk Ferrell, who knew Lundblad for more than 35 years. "He had a swagger about him. He was our John Wayne — a man’s man."

On Wednesday, the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office confirmed that Lundblad, 78, of Coeur d'Alene, leapt to his death from the Veterans Memorial Centennial Bridge on Tuesday evening, leaving behind many broken hearts and scores of former players and students who will never forget the lessons he taught them.

"He's been a great father and grandfather and husband," Ferrell said. "I have so many great memories and so many great things to say about Coach."

Lundblad was retired from teaching at Coeur d'Alene High School, where he coached boys basketball, leading the Vikings to the state tournament 13 times in 16 seasons, including a state title in 1973. He was inducted into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.

Ferrell was a sophomore when he was on Lundblad's varsity team, on which he played for three years.

One of Ferrell's fondest memories is a team trip to Taiwan that Lundblad organized during the summer before Ferrell's junior year.

"He did things that people just don't do," Ferrell said. "I don't know how he did it, but we went to Taiwan on our summer break and played eight American teams and two local Taiwan teams. We played for three weeks in a round-robin tournament.

"It was the trip of a lifetime for us. They just don't do that anymore, but he had the wherewithal to put that together."

Peter Job of Coeur d'Alene played for Lundblad from 1976-1978.

"He was a great coach and a great man. He's been a friend all my life. It's a tough one," Job said. "He's the type of guy who would do anything for you, even after you got out of school."

He said Lundblad was a teacher of life lessons, on and off the court.

"For kids in high school, he was very, very, very good," Job said.

And, like Ferrell and many other former players, Job stayed in contact with his coach long after he graduated from high school.

"About 15 or 16 years after school, I had a bout with cancer," Job said. "He always called and checked up on me. That speaks a lot about a man."

Post Falls Mayor Ron Jacobson played under Lundblad in the early 1970s, including the state championship game in Pocatello in 1973 that CHS won.

"I had two or three juices and had just eaten a bunch because I wasn't playing when he said, 'Take off your warm-ups,'" Jacobson said. "I played almost the whole second half of the state championship game. Dean had the confidence to put me in."

He said Lundblad always had a keen eye on the court — "he was a student of the game" — and was always good to his players.

"When I got out of school, applying for jobs, any time I needed a reference letter, he was always more than willing to provide," Jacobson said. "You played for him and he didn't forget that."

Lundblad's death comes as another tragic blow for the CHS community, following the Dec. 29, 2017, car wreck that claimed the life of 16-year-old sophomore Jacob Leeder and the March 21 suicide of Principal Troy Schueller.

"It's the second person in the last two weeks. It's going to have an impact," Jacobson said. "The scary thing is it's another tragedy that just took place. It also scares me the message that people may take from it or people who are struggling. To have a second suicide in two weeks is concerning.

"It emphasizes the importance of mental health and providing mental health."