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Mr. Concordia: Coach Meyer's legacy of loving Jesus, family and Bulldog Football

By Jacob Knabel on Oct. 24, 2024 in Football

It’s two days prior to the 2024 Concordia football team’s trip to No. 2 Northwestern. In the middle of reflecting upon a coaching career that has stretched back more than five decades, Coach Courtney Meyer shifts his thoughts to that weekend’s game, one most outsiders expect to be won handily by the Red Raiders. Meyer exudes the same passion he did in his 20s and 30s. Says Meyer in lowering his voice to a whisper, as if to ensure no one else can hear him, “I want to beat these guys. I really get fired up about playing Northwestern.”

Ever the optimist, Meyer goes on to discuss high hopes for a team that he believes is the best Concordia group in the last 20 years of the program. Meyer would know. His scope of Bulldog football dates all the way back to the 1960s when he played for then Head Coach Ralph Starenko. At one point in the conversation, Meyer offers, “Where does the time go? All the sudden you’re 81 years old.”

It’s been 16 years since Meyer stepped down and resigned his post as head coach of the program. Just a year after his initial “retirement,” Meyer returned to the sidelines as an assistant under one of the many coaches he mentored, Vance Winter. The extension of Meyer’s career on the sidelines for the place he holds near and dear has brought him joy that is obvious to those around him. After contemplation and prayer, Meyer knows the time is right to put the coaching vocation aside for good. In the week leading up to the win at Doane, Meyer made it known to the current players.

And so ends another chapter for “Mr. Concordia,” as Meyer was dubbed by longtime athletic equipment manager and do-it-all extraordinaire Stan Schlueter. As he comes to grips with this new reality, Meyer explains the decision in a manner seemingly meant to reassure himself. He wants to take care of his own health and give more time to his wife Connie. Though his football coaching career may be ending, Meyer’s love for Jesus, family and Bulldog Football is eternal.

The Beginnings

Courtney Meyer was born in 1943 to Alvin and Paula Meyer and spent his childhood in Frohna, Missouri, situated more than 550 miles from Seward, Nebraska. Courtney was the second of five Meyer children that grew up in Perryville County, located on the Illinois border. As a youngster, Courtney took an early interest in sports but was also heavily involved in music. In the seventh grade, Courtney dealt with a bout of polio that he says negated some of his running speed.

Courtney recovered and resumed pursuit of his passions. The school yearbook from Perryville High School in 1961 includes a photo of Courtney in his band uniform. It wasn’t until his senior year of high school that he went out for the football team. That isn’t to say he wasn’t interested in sports. Courtney’s best sport athletically was actually baseball. His college career was set in motion when a member of his church in Frohna discussed Courtney’s talents with the baseball coach at St. John’s Lutheran College in Winfield, Kansas. That seemed like a sign for Courtney.

Courtney still remembers the day his parents left him off in Winfield. As Courtney recalled, “My parents took me out to Winfield, and I hadn’t even been accepted yet. When I got out there, they asked me what program I was in. I said, ‘Well, what programs are there?’ They told me and I said, 'I think I want to be a teacher.’ So I got into the education program. I didn’t know a soul. My dad dropped me off in a ’50 Chevy and I had all my stuff right there. He took off. I’ll never forget seeing the old ’50 Chevy going around the corner.”

When his two years were up at St. John’s, Courtney had another move to make. According to Courtney, his two options were Concordia River Forest and Concordia Seward. The smalltown boy wasn’t much for the big city. He opted for Seward over Chicago after writing a letter to then Head Football Coach Ralph Starenko. Concordia Teachers College wasn’t about to turn anyone down. As Starenko told Courtney, “You can stay as long as you like. We don’t cut anybody.”

There would be no reason to cut Courtney, who excelled in football and baseball and was named Concordia’s Senior Athlete of the Year for the 1964-65 academic year. On the football field, he donned the No. 24 and played for teams that went a combined 11-7. He spent one season playing for Starenko before future College Football Hall of Famer Ron Harms took over in 1964. Harms himself felt enough of Concordia that he referred to it as an “atmosphere you’re not going to find anyplace else.”

On the diamond, Courtney starred as a successful pitcher. As he would say, “Baseball was my best sport, but I wanted to coach football. I loved football.” Those two years as a Bulldog flew by and it was again time for Courtney to move on. As he said of those two formative years, “I was enjoying myself a lot. Next thing you know you’re a senior.”

The education at St. John’s and Concordia helped prepare Courtney for his own career in coaching and teaching. The journey ahead would lead to places such as Martin Luther High School in Maspeth, New York, Long Island Lutheran High School (New York) and Lutheran High School in in Mayer, Minnesota. Meyer also continued his education by earning his master’s at Southeast Missouri State University. Inspired by a coaching clinic put on by famed University of Indiana Head Coach Bob Knight, Courtney even led the girls’ basketball team in Mayer to a state championship game appearance.

Following his time in Mayer, Meyer had the opportunity to return to Seward, 12 years after his college graduation. Courtney was building a résumé that would one day make him a prime head coaching candidate.

The road back to Seward and Coach Meyer’s conundrum

When the John “Sid” Seevers head coaching tenure concluded with the 1976 season, Concordia tabbed another alum in Larry Oetting as its new football coach. In putting together his first staff, Oetting appointed Meyer as his Defensive Coordinator. As Oetting said, “I was able to hire an outstanding staff with Courtney, Dean Vieselmeyer and Sid continuing on. We felt like football could come back strong. As God blessed us, it did.”

Oetting and his staff pushed Concordia back to the top of the Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings. The tenacious defense of 1981, coordinated by Meyer, held opponents to just 8.8 points per game as the Bulldogs went 9-1, won the conference championship and finished with an NAIA national ranking of 12th. From 1981 through 1983, the program went a combined 23-7 behind hard-nosed defenses.

Years prior to that 1983 season, Courtney had found the woman he would soon ask to marry him. Their relationship would be tested when Concordia College of Mequon, Wisconsin, showed interest in Courtney. The sister school eventually came calling with an offer for Meyer to become the program’s head coach. Meyer mulled it over and discussed the offer with friends like Stan Schlueter. As Schlueter recalled of their conversation, “He was really torn about going. I said, ‘Hey, it’s an opportunity. Your heart’s still here. You’re not abandoning us.’ That’s how bad he felt about taking the job. It was a great opportunity for him to go up there and be the head coach.”

Admitted Courtney, “I didn’t want to go because I wanted to coach here. I went to Larry and asked him how long he was going to keep coaching. He said, ‘I don’t know.’ We were doing well. We were winning. He was doing a great job. I thought maybe it was something that won’t happen for me, but God has a plan. The plan was that I would come back here again.”

Courtney and Connie Kirchner wed in the summer of 1983 and Courtney soon whisked off to Wisconsin while his new bride stayed back. Ultimately, the opportunity to become a college head coach for the first time was too much for Courtney to pass up. No doubt he prayed on it for an extended period of time. In following God’s plan, Courtney spent the ’84 through ’89 seasons leading the Falcons, then an NAIA member like the Bulldogs. Said Courtney, “What I learned there was confidence that I could coach.”

Courtney surrounded himself with a strong staff that included Keith Collins and Jeff Gabrielsen. Meyer’s teams went a combined 35-19 and won conference championships in 1988 and 1989. Meyer twice put his Concordia Mequon teams up against the Bulldogs and came away with wins by scores of 24-21 in 1988 and 41-6 in 1989. The latter meeting took place in Seward as Meyer made a triumphant homecoming. There was no part of Courtney that wanted to gloat as he watched his alma mater finish at 1-8.

After 13 seasons as head coach, Oetting stepped aside and focused on his ministry as a pastor. He also ran a successful detasseling business. Oetting won 63 games with 1981 remaining the hallmark season.

Another offer was about to come Courtney’s way. This time, the decision wouldn’t be so difficult. Before Courtney had a final decision, his father-in-law told him he was glad to have him back in Nebraska. He already knew what the answer was going to be. Indeed, Courtney was coming home.

Answering the call

It was April of 1990 when Courtney Meyer was officially introduced as the Head Football Coach at his alma mater. Courtney and his wife Connie found ways to make their family lives work during the six-year tenure in Mequon. They had become parents and now could bring the entire family together on a daily basis in Seward. As Meyer said at the time, “I am a Bulldog at heart. That’s why this is so meaningful to me. My wife and I both have a great love for Seward. I enjoyed being part of the program before, and I’m looking forward to being part of it again.”

To be truthful, the college’s overall commitment to football had waned. Under Oetting, Concordia slipped from 6-4 in 1987 to 3-6 in ’88 and to 1-8 in ’89. To succeed as the head football coach, you had to do it on a shoestring budget with limited scholarship offerings, below standard facilities and with minimal funds earmarked for hiring assistant coaches. Meyer can honestly say that he didn’t know quite the situation he was walking into.

In a stretch from 1993 through 1996, the Bulldogs won a total of one NIAC conference game. To this day Meyer looks back and wonders aloud, “Are you kidding me? One conference win in four years.” Despite the results, Meyer’s positive attitude never wavered. Not even for a minute. In terms of the on-field results, better days were ahead.

Besides, memories of the wins and losses fade over time. What Meyer never failed to succeed in doing was bringing a group of men closer to together and closer in their faith. The 1990s era players gained a great deal from their experiences of being mentored by Meyer and his staff. An NAIA Honorable Mention All-American offensive lineman in 1996, Ed McLaughlin credits Meyer with changing the entire course of his life.

Says McLaughlin, “I owe so much to him. Without him, I’m not at Concordia. I don’t have the job I have right now. I don’t meet my wife. I don’t have my kids. If God doesn’t put Courtney at Seward High in March of my senior year, I’m not sitting here talking right now. I have no idea where I’d be. Courtney is the reason I’m at Concordia. I appreciate everything he did for me. I think he’s a great guy.”

McLaughlin happened to be playing at right guard for one of the most memorable wins of the 1990s for Concordia. On November 4, 1995, the Bulldogs shocked 14th-ranked Hastings (7-0-1 at the time), 28-27, in Seward. Concordia rallied back from a 14-0 deficit to win as Nathan Robbins picked off two passes, Mike Hoernemann made 17 tackles and blocked an extra point and Jeremy Geidel ran for 96 yards and a touchdown. As McLaughlin said, “We didn’t win a lot, but Coach Meyer always made sure that he did everything he could to be successful. We had a great group of guys.”

No one questioned Coach Meyer’s ability to positively lead a group of young men, but the pressure was mounting as the string of losing seasons continued into the latter part of the 1990s. Then school president Orville Walz began asking questions. A winning football program brings value to an entire university, and that sentiment wasn’t lost on Walz. Whether outsiders knew it or not, Meyer’s seat was feeling warmer in 1997. Things were going to have to change.

At the approval of Walz, Concordia brought in Dr. Ted Kessinger, a wildly successful head coach at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan., to conduct a thorough evaluation of the football program. The findings from Kessinger turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened for Bulldog Football. Kessinger was not surprised that the football program was struggling when he saw facts like Concordia’s average football scholarship ($1,725) and lack of staffing dedicated to recruiting. Meyer needed additional staff and resources, or the results were unlikely to change.

Kessinger supported Meyer in writing, “It is with significant depth of conviction that I state and believe that it is the Lord’s will that Courtney be the head coach. This statement is substantiated by the overall comments of those interviewed. I have no question of his expertise in football, his passion to minister his players, his abilities and knowledge necessary to be a winning coach on and off the field, his organizational and motivational skills and his sensitivity to be an exceptional recruiter. These points are also substantiated by his successes at Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin.”

Kessinger’s report confirmed what Meyer had believed. Walz and the administration took the findings to heart and added a full-time staff member and altered the scholarship model. Said Meyer, “I wish I would have handled things differently when I first came here and addressed all the concerns we had before the president came and said, ‘You’re not getting the job done.’ I agreed. I had to do different things. It worked okay. God has a plan. I was blessed beyond measure and supported by Connie all those years.”

After the Bulldogs went 1-9 in 1997, Walz gave Meyer an ultimatum. The ’98 team had to win at least three games or Meyer would be replaced. That squad opened the year at 2-5 before closing it out with back-to-back victories, bringing the final record to 4-5. Little did anyone realize just how much the changes were about to pay off. Bill McAllister had been tabbed as the new offensive coordinator and lead recruiter while Tim Preuss remained the defensive coordinator.

McAllister went to work on implementing a new offense – the Wing T – that could mask some of the size disadvantages the Bulldogs had at the time. Some other Great Plains Athletic Conference coaches even poked fun at McAllister’s offense. But the 1985 Midland Lutheran College graduate compiled a record of 54-29 during nine seasons as a Nebraska high school football head coach, proving his system worked. One GPAC coach prodded, “When are you going to quit running that high school offense?” McAllister’s response: “When you can stop it.”

That ‘high school offense’ helped carry the highly acclaimed 2001 team to a GPAC championship, NAIA playoff quarterfinal advancement and final NAIA ranking of No. 7. Meyer was recognized as the GPAC and AFCA Region Coach of the Year while four Bulldogs were named to the conference’s first team: kicker Jess Boyd, linebacker Erik DeHaven, safety Sean Stewart and tight end Ross Wurdeman. Second Team All-GPAC honors went to running back Alex Alvarez, offensive lineman Wes Amberger, receiver Regan Else, defensive back Troy Schlueter, defensive lineman David Schmidt and running back Darin Suckstorf.

“I had always been part of winning programs,” said quarterback Jarrod Pimentel in recalling his first season as a Bulldog. “This was the first time I was on a team that struggled. We started out really bad (in 1998). I remember calling my mom and dad and saying, ‘Hey, I’m not used to losing.’ There were about 15 to 20 of us that made a pact that we were going to stay together and work our butts off to try to win a championship.” Winning really was all Pimentel knew. He lost just once his entire high school career. The coaches appreciated Pimentel’s trust in the program. Said Preuss, “I have really fond memories of the players. We had guys like Pimentel who were so committed. That’s what helped us turn things around.”

The turnaround orchestrated by Meyer and his staff brought winning back to Concordia Football in the 21st century. Meyer’s tenure continued as the Bulldogs finished .500 or better each year from 1999 through 2004. Kessinger’s report helped lead to Meyer becoming the GPAC’s dean of coaches in what ultimately finished as a 19-year head coaching tenure. Those two decades provided Meyer ample opportunity to impact lives and to keep his players smiling with his memorable one-liners and phrases.

Coach Meyer-isms

Whether you played for Coach Meyer in 1990 or 2008, you probably remember some of his same favored lines. Let’s call them ‘Coach Meyer-isms,’ sometimes akin to the types of things New York Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra used to say.

Everyone who came through the program came to know Meyer for words and phrases such as:

·        DWR – “Do What’s Right.”

·        “Big Red” in reference to the sun coming up during early morning practices.

·        “Skin is waterproof” when it started to rain.

·        “It’s a great day for football!”

·        “Birthdays are a good thing. The more you have, the longer you live.”

·        The “Double Win” – winning on the scoreboard and winning as a believer in Christ.

In addition, Coach Meyer would not let a postgame locker room gathering pass without the team singing, in unison, “The Doxology.” As former Bulldog Gerrod Lambrecht said, “Sometimes when I see it on social media, it still almost brings me to tears.” The song was belted out during the Larry Oetting era, and Coach Meyer wasn’t going to be the one to let the tradition die off. A new tradition also got started during Meyer’s tenure when the likes of Chuck Brewer and Sean Stewart first “walked the dog.” No postgame celebration would be complete without The Doxology or Walk the Dog.

Select people have been fortunate enough to be invited over to the Meyer household for gritzelwurst, a type of German sausage. Current Head Coach Patrick Daberkow and the rest of the staff have been treated to this delicacy on multiple occasions. For those who are even more fortunate, Coach Meyer might even break out the guitar and sing, putting to use what he learned in those days in the band at Perryville High School. In a lighter moment, Meyer once barked like a dog in response to a game plan he was fired up about for an upcoming game with Hastings.

Says Daberkow, “Not many people know how good he is at guitar with Johnny Cash songs. Him and Connie will have our staff over for breakfast and he breaks out the guitar and he just sings Johny Cash songs for us. It’s awesome.”

Beyond the catch phrases, Meyer is overwhelmingly optimistic and upbeat. That outlook has never changed no matter the circumstances. As former quarterback Jarrod Pimentel said, “He was a very energetic, positive man. He would rub that off on you. It didn’t matter how bad or good things were going, he was always very positive. That’s why I really respect the man a lot.”

Whether surrounded by players, family or community members, Coach Meyer has always been the exact same jovial person. If ever someone says they “have to” go do something. Coach Meyer will quickly correct them and say, “No, you get do it,” as if to tell that person that everything in life is a privilege. As his son Josh says, “He is just a very positive person. What you see is what you get. He would get frustrated sometimes, and he would just say, “Gosh!” That’s how you know when Coach Meyer is mad. He’ll just say, “Gosh!” There’s no swearing.”

When dropping his kids off at school, Coach Meyer would leave them with the words, “Be kind and loving.” He also likes to say that “attitude determines altitude.” Either dwell on your failures or move forward with a positive attitude. Coach Meyer always chooses the latter.

Walking away – for real this time

Still in the midst of year 19 as head coach of the Bulldogs, Coach Meyer made his decision public. As a headline in the Lincoln Journal Star read on Oct. 22, 2008: “Longtime Bulldogs coach set to retire.” Meyer told reporter Ken Hambleton, “I hope that we provided a greater good than the scoreboard. I have worked with a lot of great young men and helped them in football and in their love of Jesus Christ.”

At the time, Meyer hung up his post unaware that he would soon be back on the sidelines. In December 2008, then Athletic Director Grant Schmidt and Concordia University announced Vance Winter as Meyer’s successor. Winter had spent the previous four years working under Meyer on the staff. Roughly a year later, Winter came calling when he needed help from someone local. Meyer jumped at the chance to work as an assistant in his “retirement.” Since then, Meyer has served various roles while coaching running backs and special teams.

The unexpected opportunity has carried Meyer into his 80s, though you’d never guess his age based on his unchanged passion and enthusiasm for coaching. Ed McLaughlin recalls bumping into Meyer shortly after he had agreed to help Winter roughly 15 years ago. Said McLaughlin, “I walked out to practice, and I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ He was like, 'I got the playbook. They asked me to help coach.’ He was as fired up to do that as he was to be the head coach. He was sitting on the hill watching the offense and the defense. There was a light in his eye. The man just loves football. On top of that, he loves Concordia.”

As the years have gone by, Coach Meyer has had to wrestle with the idea of when to walk away more permanently. The options, in Meyer’s mind, were to be all in or to be all out. As Patrick Daberkow says of Meyer’s involvement with the program, “He’s at everything. He wants to be as involved as he can be, and he has been. It’s in his blood. I think he’s done as good as a guy can do balancing family with it. He modeled that for me when he was a head coach here. There are some coaches who really want to encourage their staff to guard their desk. He never was that way. I really respect that about him. He has values outside of just football.”

Daberkow understands how hard it will be for Meyer to step away, even though he says of Meyer, “He’s still got it.” Finally, the time came for an official announcement to be made. The Concordia Football team learned of Meyer’s decision the week of the Doane game. The 2024 season will be Meyer’s last as an official member of the coaching staff, marking the end of an era.

“It’s the right time,” Meyer said. “It’s just harder to do things than it used to be. There’s a time you have to retire. I’m going to miss it. I’m really going to miss it. Patrick said, ‘Coach, you can come by whenever you want.’ I said, ‘I will probably take you up on it.”

So what will you do now, Coach Meyer? “I talked to Ted Kessinger today and his advice was: ‘find something to do.’ That’s what I’m going to do. I want to look into some mentorship opportunities. I have a great interest in visiting nursing homes. I do that now and visit people in nursing homes. You have to keep busy. That’s what I’m praying about. We’ll see what happens.”

Legacy of service

On a late October Tuesday, Coach Meyer struggles to fight back tears. As part of the weekly Bulldog Athletic Association Member luncheon, with Meyer in attendance, Patrick Daberkow discussed what his former coach has meant to him all these years. Daberkow detailed how in 2020, amidst the height of COVID-19 fears and racial tensions within the United States, Coach Meyer helped him find the proper perspective. Daberkow made a visit to Meyer’s house at that time and was blown away by Meyer’s lengthy hand-scrawled list of people and things he was praying for. Daberkow’s name was on that list.

Rest assured, if you played for Meyer, he thinks about you. It’s possible it may take him a moment to recall your name, but he’ll recognize the face. Really, all you have to do is tell him that you have some sort of connection to Concordia University, Nebraska, and his eyes will light up. As Meyer says, “What’s rewarding now for me is to see and hear about guys who I used to coach and what they’re doing now and how they are raising families.”

In response to a Facebook post on Oct. 18, 2024, that informed the public of the upcoming Coach Courtney Meyer Day, many former players and alums shared stories about Coach Meyer. One of them was Glen Snodgrass, who went on to become a successful high school football coach and educator. Wrote Snodgrass, “Every time Coach Meyer talks to you, he makes you feel like you are the most important person in the world to him. As a player I learned a lot from Coach Meyer about relationship building and treating each player as if they were a unique and important part of the team. His genuine care for each player is what stuck out the most to me, but also the amazing example he set for all of us as a great Christian man of integrity. I loved playing for coach Meyer.”

Somehow, Coach Meyer finds the time and the space within his heart for a seemingly infinite number of people. As Meyer took on the head coaching role for the Bulldogs, he and Connie raised three children, Caleb, Josh and Anna. Both Josh and Anna went on to become CUNE graduates and were runners on the cross country and track teams.

Growing up, the Meyer children understood they were sharing their dad with dozens of other young people. As Josh Meyer says, “He saw it as a calling and a mission to have an impact on the lives of his players.” And yet, Coach Meyer made sure to stay mentally present in the moment with his family. He didn’t treat his children any differently, whether the Bulldogs had just won or lost. When he could, Meyer would take his children along for happenings such as coaching clinics or even recruiting calls made in the basement of Weller Hall. Sometimes Josh would read a book as Meyer went through his rolodex of index cards with names and phone numbers.

For Caleb, Josh and Anna, you couldn’t help but be identified as the son or daughter of Coach Meyer. Said Josh, “It’s always been part of my identity, being Coach Meyer’s son. There’s a reputation that follows him in Seward and everywhere in the community and beyond. Any time I’d meet people who would see Concordia gear would ask my connection, they would know Coach Meyer. People know more about me because they know him.”

Seemingly everyone who was coached by Meyer or who has coached alongside him has an anecdote that reflects his larger impact. If you only talked about Coach Meyer from a football perspective, you missed what’s truly important to those who know him best. Vance Winter is one of those coaches who owes a debt of gratitude to Meyer. As Winter said back in 2016, “Coach Meyer has been one of the most influential people in my coaching career. He made coaching more than statistics or wins and losses. He is such a relational guy in terms of how he built a family and developed character. Coach Meyer’s influence on me has been more than probably anybody.”

Winter went on to marvel at how connected Coach Meyer is within the coaching profession. As an active member of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Meyer made acquaintances with such well-known coaches as Bobby Bowden and Fisher DeBerry. As Winter also stated of Meyer, “He’s an unbelievable man.”

It’s true that within the coaching fraternity, Coach Meyer has always been held in high regard. When Meyer announced his resignation from the head coaching position, fellow GPAC coaches chimed in. As Nebraska Wesleyan coach Brian Keller remarked, “Courtney has been a great spokesman for the NAIA and for Great Plains Athletic Conference football. He is the closest friend I have in our conference, and I have always enjoyed his company and appreciate the work he does.” Former Hastings coach Paul Mierkiewicz added, “Coach Meyer has done a lot for Concordia and the GPAC. He’s an outstanding man and a very good football coach.” Concordia’s own Dr. Kregg Einspahr, an astoundingly accomplished cross country and track athlete and coach, even stated, “I leaned on Coach Meyer quite a bit,” during his own career.

There are certainly tangible items that also reflect positively on Coach Meyer’s Concordia career. He played an instrumental role in the implementation of the Concordia Athletics Hall of Fame and the annual Bulldog Golf Classic and was part of the committee that made the stadium project (press box and track) come to fruition (completed ahead of the 1996 season). It was also Coach Meyer’s vision that resulted in the Concordia Football Reunion of 2016 when past coaches and alums from many eras gathered to share their love of Bulldog Football and all things Concordia.

The years of contributions and lives impacted inspired Stan Schlueter to refer to Coach Meyer as “Mr. Concordia.” Coach Meyer may scoff at such recognition, but it fits. Says Meyer of that moniker, “I don’t know about that. That’s just because I’ve been around a long time.”

There would likely be no argument from Patrick Daberkow, who smiles widely when asked to recall stories of Coach Meyer. Said Daberkow, “The most impressive thing I can tell you about Coach Meyer is that he’s a man of prayer. He reminds me often that he prays for me every day. If you have someone like that in your corner, you’re a blessed person. Of all the things that I’ve taken from Coach Meyer over the years, he’s famous for having an incredibly positive outlook on everything. That’s not manufactured. He lives that out. I’ve seen him in low moments after losses and I’ve seen him after victories. His personality stays the same.”

Says Josh Meyer, “Over his many years, Dad recruited a lot of people to Concordia. It makes me feel really proud to try to continue his legacy and the positive lessons that he has instilled. He’s definitely shaped who I am. To think of his impact on other people just makes me really proud. The same guy I know is the Coach Meyer that people know. I’m still trying to live up to the values that he instilled in me.”

While others count their blessings for their interactions with him, Coach Meyer attempts to deflect the praise. Fifty-nine years have passed since Meyer completed his Concordia Teachers College education. The young man from Perryville found his calling in Nebraska.

No one knows where the time has gone. Though it may have passed quickly, Mr. Concordia can look back with fulfilment in saying, “I’m the one who’s been really blessed by being here. We have been blessed immeasurably by what has taken place here.”