Cancer claimed the life of Gary Wheeler on Friday, but the legendary football and baseball coach at Carlyle High didn't give in easily.
"It was a terrible, horrible thing he was going through, but I'll tell you what -- he battled it," said Randy Dooley, Wheeler's longtime assistant football coach and one of his closest friends. "He did everything that he could to beat it, but it just sucked the life right out of him."
Diagnosed with cancer in December, Wheeler, 60, finally succumbed to the disease at St. Joseph's Hospital in Breese early Friday morning. Surrounded by family members and several close friends, Wheeler passed away quietly but left quite a legacy.
Wheeler coached Carlyle to the 1981 Class A state baseball championship and the 1988 Class 2A state football championship, a rare feat only a handful of coaches have accomplished.
Wheeler is survived by his wife, Shirley, and two sons, Brian Wheeler and Andrew Wheeler. Visitation is 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at the Frerker Funeral Home in Carlyle and 10 to 11 a.m. Monday at the Frank and Bright Funeral Home in Wheeler's hometown of Flora. Funeral service is 11 a.m. Monday with burial at Elmwood Cemetery in Flora.
"He had such an impact on so many young people's lives," said Dooley, who was by Wheeler's bedside when he died. "It's unbelievable the impact that he had. Of course, there were people who thought he was a tough man, but that was because they couldn't handle what was laid down and what needed to be done to be a part of his program. Those who did, there's not many that have anything bad to say about him."
The final football game that Wheeler saw in person was coached by one of his former star players, Columbia High coach Scott Horner. Columbia won 40-39 in double-overtime over Greenville last November in the Class 3A semifinals.
"It's kind of ironic how things unfold in situations like that, said Horner, the quarterback on Carlyle's 1988 state title team. "The one thing I remember the most about winning the state championship in '88 was the hug I got from him after the game. He told me he loved me and he was proud of me. That was the same exchange we had after the Greenville game."
His father, Tom Horner, started the Carlyle High football program and was a top-notch coach in his own right.
"Coaching's in the blood, and I spent a lot of days with my dad around it as a young kid," Scott Horner said. "But when you really start to learn the game and develop as a player, I spent most of those days around Coach Wheeler."
Wheeler helped mold and shape Horner in a variety of ways.
"Certainly it goes far beyond the game of football," Horner said. "Here's a guy who loved the game and who loved to coach young kids. But more importantly, he loved to teach kids how to become young men. He had that innate ability to be able to get out of you what you never thought you could get out of yourself -- and that's something special."
In baseball, Wheeler's teams won 483 games from 1976 to 2007. The Indians won the 1981 state championship and six regional titles.
Wheeler brought home another state championship to Carlyle in 1988, this time the 2A state football title. In 16 seasons as the Indians' football coach, Wheeler's teams were 90-66 with seven state playoff appearances.
Wheeler, who retired from teaching last year, wanted one more spring of coaching baseball. His weakened health kept him out of the dugout, and his assistant, Dusty Barr, took over.
Barr said it was a tough day around the school Friday as news of Wheeler's death filtered through the hallways.
"It's one of those moments in life that you know is going to happen, but when it does, it hits you harder than you thought it might," Barr said. "You realize he was in a tough situation, you realize it's probably for the better, but when it happens, it doesn't feel good. It still hurts."
Barr met his team after school to talk about the situation and remember the good times.
"I'm going to tell them the best way you can honor coach is by your play on the field," said Barr, whose club is 18-3 and ranked first in the News-Democrat small school poll.
Carlyle Athletic Director Darin Smith played for Wheeler, coached and taught with him at Carlyle.
"It would take a whole book to write about his influence not only on me but the student-athletes lives he has influenced over the past 30-plus years at Carlyle," said Smith, who visited Wheeler on Wednesday. "Coach Wheeler always said, if you want to be a winner on the field, you've got to be a winner off of it first. The athletes that played for him truly took that to heart."
Dooley said Wheeler's legacy won't soon be forgotten. Neither will the volumes of stories and one-liners.
"All the memories will last a lifetime, and the nicknames he gave still stick to this day," Dooley said. "Like old Icky, Danny Weihe. He was on the pitcher's mound and Gary says 'Dang, you look like Ichabod Crane.' It still sticks to this day. He's truly a remarkable, special man. I feel blessed to have known him as well as I did."
