Honoring a winner

“If it didn’t matter then there wouldn’t be a scoreboard.”

I have spent 30 years in the Silver Valley and somehow, with all of the high school athletics that I have covered or participated in, I’ve never had the opportunity to meet the man known by many as simply Coach.

John Drager is among the more legendary figures in Silver Valley and North Idaho sports history — and truthfully I’m not sure that you’d find a city in the Panhandle who doesn’t have at least a handful of people who have some sort of colorful story about Mullan’s iconic Coach.

Drager is truly one of the few men who can be claimed in one form or fashion by the entire Silver Valley, as high school student he attended Kellogg and Wallace High Schools before attending college at both the University of Idaho and North Idaho College — including time as a Vandal football player and a Cardinal hooper.

It was in 1963, however, that he began his journey to becoming Mullan’s favorite adopted son.

Norm Walker, the longtime football and basketball coach at Mullan High School, asked if Drager would be interested in taking a position as an assistant coach under him. No one could’ve expected that by saying yes to Walker’s request (Drager included), that a foundation of excellence was being laid for the students and athletes in Mullan for decades to come.

“I had the opportunity to work with John Drager for 20-some years,” said Don Kotschevar. “He was probably one of the best educators that I ever worked with. He didn’t teach about books, he taught about life. He was simply amazing.”

As a competitor, Drager hated losing and relished winning in ways that can only be described by looking at the careers of the likes of Jordan and Brady or even Jackson and Belichick.

Lightning struck first in 1965 when, as an assistant to Walker, the Mullan Tigers captured the A-4 state basketball championship.

It would be the first championship that he was a part of, but it was far from the last as he would spend the next 32 years as the head football coach, 28 of them also as the head basketball coach following Walker’s departure to coach at Wallace.

During those 32 years, he amassed an incredible 229-51 record coaching football and a 467-205 record in basketball.

The accolades begin to really stack up when you break the years down.

Fourteen league championships each in basketball and football, five undefeated seasons on the gridiron, including two recognized state championships in 1983 and 1984, as well as two unofficial state championships where Mullan finished atop the state rankings at the end of the year in 1974 and 1975.

Drager also coached Mullan’s track team for a time — where he (you guessed it) was a winner.

It’s estimated that in his time as a coach (at any level) he won more than 1,000 games for Mullan.

Drager even coached against his own children — who attended Wallace. But when they began to steal some wins from their old man, Coach quickly brought them up to Mullan to win games for him.

When Drager retired in 1996, it was almost a shock to the system for the collective North Idaho sports world. The region’s fiercest competitor had rode off into the sunset on his own terms with a hall of fame resume that would never be second guessed.

That resume would be honored seven years later when he was inducted into the North Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.

“John was so respected by so many throughout North Idaho, you could not walk into a store or restaurant anywhere without somebody not knowing John Drager,” Kotschevar said.

Even with a competitive edge that was unmatched, numerous former players and students will tell you about his softer side. His sense of humor. And his willingness to make sure that no student ever went without.

“A kid never went without when it came to Drager,” Kotschevar said. “If someone didn’t have all of the equipment they needed, then he’d find a way, either he’d find it for them or give them an opportunity to come and work for some money in order to purchase what they needed. It didn’t matter if they came from the wrong side of the fence — he was the finest man I ever had the opportunity to work with.”

Kotschevar, who was formerly both Mullan’s mayor and high school principal, acknowledges that Drager’s influence on his life likely shaped him in ways that he is still discovering today.

Kotschevar spent several years in different coaching capacities himself and said that one quote from Drager stuck in his mind more than others.

“They put a scoreboard in the gym or on the field for one goddamn reason, and that’s to win. If it didn’t matter, then there wouldn’t be a scoreboard.”

“I learned so much from that,” Kotschevar said with a chuckle.

Coach, you and I may have never met, but I am happy to be celebrating your life and everything that you’ve given back to this community today.

Throughout today’s edition you are going to hear from a lot of people who love John Drager — and it’s pretty easy to see why!