Rich in life

719 Earle Street, Mullan, Idaho, the home I grew up in. I was blessed to grow up in Mullan and even more blessed to live about 100 yards west of John Drager Field. A field named after the man I will be writing about.

I still remember the goliath football players walking and or running down the railroad tracks, the same tracks that Northern Pacific Railroad hauled ore from Lucky Friday to mills elsewhere. The same mine where many of the players I saw would later go to work at.

I remember being in the yard of my parent’s house one fall afternoon and seeing Coach John Drager running down Earle Street at a very, and I mean very high rate of speed. I also remember a football player chasing him, but the foot race was not even close. Coach was across from the Skantel residence, and the football player was many lengths away. The player had his fist up in the air, later I learned that that high school player had a snake in his hand and anyone who knows Coach knows that he hates snakes (more on that later).

My high school football career started during the latter part of summer in 1984 when I was a freshman. One day we got our hands on some disappearing ink. Coach was sporting a brand new beautifully embroidered polo shirt. A group of us complimented on how nice it was and I then proceeded to squirt black ink on it. The look on his face was priceless and I’m surprised I didn’t get a beat down. He was beyond angry, yelling while he walked back into his office. A couple of minutes later I went in, apologized and said something about the ink being gone. He looked down and thank God the stuff worked as advertised as it literally disappeared. Coach kind of wanted to laugh but gruffly told us to get out, with a smirk on his face. He later asked us what that stuff was.

Coach was old school, some players loved him, and some hated him. He was tough and like a military leader wanted people to show up on time and give it their all. If he saw you being weak, he would call you out on it and you had two choices, toughen up or get out of the way for the next guy. I still remember the '80s with no fancy water bottles, helmets or pads. We drank out of the local creek laying on our bellies slurping up the cold water. We scrimmaged some of the local miners who had played previous years and these guys looked like they should be playing for the pros. Conditioning meant running a lot of hills. This was after you had already practiced all afternoon. Getting into shape was what won games, well that's what coach said anyways.

My junior or senior year Coach would tell the guys at practice "Whoever gets the hit of the week, gets a free steak dinner at Albi’s." One week I had a great hit and Coach announced that I earned the hit of the week. That week, I walked into Albi’s where I had a steak dinner and charged it to Coach. I remember the waitress calling the owner and the owner okaying it; the look on Coach’s face was priceless when I showed up at our next practice. I think I was the only one who actually took him up on his offer and I didn’t ever hear him making promises of steak dinners again.

After graduation, I began working for the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office and eventually was elected to the position of Sheriff. I became a part of the Wallace guys coffee clutch, having coffee once a week for several years. During one of these coffee meetings, Coach, Carl Wilson, Doug Yrjana, Sam Groves and I planned an ATV ride. It gave me a chance to patrol the backroads of the county and to show the guys around at the same time. We had one memorable trip going over Burke Road into Mullan then proceeding to the Ridge Road/State Line Road, South of St. Regis. On another trip we went to Stevens Peak, and we hiked up the last 100 yards or so to the top. Coach was awestruck at the beauty of that fall day. He looked over at me and stated, “I’ve lived here my whole life and never saw anything like this.” He said he was always on the football field or in the gym and just never had the chance. At that moment in time all I could think of is that we all need a good balance in our life. I think he loved his balance even though he missed out on other activities.

My wife Keri Alexander would join the Wallace guys at our coffee clutch from time to time. One day while on vacation, it was decided that Keri and I would meet Coach on the bike trail in front of his house and the three of us would ride to Wallace for coffee. We left early in the morning that fine fall day and remember Coach not being at our rendezvous point. I was thinking that he should be running hills like we had to if we were going to be late like that. Keri and I peddled up his road past a dead garter snake arriving at his house where he was just getting on his bike. The three of us proceeded down the road and I mentioned the dead snake as we were going by it. Bad move on my part as Coach slammed on his brakes; the only problem was he squeezed the brakes a little too much and his front brake caused him to topple over his handlebars onto his back. I proceeded to untangle him from the wreck, where he was a little banged up and bloody. But in true “Coach” fashion, not one complaint of any kind, he just jumped back on his bike and clattered his gears to the Red Light Garage for coffee.

Some things that you may or may not know about Coach John Drager; his family were original homesteaders of the Sun Valley area, one of his relatives was the mayor. When he was a kid, he personally met and shook hands with Ernest Hemingway (for those that don’t know he is one of America’s greatest writers.) I remember Coach telling me, “I was just a young kid shaking some old guy’s hand, damn I wish I would have taken that more seriously.”

He coached football, basketball, baseball, softball, track, swimming, archery, bowling, kickball, dodgeball, weights and cross-country skiing. He was a teacher at the school, teaching classes such as history and health. He is a fantastic swimmer, teaching many lessons at the Pavilion. He never has been a good sleeper; I still remember him pacing around the hotel when we went to state. His rentals were frequently burned down by other people, not him. He is fiercely competitive, a little rough around the edges like many valley guys and he has a fantastic sense of humor. His humor could be dry at times, hard to decipher at others, embarrassing on another level and sometimes make you laugh until you cried. He loved listening to Elvis Presley and was sure to get his turn to listen to some of his songs on road trips. He didn’t get rich coaching or acting as athletic director for the Mullan School District, but he was rich in friendships, good memories and giving to his community. He taught us life lessons about relationships, showing up on time, pushing yourself harder than you ever thought you could, good sportsmanship, how to win and at times how to lose and overcome that loss. These were all traits that came in handy as we all left the nest and grew into who we were to become today.