It just sort of caught me by surprise. If I’d have put some thought into it I guess it probably wouldn’t have, but it did.

Not sure the year but there I was, walking into the South Sioux City Mini Dome for the first time ever. I remember South Sioux City girls basketball was still at the height of its powers and Ralston was a big deal in boys basketball.

How do I remember that, the part about Ralston boys basketball being a big deal? Because there stood Jerry Stine, that’s why. With that wry little smile of his.

Make that Coach Stine, as he’s known to thousands of young athletes who have come up through the ranks at dear old Wheeler Central High School and Bertrand High School. All I know is that day he was Coach Stine, bus driver for Ralston boys basketball.

After you spend your whole professional career connected to high school sports I guess you find a way to hang around, and one of Jerry’s was to serve as bus driver for Ralston activities, specifically basketball. I don’t claim to have full knowledge of his manifest all I know is he was in South Sioux City that day.

And like every time I saw Jerry in person it was a day-maker for me.

One of the kindest people you know, devout in his faith and yet one of the most competitive people you are going to meet, my friend, and likely your friend, Jerry Stine was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer right after the holidays and recently started treatment, as it related in the family’s announcement on Twitter. A gut-kick, an absolute gut-kick, knowing Jerry and his family are going through this trial because you just don’t want to believe good people like Jerry wind up in this kind of spot.

Like many of you my first connection with Jerry was through sports, high school sports specifically. As we were getting Huskerland off the ground Jerry was coaching ‘em up in basketball and track at Bertrand, making positive impacts on his players and his community like he always did. Jerry and I are kindred souls in a way because he loves documenting Nebraska high school sports history and that is one of the ways years later our friendship went to another level.

Jerry was a member of the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame Foundation board of directors when I came on board back in the 2000s. Jerry so thoroughly enjoyed his role on that board and his love for, and ability to, organize and document our sports and the people that participated and coached them was a hugely valuable tool to the board, and who cares about high school sports in our state.

And his commitment to the games and people who coach them led him to create one of our games’ highest honors, the Nebraska Coaches Association milestone awards which bear his name, and it is awesome just to write that sentence. Guys like Jerry love doing all the work and taking none of the credit.

Gotcha, Jerry. (wink)

Highly respected by his peers - not a surprise, I mean, spend five minutes with the guy and you’d respect him, too - he is a past president of the state coaches association and was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2000 and the University of Nebraska-Kearney Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.

See that, we never even mentioned what a great athlete Jerry was back in the day. He was a track and field all-American at Kearney State College, helping the Lopers win four straight conference championships, though you can be certain he’s never been the first to bring that up in conversation. That’s just not Jerry.

So as you can see our friend Jerry Stine has all the stats, all the resume, to be considered one of the greats, one of the most influential people in the world of Nebraska high school sports. And he is, no doubt. But that is about the least of best greatest attributes.

When I first found out about Jerry’s condition my heart sunk, then rallied when I realized his station in life and in his faith. He is surrounded by a beautiful and supporting family, thousands of people are in his corner, and he’s got God on his side. That’s a pretty good way to walk into a fight, Coach.

So back to the bus. I did know Jerry was a school bus driver at that time and, like I said, if I’d have taken time to think it out about him possibly being there in South Sioux it wouldn’t have caught me so off-guard. But I sure am glad it did. Chance meetings with friends like that are all the most joyful when they come as a surprise, especially when they start with the crooked little smile of Jerry’s.

It’s a 21st century world we live in so you can reach out to him via the following link, using it to voice your support for the Stine family and to share a story or two with Coach. He’d like that.

https://teamstine.typeform.com/to/qRQdjemu

Jerry’s in a tight spot right about now and he and his family can use all the prayer support we can muster. Either way, Coach, we know you are at peace knowing who is driving your bus.