Coach appreciation night a big hit
By Larry Peterson
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lpeterson@crestonnews.com
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| Former Panther football coach Dick Bergstrom shares a moment Satuday with his successor, Brian Morrison. (CNA photo by LARRY PETERSON) |
Three decades of former Panther football players gathered Saturday night to pay tribute to "coach."
Two tackles from the 1990s who went on to play college football — Ethan and Eric Owens — launched a party at A&G Lounge for retiring coach Dick Bergstrom. A 33-year career at the helm of the Panther program began in the fall of 1977, and ended with a substate appearance last fall. Bergstrom also retired as a math teacher at Creston High School.
Playoff teams
Nine of those seasons resulted in playoff appearances, including three district championship seasons. Members from most of those playoff teams were present Saturday, including the first one in 1985.
"The 1989 team (7-2) came in together for their 1990 class reunion," Eric Owens said. "It was good to see those guys. There was a lot of talking back and forth about who had the better team."
The best records were posted by 1979 (6-3), 1985 (7-3), 1988 (7-3), 1989 (7-2), 1991 (8-3), 1992 (8-2), 1994 (7-2 with six shutouts), 1995 (8-2, Kyle McCann's junior year at QB), 1996 (6-3), 2000 (8-4), 2001 (9-1), 2003 (7-4) and 2005 (6-4). There was a stretch of 17 straight winning seasons beginning in 1987.
There was a consistent standard of performance and integrity in the program, Ethan Owens said, which precipitated Saturday's gathering.
"We started thinking something needed to be done," Ethan said. "I put it on my Facebook site and asked people to start calling everybody. My dad (Larry) talked to people here in town. My brother helped and got in touch with coach (John) Rose. I'm very pleased with the turnout of people who came back to thank coach Bergstrom."
For more on this stroy see the July 29 edition of the Creston News Advertiser.
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