OPINION: ‘Bergstrom Field’ dedication is overdue

I recently made a long overdue visit to an old friend, retired high school teacher and football coach Dick Bergstrom.

What our conversation entailed isn’t important in this public space. But, as I got in my car and drove home, I passed the Creston High School campus. It occurred to me that we’re missing something here that I often see in other Iowa towns as I travel for News Advertiser sports coverage.

There needs to be a sign at the football field in honor of Dick Bergstrom. We could just as well call it Dick Skarda track, too, for that matter, as long as we’re honoring icons who built something special on that property.

Every time I go to Winterset to cover a game I see the sign, “McGaffin Field.” It’s named after the longtime football and track coach, Charles “Mac” McGaffin. He coached track for 25 years and football for 18 years, with a record of 108-38-8. He was inducted in both the Iowa Association of Track Coaches Hall of Fame and Iowa Football Coaches Hall of Fame.

At Harlan, players compete at storied Merrill Field. There are many others around the state — Ed Thomas Field at Aplington-Parkersburg; Duane Twait Field in Emmetsburg; Butch Pedersen Field in West Branch; and Ballard’s Richard Strouse Field. Those fields serve as landmarks in preserving the legacy of local people who significantly impacted their schools and towns.

Bergstrom turns 78 in January, and faces some of the challenges that so many of us encounter as we advance in age. The sands in the hourglass are flowing. Too often in life, we bestow these honors posthumously. That’s a shame.

Wife Sue, a longtime teacher in the district who still serves as a substitute teacher, should be able to witness the dedication beside Dick. So should daughter Brittney Trilk, son-in-law Joe and the grandchildren. (Dick and Sue’s son Bryce died in 1998.)

When I pursued this matter years ago, with the district driven by different leadership and a different board, it didn’t gain any traction. There was hesitancy in starting to name facilities after one person, and then someone else comes along who does something even more special. Or, does it open the door to requests to name other facilities?

To that I say, “So what!” If future leaders down the road want to rename a facility, so be it. That’s a good problem to have, if there are leaders of that magnitude to honor. Other school districts don’t seem to be halted by that attitude.

Bergstrom is a member of the Iowa Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame and was inducted in Creston High School’s Hall of Fame in 2015. That’s certainly a nice honor and much deserved. But to have your name affixed to a facility is something special.

Here’s a quick refresher of Bergstrom’s legacy, for the younger set who may not have been around during that era when Creston football took off. He arrived in 1977 and guided Creston’s first playoff team in 1985. Upon retiring in 2009, his career included 17 straight winning seasons and 10 playoff teams. His record in Creston was 175-136, with an overall coaching record of 204-156.

“I don’t know if the general public realizes how hard it is to be consistently good enough to win 200 football games,” said current coach Brian Morrison when Bergstrom joined the Hall of Fame 10 years ago. Bergstrom and Morrison are two of just three people who have coached Creston football for 10 or more years. (W.E. Scantlebury, who guided three conference championships in the 1920s, is the third.)

Morrison has also been honored as Class 3A Coach of the Year and guided the school’s only teams to advance to the UNI-Dome (2014 and 2012). But, he would be the first to say he owes much of his success to his mentor when he arrived, coach Bergstrom.

When Bergstrom came to town, he credited his predecessor, Bill Nielsen, for having done a good job with some fine players awaiting him. However, he noted that it seemed like more of a “wrestling, basketball and baseball town” and saw the need to generate more excitement about football. That 1985 team, which competed well with state champion Harlan in the playoffs, lifted the program into a new status. Creston became known as a winner, consistently.

Instilling personal responsibility and accountability among his players was as much of Bergstrom’s philosophy as teaching offensive plays and defensive schemes.

He earned respect through creating standards, and by showing respect for the young people who sometimes make mistakes. Early on, he had to have a talk with a young assistant coach who arrived with a crass style, often barking obscenity-laced tirades toward the teenage players.

“I tried to say as a person in charge of a program, I don’t think that’s a positive,” Bergstrom said. “I don’t think you have to do that to tell a kid he did wrong. I try not to tear people down. I prefer to instruct and teach them to do it right. For some coaches, their motivation is demeaning a kid. I would like to think I was a positive influence. It’s not that I never yelled, but I did not attack them personally. I attacked what they had done. If the kids respect you, your chance for success is better.”

Scott Driskell, current CHS activities director, was an all-state quarterback under Bergstrom and later served as a head football coach. He once told me he modeled his leadership style after Bergstrom.

“I would argue that I was able to play for a football coach who was THE example in what you want to have as a teacher and coach,” Driskell said. “To this day, even though I am no longer in coaching, I try to emulate the characteristics that made coach Bergstrom so successful.”

If that’s not worthy of a dedication, what are we doing Creston?

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Email: malachy.lp@gmail.com

X: @larrypeterson