CHAMPAIGN — As a reporter at The News-Gazette, David Woods started covering the Illinois track and field program in 1975.
He got to know Gary Wieneke well enough to consider him a friend.
Wieneke, an Illinois Hall of Famer who coached those Illini programs Woods covered, died Thursday morning from a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 83.
“As a young journalist, I learned a lot from Coach Wieneke,” said Woods, who is now a sportswriter at the Indianapolis Star. “He was patient with me as I was making some of my early blunders.”
Woods marvels at the relationship between Wieneke and his athletes. Those ties remained strong long after their careers had ended.
“His athletes from the 1970s and ‘80s are so loyal to him and continued to visit him,” Woods said. “He was not only good as a technician and a coach and all that, but he was kind of a life coach, too. He was such an honorable man and wanted to do the right thing and wanted the best for his athletes as people.”
Woods remembers a time when an Illinois athlete had committed a misdeed. Wieneke considered kicking the athlete off the team and was encouraged to do so by others.
“He said, ‘How am I going to influence him if I kick him off the team?’” Woods recalled. “He thought it was better, he could have more influence on this athlete, if he is on the team.”
Wieneke was a stickler for rules. Even when it potentially cost his own squad.
Before one Big Ten indoor championship meet, Wieneke removed sprinter Rod Tolbert from the team.
It meant lost points for Illinois.
“And they won the Big Ten indoor anyway,” Woods said. “Tolbert was back on the team in the outdoor season, and the guy had a great meet.”
Earned respectWieneke wasn’t much of a talker, according to Woods.
But “what he said always carried great weight.”
He found a winning blend of old-school coaching while adapting to the modern-day athlete.
“He would do some unconventional things that I think were really clever,” Woods said.
When Illinois won the Big Ten track meet in 1975, Wieneke had a runner in Ben App who excelled at the 400-meter dash.
“Coach Wieneke was doing some calculations and looking at the rest of the list,” Woods said. “He decided to enter him in the 220 instead.”
It worked. App placed high in the event, and Illinois won the meet by 1 1/2 points.
“He would do some things in his lineup at the Big Ten meet and you would think, ‘What is he doing?’” Woods said.
Like the time he loaded up the 800 with his top guys. Illinois went first, third and fourth and scored more points than if he had gone a different direction.
“He had a lot of layers to him, and not everybody understood that,” Woods said. “Sometimes, he could have enhanced his legacy even more by pouring scholarship money into his specialties, middle distance and up. But he had to be the general manager. The Illini team was better. He had the interest of the team as a whole.”
During Wieneke’s 29 years in charge of track and field, Illinois earned four NCAA indoor team trophies, including a second-place finish in 1988. Since 1954, he owns the only NCAA team trophies indoor or outdoor won by the school.
“I’ve always felt he was an underrated coach, maybe because he didn’t win more Big Ten championships,” Woods said. “They were always in the top three. Frankly, because the program has been so feeble since he left, I think it shows how hard it is to stay near the top that long.”
Olympic spiritWieneke sent five of his Illini athletes to the Summer Games: Mike Durkin, Charlton Ehizuelen, Marko Koers, Bobby True and Craig Virgin.
“He just wanted the best for every athlete,”Woods said. “Whether that was making an Olympic team or scoring one point for getting eighth place in the Big Ten.”
One of Wieneke’s underappreciated skills was developing steeplechasers.
“He just knew how to do that,” Woods said. “Of course, he was a master of the 800 meters.”
The Einstein of the 800 continues to make an impact in the event. One of Wieneke’s former runners, Lee LaBadie, later coached 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Clayton Murphy at Akron. Murphy won the 800 at the Olympic Trials and will represent the U.S. in Tokyo.
“I see that direct link from Gary Wieneke to Lee LaBadie to Clayton Murphy,” Woods said, “and I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
Not that Wieneke would have pointed out the connection. He was understated with a good sense of humor.
“He had a funny expression if he didn’t think a runner was very good, he would refer to them as a hayshaker,”” Wood said. “I always thought that was hilarious.”
Woods will miss his friend.
“He was more influential on my life and career than what he realized,” Woods said. “There’s just no one I respected more than Coach Wieneke. I can’t even call him Gary. I just call him Coach Wieneke.”
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