Daily Record Sports Writer
BERLIN — It isn't often veteran Hiland girls basketball coach Dave Schlabach is left in the dark, but the Hiland administration was able to pull a fast one on the coach, bringing back more than two dozen former players to present Schlabach with a plaque commemorating his 500th career win as coach of the Hawks.
When Hiland came out of the locker room after the JV game against Ridgewood on Saturday, Athletic Director Art Yoder had orchestrated a presentation ceremony for Schlabach.
"They definitely surprised me. I didn't know what was going on," Schlabach said. "It was a neat thing to see coming out of the locker room, all those players.
"It was a compilation of the great relationships that have been built over the last 20-some years," he added. "A lot of neat stories. We had a little get together afterwards where I talked with the players and we reminisced about great games, or great plays for each one of these kids. "For me, it probably started out more about wins, but somewhere along the line it changed and it became more about the relationships," he said. "I just loved listening to them, like Launa Hochstetler and Julie Weaver reminiscing about their games. It was fun reliving those great games with each of them. I get a chance to do this every year, establish more memories."
"I've known Dave since I was a little squirt," Julie (Weaver) Fernandez said. "He was like family to me growing up. He was our neighbor as well, so it was like having another Dad. I couldn't miss curfew or anything like that.
"He would come open the gym for us at 7 in the morning and he would take us to tournaments," she continued. "The sacrifices he made, being away from his family to do things for us, it's amazing that he's been coaching this long."
Weaver was the point guard on the first team that Schlabach took to state in 1997, but she suffered the second of four ACL tears that year, missing a good portion of that season.
"Coach would take us all down to the state tournament every year to watch so we could get a feel for what it would be like, and then our senior year, we finally made it," Weaver said. "It became a reality for us."
Erica (Mishler) Owolabi was a team manager as a kid and was around Hiland basketball her whole life before going on to play at Malone, where her brother Jason is now the coach.
"For me he was a great influence more outside of basketball," Mishler said. "He was a great coach and was our biggest fan, but the lessons he taught through basketball were things we could take through life. Things like the benefits of hard work and his never give-up attitude, are things that stay with you."
Mishler was a freshman on the first state championship team of the Hawks in 1999-2000.
Jill Yoder was part of three teams that went to state, including Schlabach's first squad that made it in 1996-97.
"He taught so many great things all around, general things about life, so much more than basketball,"Yoder said. "Especially now, that we're older."
Memories of life off the court are far more prevalent for the former post player, who went on to play at Wheeling Jesuit after helping the Lady Hawks win their first state title.
"Definitely it was the relationships," Yoder said. "There are certain little things about different games, especially in the state tournaments, but when you look back, you remember the relationships with the girls and the coaches and the time we spent together off the floor. Plus practicing in the summertime. We became a family because we spent so much time together."
Jena (Stutzman) Miller was part of more than 100 of Schlabach's wins, including three state championships (2005, '06 and '08).
"I am so thankful that I got to play for him. He taught me so much," Stutzman said. "He made me into the player I was. He taught us so much about life: the benefits of discipline and hard work. I think he's one of the best coaches ever. I feel so blessed that I got to play for him.
"As tough as he was on us, he was still our biggest fan," Stutzman added. "He was so positive with us. He'd be in your face one minute, and then if you did something right he was your biggest cheerleader."
Hiland has won four state titles under Schlabach, finished state runner-up four times and made three other trips to Columbus.
While Schlabach has amassed some pretty impressive numbers over his career, one of the numbers that stands out most is the 38 Hiland players who have gone on to play college basketball since he took over as coach of the Hawks in 1991.
"I relish that because I know the impact it has on those kids," Schlabach said. "Each one of those kids, they weren't done at the end of high school. They worked so hard at a game they came to enjoy, and they got to go play another four years.
"Being able to help those families financially, there were a number of those kids who would not have been in college if it hadn't been for basketball," he added. "They ended up getting a four-year degree, a great job, changing their lives. Those are side stories that are really enjoyable, that I get to sit back and watch my kids mature and have lives after basketball."
"I played four years of college and came out debt free. I can't thank him enough," Stutzman said.
Julie Mast (Baird) recalled how in her senior year (1997), the team was finally able to get past Rosecrans and advance to state.
"We had lost my freshman, my sophomore and junior years to Zanesville Rosecrans," she said. "Finally beating them my senior year and going on to play at state, that's my best memory."
"It took us getting beat by Rosecrans four years in a row, (we got beat by them the year before Julie's freshman year), it psyched us to such a high work ethic, where we kept saying we have to work harder, and all those early hurts pushed our program to where it is now," Schlabach said. "Those early kids who helped us get to Columbus had a lot to do with why we've made it a lot over the years."
Mast noted how supportive Schlabach was even after her high school career was over.
"He would come and watch us play in college," Mast said. "If we needed anything, he would get it for us."
Schlabach doesn't see his coaching career coming to an end any time soon.
"I still really enjoy coaching. I still get to the gym a couple hours before practice and we're still on the road scouting," Schlabach said. "As long as we have kids who want to be a part of something and are willing to work, we want to work for them. We're going to have that for a really long time. We've got good kids coming.
"I've got a great staff again, like we've always had, and that's a big part of it as well," he added. "I've surrounded myself with people that I enjoy being around and who are willing to work."
