Track coach still inspires former athletes

By JORDAN DAWSON / Bigfork Eagle

He's been called the father of girls track in Montana. He has been credited with paving the way for women's collegiate sports throughout the state. He has coached countless athletes to national and local titles. But, Neil Eliason is still a very modest man who credits the men and women he coached for his success, though they credit him for theirs.

In 1970 Sue Loeffler, who now coaches cross country and track at Bigfork High School, graduated from Havre High School. Eliason called Loeffler and invited her to be part of the track team at Flathead Valley Community College. At the time she didn't even know the school had a track team.

"To me he was pretty much the pioneer in women's sports in the state," Loeffler said. "Other schools had track, but not as developed as FVCC did. It showed that girls could do sports too, and that blossomed into other sports. Back when I was in school there seemed to be a mentality that women wouldn't work hard. By starting the program he showed that women can compete."

She competed on the team for her two years at FVCC and was part of the 4x100 yard relay team that won the national championship in 1971 against four-year colleges. But her two years with Eliason as coach was not the only time she would work with him.

When Loeffler began coaching at Bigfork she called Eliason for advice, and eventually asked him to come out of retirement to help her coach in 1993. In 2001 Loeffler and Eliason, with the help of a parent, brought back BHS' cross country team, which had been disbanded. The program wasn't funded by the school and the coaches were not paid. But even with those setbacks the girls cross country team won the state championship three years in a row, 2002-2004. Afterwards, the school made it part of their sanctioned sports again in 2005. Eliason retired for the second time in 2006.

"He's very knowledgeable in a lot of areas," Loeffler said. "So if I was questioning my workouts or coaching I asked him. I was a sprinter so I wasn't as knowledgeable about hurdlers and distance runners, so I asked him for advice in those areas."

Eliason got his start in track and field as a distance runner when he was attending junior college in Iowa. He was actually a basketball player, but the team was required to be on the track team as their spring training. He went on to get his Bachelor of Arts Degree and his Masters Degree at the University of Montana, which he completed in 1954. After graduation he went to coach boys track in Brady, Mont.

After one year there he transferred to Hot Springs High School and began one of the first girls track teams in the state. He was teaching history and physical education, which included a track portion, and decided to take some of the girls to UM's Play Day. The girls did very well. The only other team that was competition for them was from Ennis.

Eliason stayed at Hot Springs for five years before receiving a National Defense Education Grant that gave him a full scholarship to get his professional diploma degree in counseling from Columbia University in New York.

After completing the program Eliason was hired as a guidance counselor at Linderman Middle School in Kalispell, and was asked to create a boys and girls track team at Flathead High School. He coached and taught at the high school level in Kalispell until 1967 when FVCC recruited him to coach at their school and be a counselor.

In 1968 he coached the first women's track team at FVCC. They practiced in the hallways of the school and struggled to find funding for their program. Regardless, two runners, Grace Willey and Lynda Spaulding, made it to Nationals that inaugural year and placed seventh.

"The program blossomed from there," Eliason said.

His teams had several successful showings at national meets around the country. He said he has never bothered to count up the win-loss record, and though there are several competitions that stick out in his mind as good memories, the highlight for Eliason is "working with all the kids over those ten years."

He remained at FVCC until 1977 when he went to Montana State University to coach their track teams. He became the assistant athletic director in 1981, stopped coaching in 1982 and retired from the AD position in 1985.

Eliason and his wife Carol, who have been married for 53 years, moved to their home on Swan Lake. Eliason began selling real estate in the Bigfork area. But he couldn't stay away from coaching forever.

"I love coaching," Eliason said. "I just love being with the people. It wasn't ever a job to me. It was just really fun to do."

Mindy Harwood, who has coached at Polson High School for 28 years, and was a coach in Hot Springs for five years, was a member of 4x100 national championship team with Loeffler.

"He is an old school coach," Harwood said. "He didn't yell or scream. He was always really positive. He showed you what to do. He didn't tell you. He was the kind of coach you want coaching your kids. He wasn't the kind of coach that gave you a kick in the butt. He was the kind of coach that motivated you and inspired you. He knew he was coaching people, not just athletes. His motto for us was: 'You're ladies first, students second and athletes third.'"

Nearly a decade after retiring he returned to help Loeffler coach at Bigfork, where he got to coach Brooke Andrus, a star athlete at BHS who is now a standout runner for the University of Montana.

Eliason and Andrus exchanged parting gifts when he retired.

"I told her when she won the 3200 I was going to retire andgive her my stop watch, and I did," Eliason said. " She gave me the first state medal she ever won."

After 52 years of coaching, Eliason, now 76 years old, is finally enjoying his retirement but still stops by Loeffler's practices to help out for a couple weeks each spring.

"He has this air about him that brings respect," Loeffler said. "He is so warm and caring. The kids really like him.

They think the world of him. Especially the girls. A lot of male coaches can't relate to girls, but he does really well with them."

When Eliason isn't helping out at BHS he enjoys his lake home, hunts, fishes and spends time with his grandchildren who live in Spokane.

"To this day he is still heads above the coaches I've seen in the top colleges around the country," Harwood said.

A few years ago Eliason put together a team of girls from Bigfork and Polson and took them to the Simplot Games, the largest indoor track meet west of the Mississippi, and they took first in the 4x800 relay.

Looking back at what he created for this state Eliason said, "I feel satisfaction in knowing that a lot of girls got an opportunity that they wouldn't have otherwise had."

Eliason left a lasting impression on many of his athletes. Not only giving them the opportunity to compete, but helping them grow as individuals as well.

"He really impacted me in so many ways," Harwood said. "Especially the self confidence he gave me when he coached me. He helped me in my career and has helped me be successful in it. He made me realize what a huge impact and responsibility being a coach really is."

Loeffler and Harwood have both been honored inductees to the Montana Coaches Association Hall of Fame, an award that Eliason was given in 1983.

"I like watching those I coach going on to bigger and better things," Eliason said. "More than 15 of the athletes I coached went on to be coaches."

Last weekend a reunion was set up at FVCC for the athletes Eliason coached over the years at the college.

"It was really wonderful," Eliason said. "I didn't realize how great it was going to be to see all those athletes again. It brought back a lot of great memories."