By John Thomas

There has been some talk recently about coaches in high school sports. And this weekend St. Paul Academy and Summit School’s (SPA) new Athletics Hall of Fame will induct one of the greatest to ever do it anywhere. So, it seems right to share with the world the extraordinary gift to so many that was the late Coach Mike Foley.

West Siders in St. Paul from the 1960s will remember him as the kid from Baker Playground whose leadership earned him a scholarship to the rarefied air of Colgate University.

Minnesota high school hockey fans were enthralled by his sublime 31-1 1973 juggernaut and 1974 Independent State Champions at SPA.

Gopher fans from the 1970s and ’80s recall his low-profile and invaluable supporting role on the bench for Herbie and then with Brad Buetow, including an NCAA National Championship team in 1979.

Thousands more learned from him in his Shakespeare classroom and his exceptional summer hockey school.

Mike Foley felt a humble pride in having grown up in a working-class neighborhood in a blue-collar city. He carried that work ethic, humility and integrity over to his teaching and coaching. He was as at home with the engineers in the school’s boiler room as he was quoting Shakespeare in teaching the meaning of life. Late into countless nights, stacks of students’ papers could routinely be found in his tiny den at home as he read and marked up each with instructive feedback; always teaching. He was often seen sprinting up and down the ice with his players during his infamous “hurt, pain, agony” drills as they worked tirelessly to be the best-conditioned teams in the state. At a time when summer hockey schools were proliferating with the star power of big-name athletes who made episodic appearances, Mike Foley committed to leading the coaching work personally in each and every session.

In any discussion with or about Coach Foley and in sharing our memories of him, we hear two themes clearly: Love and Learning. In the classroom and the rink, Coach made us hungry for learning — about hockey, Shakespeare and most of all, life.

Why?

Because he loved us. We were all so different. And he was different, too. And he loved all of us.

How did we know that? You know how you can just feel it sometimes? It’s in how someone speaks to you — he called us all by our full names. Every time. He never cursed. Ever. And he didn’t yell at us like all the other coaches did at the time.

And then there were times like the day Mike Dosdall and Joth Lindeke collided at top speed during practice. They both went down hard and Joth started convulsing violently. While the rest of us all stood paralyzed, Coach was shot out of a cannon from across the rink. He hit the ice and reached into Joth’s mouth to pull up his tongue, quite possibly saving his life. Still on his knees, Coach checked on Dos, who was dazed but OK, and then cradled Joth like a baby in his arms until the ambulance arrived. It was a profound act of love.

We learned from Coach that love opens both our hearts and our minds. When we feel safe, we listen more and hear differently. We ask more questions. Coach used the Socratic method — always asking. Opening our young minds to the boundless possibilities he saw in and for us. We were too young to really believe in ourselves yet. He saw the worlds of potential in all of us. And he helped us begin to see it for ourselves.

As a result, we learned from Coach to love each other and see the best in each other. All of that lives on in us to this day.

Coach always had a purpose, and he shared that with us. It was his way of helping us learn the importance of purpose and values — in hockey and in life … Preparation. Sacrifice. Selflessness. Humility. Teamwork. On and off the ice. Gratitude. So often he would say when he heard a story of misfortune, “There but for the Grace of God. That could be you or me.”

One of Coach’s many go-to sayings — “Life is 200 by 85, boys” — the rink measurements. He used the game to teach us about life.

Coach would often tell us, “These are the best years of your lives, boys. Enjoy them while you’ve got them. It won’t be long … Things get complicated.” Then he and his beloved wife invited us into their home for their world-famous, season-end taco parties. The love in their family was palpable when we hit the door. We saw that he was living his very best life ~ and we learned again from his example.

A young leader at one of the world’s most popular media companies heard the news about Coach Foley’s passing last fall. Her first words were about how she had just recently been sharing with her own team, scattered all over the planet, what she learned from Coach Foley through her own father — “Do your best; be your best in every situation. And let God take care of the rest.” She said she felt so thankful for the gifts of time and learning she received with Coach Foley.

On behalf of the hundreds and thousands of souls you touched and the lives you made infinitely better … Thank you, Coach. Thank you, all of the extraordinary Foley family.

John Thomas, Sacramento, grew up in St. Paul and was the student manager for Coach Foley’s 1969-70 SPA hockey team. Thomas later served in business leadership roles with the Timberwolves NBA expansion franchise and the NHL Stanley Cup Finalist North Stars as well as the back-to-back NBA Champion Houston Rockets, inaugural WNBA Champion Houston Comets, the WNBA Champion Sacramento Monarchs and the Sacramento Kings.