Zach Ewing: Wistrom's message rings true

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August 18, 2007

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Sat Aug 18, 2007, 11:10 PM CDT

When I called Parkview football coach Wes Beachler a couple of weeks ago to approach him about a story, he seemed a bit reluctant.

When I called Beachler’s assistant, a slightly more famous guy by the name of Grant Wistrom, he was even more reluctant.

“This has gotten crazy,” Wistrom said of the media attention he’s received since taking over as defensive line coach at Parkview. “It should be about the kids.”

That reaction is understandable. Parkview hasn’t won a game since 2002, and none since Beachler, who’s in his second year, or Wistrom, who’s in his first, arrived.

Beachler and Wistrom agreed to let me do the story, after we all agreed it shouldn’t be all about Wistrom.

After thinking about it, though, I came to the conclusion the story should be all about Wistrom, a Webb City product who made it big. It’s not like I’d drive to Springfield on a Tuesday morning just to watch Parkview practice. I was going for Wistrom.

And so I went to Springfield, resolved to point out how Wistrom excelled at Webb City High School, winning two state championships, at Nebraska, where he was an All-American, Lombardi Award winner and three-time national champ, and in the NFL, where he had double-digit sack seasons in 2000 and 2001 with the St. Louis Rams after winning the Super Bowl following the 1999 season.

But a strange thing happened that morning at JFK Stadium. Without trying, Wistrom coerced me into changing my story. About halfway through practice, I realized this wasn’t about a retired NFL player returning to Southwest Missouri to be the big man on campus.

Wistrom really meant what he said when he told me he was there for the kids. He interacted, instructed and joked with the players like he’d been coaching since he got out of high school.

“You look at one of those guys, and you think, ‘Well, I’m never going to meet him,’ ” Parkview junior Ryan McKinney said. “But then he come down here, and after about a week or so, you start seeing him as a coach, and start working with him ... it seems like he’s really helping us out.”

In a professional sports society full of questionable characters (Tim Donaghy, Michael Vick) and prima donnas (Barry Bonds, Terrell Owens), Wistrom is a refreshing breeze.

His charity work is well-documented: He’s founded the Grant Wistrom Foundation and is a leader of the Circle of Friends, organizations that benefit kids with cancer.

“He’s a giving person, and he cares a lot about kids,” said Jerry Wunsch, a former Wistrom teammate at Seattle who helps with Circle of Friends. “It shows by what he’s doing after football.”

At Parkview, Wistrom deals with high school football players, something that’s obviously different than treating pediatric cancer patients. Still, the Vikings obviously are comfortable with their new assistant coach.

Wistrom has lived life the right way, from Webb City to Nebraska up through stardom in the NFL, and it’s time he received his due.

Even if it’s supposed to be all about the kids, Grant, here’s a pat on the back for you.

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