For nearly five decades, Jim Kocer has been involved in South Dakota high school wrestling. He's been to every state wrestling tournament since 1975 and is a member of the South Dakota high school wrestling coaches hall of fame. He spent 22-years coaching wrestling at Scotland and is now an assistant with the Scotland-Bon Homme wrestling co-op.
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Is it hard to believe that it's been almost 50 years that you've been involved with wrestling in South Dakota?
It really has. I told somebody the other day, where did the time go? Just doesn't seem possible, but it's here.
You started, I believe, your career in Wagner. Right? Does it go back to Wagner, back in the early seventies?
Yes. My first teaching job was in Wagner, Wagner High School. Taught to business classes and I was really fortunate. My high school coach, Tom Stadelska, he started the wrestling program in Scotland in 1964. Three years later, I was a freshman and I wrestled under him. And then, in 1971, he left Scotland and went to Wagner where he had a lot of successful teams. As luck would have it, I guess I followed him, I was lucky to get a teaching job there at Wagner and I was his assistant for a few years. I learned a lot from Tom. Great guy.
Did you have options, maybe not to go to Wagner that first year?
You know what? It's a long story, but I actually did have a teaching contract at Huron, and then later, I ended up going to Wagner. It turned out real good for me.
He had to have been one of your top mentors, early on, as a youngster in wrestling and then eventually getting into coaching.
Yeah. Tom, like I said, great guy, great coach. He handled his team well.
How much of that did you rub off of him, when you, eventually, went on to be the head coach at Scotland?
I have a funny little story here. Six years in Wagner and we really liked school. My wife, at the time had a job there also, in the office. Our oldest daughter was just born. I always liked Scotland. I graduated from Scotland in 1970 and had the opportunity to go back. So, after six years in Wagner, a real tough decision. Then I went to Scotland. First year at Scotland I was an assistant under Tim Garvey, who was the coach there for a few years.
He had left, and then the second year in Scotland, I was head coach. The story about Tom and me is that, we ended up... My first year as head coach, Wagner was coming to Scotland, to dual. I tell you what, I could not sleep that night before. Are we going to score a point against these guys? It's going to be tough. When they came over, Tom said their lightweight wrestler. Again, at that time, I'm not sure if it was a 103 or 98 or... Weight classes have changed over the years.
Yeah. It was probably 98.
Yeah, probably was. He was not there, so we had a forfeit. And I'm going, yes, we've got six points. We're not going to get this stumped on this deal. As luck would have it, we had some middleweights, Kevin and Mike Van Winkle, they went against some opponents. They did not get stuck. Then, later on in the match, we were down and our heavyweights came through, guys by the name of Randy Tomb and Lee Stewart, he played second in state later on. They sealed the deal for us. It was a shock for them, I'm sure. One thing I'll never forget, Tom came over, gracious as he was, he came over and shook my hand before the heavyweight had his hand raised in victory.
You know what? We've never beat them since.
Did you think after that first dual, you thought, hey, I think I got a program here, we can be... pretty competitive?
We did have some good kids. That was in 1982. The next year we won the District which probably... District 5 is tough. I've got a little bit more about District 5 here I want to mention later. But, winning the District that year was probably an upset. I know we went into that thing, talking to the kids that we'd sure like to finish in the top three. It was over in Tyndall and I can still remember the time, getting Gene Schneider who was the athletic director at Scotland at the time. He did a lot of announcing at wrestling tournaments and I can still remember going over there and getting the trophy from him. It was great. The only bad thing that day, we were so excited or whatever, we never did take a team photo... of the district champions. I can't believe that. That still bothers me to this day.
What was that first wrestling practice like? When you were in charge, you'd moved away from Tom. That first wrestling practice, what was it like? Did you know what you were doing at the time?
Like I said, I had assisted under Tom Stadelska, there in Wagner and he was my high school coach. When we did win that match again, so when we won the District, I remember winning the District. I went over there and I said, thank you, a lot of this is because of you.
But, I do remember that first year, I was young, and we had some alumni there, alumni wrestlers. I think they questioned some of the things we were doing, as far as practice goes and so on. I let them come in every once in a while and watch. I knew I had a lot to learn, but we got through it. We had some good kids. At that District Championship we had three champions. It was guys like Allen Colchick and Todd Weber and Mark Kocher. They were in 12 weight classes. 11 of the 12, we had place winners. We earned it, so to speak. The next week was the Region, which is... The quality had to come out. Kocher, Weber and Colchick went on to win, so we didn't do quite as well there.
How were the numbers in wrestling before you got to Scotland and the numbers after you got there?
When I was a freshman, it'd been like '66, '67 I suppose, we had 42 boys out for wrestling. And that's just grades nine through 12. When I got to Scotland in 1980, '81, or first school year, we maybe had about half that, maybe a little bit more, but it wasn't... That's the part that hurts is, when we ended up having to co-op, a couple different times, once with Menno, and we had that co-op running for about 18 years or so.
And then, in the late 2000s, right around 2010, we only had 6, 7, 8 kids out, so then the co-op with Bon Homme, which turned out really great. We've had a lot of success, we've been with them nine years. That hurts, you just can't get the kids to come out. I mean, a lot of it is just enrollment. When I was a senior, there was 70 kids in my class in Scotland High School. Now there're, maybe, I think this year they're at around 20.
What has been the biggest change, if any, in the way that you've coached wrestling over the years?
The technique has improved. I'm glad I'm assistant because the coaches at Bon Homme right now, Darren Kriz and Shane Sutera and Alex Caba, and Dommonich Pechous's working with us this year, most of them have been state champions. Shane was two-time state champion. They've got their technique down. And I'll have to be honest, I don't have all the technique knowledge that they do.
And the quickness of the sport, I mean, back over the years, in the late sixties, I mean, man, if you got a takedown and you rode them out a little bit, maybe you were down, maybe you got an escape or even... There were pins, but the quickness of the sport and the technique, it's really improved.
22 years at Scotland as the head coach, but you also were teaching accounting at the time. How did you juggle accounting and wrestling and trying to lure kids into the sport? How busy were you?
The year 2002, '03, Gene Schneider, our superintendent was athletic director. 2002, 2003, I was asked to be, after he retired, athletic director. I really don't know how. I look back, and now I'm still doing it, but I'm not teaching. I don't know how in the world it got all done back then.
How did you change hat to hat to hat? We have so many people that have to do that.
I don't really know... To be honest with you, Craig... a great answer for that. But, it's just something that you had to do. In a small school, you had a lot of the kids in class, then you had them in practice, so it just happened, I guess.
We used to wrestle a lot of duals during the season, and maybe not as many so-called tournaments on weekends. But now, we do a lot of tournaments on weekends. Do you like the way that is now, the way it's structured for wrestling? Kids get a lot of matches in during the year.
Yeah. I'll be honest with you, sometimes I think there's too much. I think it's hard on them. For example, we have a busy schedule and every Saturday is a tournament. It's become a tournament sport. I actually enjoy duals more than tournaments because there's a little bit of coaching you have to do as far as figuring out who you're going to match up with. It's sad. Like I said, when I was in high school we had 42 kids out. You had a A team, a B team, even a C team.
You just dualed somebody else. And it took up several hours. The people who paid admission got their money's worth. Now, with forfeits and so on, I don't think it's really good, that's why we need reserves I guess. I don't know how we could change that. That's the way it is.
You talked about Wagner and Scotland having a nice rivalry there. When it came to duals, who were some of the other schools that Scotland had some really good dual competition?
I'll tell you what, I don't know if we were much of a competition for others. I remember in the early eighties, the ones we won. But, those were against teams that we very rarely ever beat, so those are the ones I remember. In '83, we dualed Parkston. One time, I think, that we had beaten them. It was a year when we had a good heavyweight by the name of Lee Stewart. He had a bad break, he broke his leg at one of the last football games of the season, so he could not wrestle. So, we picked up another kid. Some of the guys asked him to come out. Again, he was part of that District championship team in '83. Ron Eddie was his name.
What I remember about that dual against Parkston was, and I can't take the credit for this, but we had a, about 180, Mark Kocer was his name. Same last name. It would be, probably, a long relative. It was a close match. We had our heavyweight, it was a first year wrestler. He would've probably be gotten beat. So, Mark comes to me and says, "Maybe we should double forfeit here, and then I'll come wrestle heavyweight." And again, like I said, I can't take credit for it. He's the one that came up with the idea. And sure enough, it worked. We won 34 to 33.
Again, those duals, against Wagner, Parkston... We beat Bon Homme in '84, we were trailing 26 to 10, something like that, and we had some good heavier weights. We won the last half of the matches. Mike and Kevin Van Winkle, Todd Rann, Mark Kocer, Lee Stewart, they scored 24 points and we ended up with the win. The reason I remember those wins against Tyndall at the time, and Parkston, Wagner, they were wrestling powerhouses. When it comes to duals, we didn't win too many against those schools. They had great coaches, great athletes.
You had, I think, two state champions from Scotland in your career. Joe Wollock was one, right? What kind of wrestler was Joe?
I'll tell you what, he finished his sophomore year... I remember his freshman year, he got to the state tournament and he was just a freshman and had a lot to learn. He hung in there. He didn't place that year. Sophomore year, he got second. Junior year, we were going against a good kid, from Miller. We held on for the win. He won it in his junior year. His senior, we had a shoulder injury throughout the season and we made it to the finals, but we got beat. So, he was runner-up a couple years and state champion in his junior year.
Other state champions we had were Micah Debor, that was with the co-op here a couple years ago. Joe, like we mentioned. Our first state champion in Scotland was 1971. That was the first year of the two classes. Before 1970, '71 season, it was all one class, because I can remember going to the region tournaments and wrestling Yankton or Sioux Falls and so on, which was, at that time, for a little-town boy like me, that was a big deal.
Yeah. Was that Dan Stribal?
Dan Severn. Yeah.
And again, part of the Bon Homme, Scotland co-op. He went on to wrestle at North Dakota State. The first state champion, like I said earlier, was great. We've had Dan Stribal won it twice. That was part of the co-op. Micah DeBoer, a couple of years ago won it. One of the funny things, the state champions we've had at Scotland and Bon Homme/Scotland... The Scotland kids, they were all heavyweights. They were all in the heavyweight division.
I've been to so many tournaments and state titles, that final match and they win it, and that champion runs over and jumps into the arms of the coach. What's that feeling like, as a coach, when you've seen your athlete be a state champion?
Joe Wollock was my first state champion. Up until then, we had gone a lot of years. We had some as runner-ups, but we didn't have that guy that took it all. That's the moment I'll never forget either. It was at Aberdeen. What you just said, I can remember those... Joe's a big boy, 240 pounds or whatever he was at the time, I don't know. I was smart enough that I'm not going to let this happen. So, after he won that championship, I went up and I jumped in his arms. I did not want to get flattened.
Scotland and Bon Homme and, I think... Is Avon also a part of the co-op with Bon Homme?
We've been in the co-op with Bon Homme nine years ago. This is the ninth year. And then five years ago, Avon came with us.
Has it been an easy transition, for all three schools?
You know what? It has. Even though that first year of the co-op, that I think was 2013, '14 wrestling season, we took about five, six Scotland boys over. But, we couldn't have planned it any better. The five kids were a middleweight to heavier kids, and we fit into their lineup perfectly. Mark Stoebner was the head coach for those first few years of the co-op, great coach, really like working with. And the second year of the co-op, we ended up winning the region and we were leading the first day of the state tournament. We had 17 matches where he had bonus. It isn't a lot, I mean, because of pins and tech falls. Unfortunately Parkston, the team that we had beat in the region came back. They were a little bit stronger and they had a good second day and they beat us. So, we ended up runner-up.
2015 you were runner-up. I was wondering what kind of team Scotland and Bon Homme and Avon had that year, and you just mentioned. You guys, it worked out perfect, the weight classes and everything.
Yeah. It was just Bon Homme and Scotland that time. Avon's got some good wrestlers too.
What is it though about the State Wrestling Tournament, whether it's in Sioux Falls or Rapid City, now it's pretty much a combined tournament, which I love. Many, many years, the Bs were all by themselves and the As were somewhere else. What was that atmosphere like at the State B Tournament?
I know, being old school, I didn't really like it when we combined, but now it's turned out to be a big success. As far as state event, it draws a lot of people. One thing great, you can just imagine... For example, a few years ago when the Chamberlain heavyweight wrestled the Beresford kid. That was awesome.
[Nash] Hutmacher. Yeah.
If we would've been separate, we wouldn't have seen that.
You are the athletic director at Scotland. You've been at that for a long time. The challenges of being the athletic director at a smaller school in South Dakota, what are some of those?
People I don't think realize, no matter if it's a small school or large school, that basketball event or wrestling event or volleyball match or football, they don't just happen. There's a lot of planning that goes into that, as far as scheduling, of course. Getting workers, getting your ticket takers, possessions workers, your officials, and so on, so that takes time.
I've been fortunate here at Scotland. We had Jean Schneider who had been the athletic director and superintendent 20 years before I took over the AD job. He's super organized. He taught me what to do, so I was really lucky there. A really lucky, another aspect is, I know a lot of small schools, their AD has to line the football field and do things like that. We have a guy here by the name, Steve Flatt, our head custodian and his other custodian, I'll tell you what, they take pride in their work. That football field is immaculate. The gym is clean. They show a lot of pride in their work. They do that, I don't, so that really helps.
You made that transition from Scotland to a co-op, but you also made the transition from a head coach to an assistant coach. You've been doing it now for almost 10 years. What was that transition like for you, not being the head coach anymore?
2006, 2007 was my last year as head. Then later, I guess it was getting to me that we just couldn't get enough kids to come out for the sport. And then, the next year I was at the youth wrestling coach. And then after, Joe finishing up college. He was in the area. He was the head coach and I was his assistant. Since I wrestled, he was one of my wrestlers, it was pretty easy. I didn't feel like I had to run the show, so to speak. He did a good job. He knew what he was doing.
Coming over to Bon Homme, with Mark and so on, I've known him for years. Now Darren Kriz has been, the last seven years, the head coach. Those guys, they know their stuff. I'm just going to help out, but I'm not going to get in the way, so to speak.
We have girls now, sanctioned in wrestling in South Dakota. What do you like about that?
That's been a great addition to the sport. You know what, a few years ago when it was talked about, I've really raised my eyebrow a little bit. How's this going to work? One of my jobs as assistance, we have two great girls from Bon, Scotland and Avon. They're both state champions. Britney Rueb, at 113, and Peyton Hellmann at 126. I enjoy going with them to tournaments as an assistant. They're usually the same weekends as the guys.
Sometimes they're together, a lot of times they're in different locations. I think it's a really improving sport. I can't believe how much better they've gotten, in just the short two years that they've been having the sport. It's a good thing.
I need to know what got into you into selling fireworks at your firework stand, which was south of Scotland. What got you into selling fireworks for the 4th of July?
Thanks for the plug. Kocer Fireworks. Junction of 46, 25.
June 27th through the 5th of July. First year teaching here at Scotland... Excuse me, I was at Wagner, I'm sorry, first year teaching. I thought, geez, I need a summer job. I'm not sure why I went to the employment office in Mitchell, something drew me, rather than Yankton, because Yankton is closer. They said, we need a seasonal fireworks employee, there at Star Fireworks. It was on the interstate, I-90. Camstar, big name in fireworks. He's no longer with us. I worked with them that year, that was '75. '76, weird, but didn't do anything. '77, my wife and her sister and I went to North Dakota to sell, so we had to go up there. They had the location where we had to get trailers, and the merchandise was brought up to us. That was good money, but I don't know if I want to be gone. My wife's folks lived just a mile from the junction of 46, 25. I liked the location and I found a trailer. And so, in 1978 we started selling fireworks, so we've been there ever since.
Man, I can imagine, if it was legal, after every Scotland wrestler won a match, we'd have some fireworks or a big, some explosion going on afterwards.
Yeah. I'm not smart enough to think of that. Should have thought of that,
But you're still selling, next summer you're going to be back at it, at the firework stand, south of Scotland?
Craig, we sure hope so, definitely. Definitely.
2020. You were inducted into the High School Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame. What what did that mean to you, Jim?
I'll be honest with you, Craig. Putting in the time, I was hoping that someday it would happen. I really want to thank... Again, I mentioned his name a few times, sorry. But, Mark Stoebner, I know he's the one that nominated made me for that. John Donovan, I remember, my wife and I were driving home from Redfield where our son lived at the time. We're driving home from Redfield, and I can almost remember the exact spot I was at on the highway when I got the phone call from John. He mentioned that to me. I tell you what, I had a smile on my face the rest of the way home. It it's an honor.
Again, I'm going on and on. But, one of the things I really enjoyed about that year is... The year I was inducted, two great friends, John Hanson, who had been the wrestling coach at Gregory and then Burke/Gregory for decades, and then also John Gilman, assistant coach at Parkston, and at the time he did his Gilman wrestling news and they were inducted the same year. That made it extra special.
When you go to a wrestler or an athlete today, or when you were the head coach at Scotland, how did you convince them that wrestling was the sport for them to be in?
I read some place, and after being in it so many years, I think it's definitely true that... I read somewhere that wrestling is the Marines of sport. You think about it. These young men and women now, they practice, and I see how hard they practice and condition. All those hours they put in, to be on the mat for six minutes, or around that period of time. If things don't work out, they can't blame a ball bouncing a wrong way or a teammate doing something wrong. They're the only ones out there. Eyes are on them. If things don't work out, it's tough, the losses are tough. But I tell you what, when that hand gets raised, they don't have to share with anybody. They earned it. I think that's what makes wrestling so unique.
I can't see you not being on the sideline at a wrestling match. But, there's going to come a time where you're going to retire and be in the stands, sometime down the road. Have you thought about that?
Yeah. I don't want to get emotional here. Yeah, it's going to come. I know. I thought of that too. I tell my wife about this and she said, "We can still go watch." It's true. I mean, I really enjoy talking to the coaches and some of the old-timers, guys I mentioned earlier, Garretson, the legendary Ken Rummel, maybe see him once in a while. Herb Harris, you see him at matches. I mean, those are the guys I've known for years and years and years. Not being part of it, I don't know, it's going to be a little different. But, you're right. Time is going to be coming.
Next to the mat. They're always going to have a seat for you right there, even when you retire, don't you think?
Yeah. I don't know if I'm that worthy to get right on the front, but maybe a few rows up.
You're still the athletic director, you're still going to do that? You don't teach anymore, so athletic directing and assistant wrestling is what's been keeping you busy.
Yeah. I have been teaching driver ed too.
That's right. You got your own route there in Scotland, for drivers ed, or you bring them to Sioux Falls or go to Yankton?
We go to Yankton and Vermillion a lot, and on the interstate. I don't go to Sioux Falls that much. I'm probably smart that I don't. We just spend a lot of time in Yankton, Vermillion.
Last one for you, Jim. When I say, Scotland wrestling, what comes to mind?
I'd say, thank you. I've been blessed for... First thing that comes to mind is, I've been fortunate. I wasn't that great of a wrestler in high school. My sophomore year was my best year. Three of us went to the region. At that time it was all one class. Senior year, I won my first match. I don't know why, but I dropped way too much weight. I ended up getting pinned by a kid. And at that time there were no ratings. There were no cell phones. You didn't know what the other kids were. It really, mentally, got to me. Ended up quitting my senior year. That person that I got pinned by ended up being a state champion that year. I'd say, I've been fortunate.
If you don't mind, I just want to say real quickly about my family. My wife, was a basketball cheerleader. One of the first dates that I took her was to a district wrestling tournament. I saw that she could sit there and watch wrestling for that long, that I knew she was a keeper. One of the smartest things I did was, probably, propose to her a few months later. We were married in November that year. She's helped. When we host SDSU and district tournaments, she always did the posters and the wall charts, and helped with the tournaments.
We have one son, Kevin, he wrestled for me. We had some unfortunate luck. His best year was his eighth grader year. That was about the only year he finished the whole season. One year he had his gallbladder taken out, another year, appendix. His senior year was scary. We were at a tournament [inaudible 00:30:01] and he ended up getting slammed. We took him by ambulance to Wagner and they airlifted him to Sioux Falls. But, he turned out, okay. Thank God. My daughters, Krista and Carrie, they were my stats all the years they were in high school. It was neat. They sat by me tournaments and kept our stats.
They also sang the national anthem at state tournaments. Thank goodness. I can't take credit for that either. They got their singing voice from their mother, not me. So I guess, when you say wrestling, I think my family, I think how fortunate I have been, those memories that are there.
