There’s no debating that Bob Drysdale was a winner. Even if you did try to dispute what many in these here parts consider fact, you will lose. I don’t think you’d get run outta town with a big L branded on your forehead; I just wouldn’t expect the typical warm Wellington welcome as the big man’s legacy is alive and well. The Combined Masonic Lodges of Fort Collins annually recognized Mr. Drysdale’s contributions to the community by offering the Robert J. Drysdale Memorial Program Award to a deserving Poudre School District program. In 2000, its inaugural year, the honor was bestowed upon PSD’s Early Childhood Program for their work with children, support for parents, and for providing opportunities for diverse, quality education. Every year through 2019, the lodge and superintendent of schools collaborated to recognize not only a district department for its excellence, but also two deserving male and female students from each level of middle school eighth-graders and high school seniors. Bus drivers and cafeteria workers have been among departmental honorees. Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, “Schools Night” and the Drysdale Award were paused in 2020, but Collins Lodge #19 is poised to get both back on track. Former Master Mason and Secretary Randy Ryden is the current building superintendent, and, man, does this man know what’s what as far as Masonic history goes. Randy also has a pretty good idea where the organization’s future is going: onward and upward. With membership on the rise and the average age declining, Randy told me local Masons are embracing this new post-pandemic era. “Membership was down to 50 members in January 2023,” Randy said. “At one time we had 700.” When we talked in February 2024, there were 135. Randy said now that the lodge is getting its you-know-what back together, they are anxious to pick up where they left off with PSD to restore “Schools Night.” Anyone even remotely associated with wrestling in Poudre School District knows the huge imprint Coach Drysdale left behind. A Jan. 26, 2002 flyer announcing the first-ever Bob Drysdale Wrestling Invitational said in part: “Coach Bob Drysdale inspired many people on and off of the wrestling mat. Our tournament today is one way we remember his contributions to Poudre High School Wrestling. For 17-years, he was an assistant coach here, and also the head coach for Wellington Junior High wrestling teams. Even though Coach Drysdale’s time here ended tragically, his legacy lives on…” Cindy Drysdale-Kaufman remembers taking hers and Bob’s kids that first time: “Ben was five-years old and got to help hand out trophies. It was dark, dark when we walked out of the Poudre gym, but there was one big star shining brightly. Ben looked up and asked, ‘Is that Daddy?’” PHS hosted the tourney through 2012, and yet the Drysdale name still has meaning. Alicia Durand said the PHS wrestling team continues to make it part of its workout routine to run past Bob’s grave, and on one of those runs, thanks to Doug Elliott’s establishing the tradition, they deliver flowers. PHS Wrestling Coach Barrett Golyer started as an assistant coach in 2000, a year after Bob died, but he knows well the impact Mr. Drysdale had on others, including then-head coach Doug Elliott. It was almost like “it” was in the air. “You do a good job, because that’s what you do,” Barrett said. For a book that’s really about connections, of course Barrett’s got one: Former RMHS principal Tom Lopez is his uncle-in-law. Barrett’s daughter Elise, who graduated from PHS in 2020, was the only girl wrestler at Poudre her freshman year. She was 83 pounds, and 106 pounds is the lightest weight class for boys. “It was tough on Dad, and on her,” Barrett said. The number of “Elises” wrestling continues to grow, demonstrating the hold girls have on making theirs the main event. There was almost a Drysdale Elementary School in Wellington. It’s a PSD tradition to name elementary and middle schools after local community members who’ve played an active role in public education. In 2006, Bob’s name was on the short list, but Wellington’s new school became known as Rice Elementary, named after WJHS’s former principal, Ed Rice. A naming committee of 13 (of which this writer was one) narrowed the 23 nominees down to three. Reid Pope, also a math teacher and coach in Laporte who later served as superintendent of schools there, was the third finalist. Pope was quoted in the local newspaper as saying, “The other two people that are up are very deserving of it, and it’s a great honor to be named.” It’s easy to imagine Bob responding similarly, maybe even word for word as humbly. Shawna Reeves, a parent who attended Wellington schools, nominated Bob. In the same Nov. 11, 2006 article, she said the choice was easy. “I had Bob Drysdale in seventh grade, and he (instilled) confidence in his students as well as brought a lot of enthusiasm into his teaching…this kind of helps keep his name among the community and is a good way to remember him.” Even his alma mater has ensured Bob Drysdale won’t be forgotten. Each year, the Colorado State University Alumni Association honors an alumnus that has brought honor to CSU. In 2000, Bob was awarded posthumously the College Honor Alumni Award. In doing so, Brett Beal, Distinguished Alumni Award program coordinator, told the local newspaper that the very strong nominations from parents, teachers, students, and administrators showed what an incredible impact Bob made in the community. “The care and compassion and wanting to make a difference came through,” she said. “He made a difference with people and brings honor to CSU.” Former WJHS principal Richard Kreutzer wrote in part: “We were stunned to hear all that he had done, but was never made public. The assistance varied widely from helping a football player’s family build an extra bedroom to personally driving three rural athletes to the east coast so that they could receive instruction from a national championship wrestler…What was the real uniqueness of Mr. Drysdale? There are hundreds of opinions, but I would venture to say it was his dedication to his students and his love of teaching. I cannot count the number of times he and I would sit after school for hours early in the evening when all had gone. He would explain to me, in his rapid fire manner, why he was exactly where he should be in life, working in a public school.” Former WJHS and WMS principal Alicia Durand penned a three-page tribute to her friend and collaborator, of which this is a small but profound sampling: “It is not because of his unexpected death that I endorse his nomination as college honor alumnus but because of his life…At a time when so many people in the world are takers, Bob was a giver…I can remember talking with him last year about his evaluation and as we came to the end of our meeting, I asked him why he chose to teach junior high school when he could really do anything. (He had looked into being a stockbroker at one time.) He smiled and laughed his contagious laugh and said, ‘Because I LOVE teaching.’…His distinguished career in public education did not get him any fancy awards or lots of money, but it got him something worth so much more: the love and respect of literally hundreds of students, parents, colleagues, athletes, community members, sons, daughters, and every single person who was lucky enough to come in contact with him.” Former Poudre High School teacher and wrestling coach Doug Elliott added: “In the classroom, Bob found a way to reach students that no one else could reach. On one occasion he provided food at lunch every day for a student that he knew did not get enough to eat at home. He went the extra mile in everything he did. He made his classroom the place to be for both low end and top students…He did many things with pure joy.” Internally from CSU’s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Dr. Tony Koski, his wife Ronda Koski, and Chris Bartholomew, contributed a full complement of reasons why Bob, but this bit leapt off the page: “Bob Drysdale was an extremely modest man. He was not an accumulator of awards, honors, or plaques. He did not seek the accolades of others, and is probably now embarrassed that we are submitting this nomination. Bob Drysdale was not a world-renowned inventor, doctor, politician, or scholar. He was, however, an incredibly effective and innovative teacher for hundreds of students (and their parents), a man who was—and continues to be—famous in their world. Bob was not a philanthropist that might be recognized by the world’s measuring stick, but he gave freely of his time, talents, and love to hundreds of young men and women during his years as a teacher—and that made him famous in their eyes…Sadly, Bob Drysdale made headline news only in his death. He will not be remembered just because of his untimely death, but because of the positive impact he made in the lives of all of those students, parents, teachers, coaches, and friends that he left behind. The lessons learned from Bob Drysdale, by all of us who knew him, will have everlasting effects on the world, although they may never make headlines news.” A couple of years later, in making a request for the Bob Drysdale Scholarship Fund, another letter writer provided an insider look into Bob as a wrestler. Mike McNaney was another one of Ken Taylor’s assistant coaches, who wrote about viewing a random VCR tape labeled Grappling Tourney, Oct. 8, 1995. Mike wasn’t quite sure what the tape was or why it was sitting on his desk, but he knew he wasn’t in any wrestling tournament in 1995. He continued: “So after seeing it on my desk for about a week, I finally had a moment to put it in and see what it was. It happened to be a tape Bob had given me to watch a long time ago of a submission hold tournament he had entered. I sat there by myself watching this tape…remembering all the little things about Bob that I think we all loved and miss so much, but if you are like me, forget over time. Watching Bob wrestle was like old times. I saw this big man shoot in on guys and take them to the mat before they really knew what hit them, and then without missing a beat, Bob would begin to choke them or put a move on them to try to get them to submit or give up. He did this with the intensity of a person who was fighting for his life. While I was watching, I could hear people in the background referring to Bob as ‘bear.’ And as intense as Bob was while he was wrestling, when the whistle blew at the end of each match, win or lose, Bob grinned at his opponent, helped him up, and gave him a hug and a pat on the back as if to say, ‘Good job.’ Now watching with tears in my eyes, I remember those days of wrestling and working out with Bob and how if you took him down, he would kind of smile, pat you on the back, and dare you to do it again….It reminded me about how intense and passionate Bob was about everything he did. And he was either going to do something 100-percent or he wasn’t going to do it at all.” Four years of mornings passed, and the mournings continued. Then another newspaper story brought Bob back into the public eye. Coloradoan reporter Rachel Lenzi wrote that she never met Bob Drysdale; in fact, she’d never even heard of him until she covered Poudre High School’s annual Drysdale Invitational wrestling tournament in 2002. But when she was sent to out to PHS the following year on Saturday, Jan. 25 to do the 2003 story, she happened to mention Drysdale’s name to Impala wrestler Kyle LeValley. “The senior’s eyes got wide and the tone of his voice changed. I think that was all I needed to know,” Rachel wrote. Titled “Drysdale’s Memory Lives Through Poudre Wrestlers,” Rachel mused in her opening line, “Who was Bob Drysdale?” A wrestling coach, a teacher, a father figure, an institution…she discovered he was all of that and then some to Kyle LeValley and to another Kyle, Kyle McKenzie, also a senior wrestler for PHS. The former called Mr. D. “my personal coach,” while the latter was glad, “We did good today.” PHS won the championship plaque so, yes, they did. Almost exactly one year later, another Coloradoan article appeared on the local sports page, again proclaiming the good news that “Poudre Wrestlers Win Own Invitational.” Justin Goldman wove into his lead how really proud Bob Drysdale would’ve been at the dogged way in which PHS fought to win the 12-team tourney. And he ended the piece with Bob’s “chew like hell” quotation which, Justin wrote, is exactly what Poudre did. In between, the reporter interviewed Patty Thompson, whose son Sam Gorton, then a sophomore, finished third in his division after recently being called up from the junior varsity. “Bob Drysdale inspired many people on and off the wrestling mat,” she said. “Our tournament today is one way we remember his contributions to Poudre wrestling.” How can one forget the unforgettable? Isn’t that the very nature of that which or whom is impossible to forget? On May 17, 2016, the Coloradoan hosted the “Northern Colorado Sports Awards” featuring guest speaker legendary quarterback Peyton Manning, months after his Super Bowl win with the Broncos and subsequent retirement. The event was in recognition of the achievements of all involved in high school athletics, including families and coaches. In fact, Chris Jones, our Chris Jones, was named “Coach of the Year.” When the announcer read his name, Chris said he was extremely humbled at the honor about to be placed in his hands. At the podium, Chris thanked his mother and father, who were both educators, and Bob Drysdale, among others. Chris’s mom passed away in 1995, his father died in 2002, and, of course, Bob was killed in 1999. “The three of them, along with my brothers and close friends Tom Merrill and Brad Morgan, have been the main proponents of my drive,” Chris told me the day after. “Bob gave me my first opportunity to be me on his sideline. I felt he needed to be recognized.” Now that’s the kind of tribute even Bob would applaud. In reading through pages and pages of Bob stuff that Cindy shared with me, I ran across a Certificate of Appreciation that Bob obviously cherished. It reads: Certificate of Appreciation Thanks for coaching our WJHS Science Olympiad Team, Mr. Drysdale! Dated Mar. 9, 1993, two team members both expressed disappointment at finishing fourth, but as one said, “I learned so much!” Another comment following a workshop commended Mr. Drysdale for giving science “a touch of glamor.” A third was a personal letter from a former student who wrote Bob from the Marine training camp in San Francisco. “Roy” was answering Bob’s letter, in which Mr. Drysdale said “a lot of good things that really got me motivated.” Roy complimented Bob for “really having had an impact on my life. They say there’s a certain teacher in your life who leaves an impression on you. I guess that’s you. I remember back in ninth grade when I was in your science class. It was near the end of the year. I was joking around and asked you if you’d miss me when I left. You were serious when you said yes. I don’t know if you remember that time, but it made me feel real good.” Bob saved dozens of hand-written cards and letters with similar sentiments from his students. They may not have been polished and engraved, but they certainly were prized.