V 1 N. 16 Bill Schnier, University of Cincinnati R.I.P.
Bill Schnier, My Friend
Our
culture often pressures us into ranking things in our lives, such as our favorite song, favorite movie, top ten
books, best friends, best friends forever. Rather than call Bill my best friend, I choose to refer to him as the person I could
always turn to when I wanted to share life, share adventure, share stories, and admire for his accomplishments, his leadership, his mentorship, and the great
example he always was for young people beginning to move forward into the adult world as well as older people who were struggling with the challenges of everyday
life. Even more inspiring was his role as patriarch of a wonderful family with
his wife Kathy as an equal at his side and three children, Ellen, Lorain, and Keller, and eight beautiful
grandchildren.
Bill and I lived in neighboring communities on the east side of Dayton, Ohio in the 1950’s and 1960’s. They were neighborhoods of hard working and poor, many from areas of Appalachia who had moved to Dayton during and after World War II seeking a better life in the factories that called them out of the hollows of Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. Even though living in Dayton, we knew the speech of the mountains, and we were astounded to learn it had retained the accents of English that had been spoken in Shakespeare’s day. We were both great fans of the music of that region.
We never knew each
other until our mutual professions as track and field coaches brought us to the
same playing field in 1975 in Trotwood, Ohio where Bill was teaching and
coaching, and I was visiting back in my home area with one of my athletes from
Canada. We did not meet that day, but our
two athletes Gary Loe and Daniel Laquerre went first (Gary) and second (Daniel) in the same event, the two-mile
run. A few years later through our
mutual friend Steve Price we finally connected face to face, and we have shared
our lives in very profound ways ever since.
We
both left high school teaching and went back to graduate school at different
universities in Indiana. We hoped to
move on to college coaching after getting advanced degrees. Bill was at Indiana University under an
incredible mentor, Sam Bell, and left IU with a Phd. and a job coaching a much-neglected
program at the University of Cincinnati.
To me it looked like a first step in a career of moves to bigger and better
university programs. I was so wrong in
that assessment. Instead over a thirty plus
year career, Bill turned the Cincinnati program into one that others looked on
with envy. He turned out some great
athletes but above all he gave students who had athletic skills a chance to
develop their potential and also to learn more about the world outside of sport
and become good citizens. He did this by
his own example. And it was not just
Bill, it was his whole family who participated in that journey with the UC
students. There were always members of
the Schnier family working at the home meets and in son Keller’s case
participating as an athlete. Family was
first but the team was not far behind. I
attribute that to why Bill and Kathy chose not to wander on ever widening career
paths. They did not follow rainbows, they made their own. When Bill had his terribly
unfortunate accident, it was at an annual family gathering. Everyone had to share that horrific shock,
but they also had the chance to all be together as a family and give each other
the support they needed. I hope for all who read this that you too will
have this kind of family or team around you if ever tragedy strikes in your life.
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