BFS helped make everyone a winner at this Idaho school

Coach Wade McGee (left) receiving Coeur d’Alene Tribe Chairman’s Award of Excellence from Chief Allen. hen Wade McGee came on board as a clinician at BFS, we felt blessed. His passion for helping young men and women achieve their goals, and his commitment to the BFS program and its principles, set him apart as a leader and role model. Let’s explore. McGee is a member of the Cherokee tribe. McGee attended Haskell Indian Junior College, where he was named All- Conference Running Back his sophomore year; and by his sophomore year he was ranked first in the nation in rushing and total offense and third in scoring.

At Haskell he met his future wife, Debbie Louie-McGee, a Coeur d’Alene tribal member. Married 14 years, they have three sons: Tucker, 15; Jerry, 14; and Kenny, 11. They reside in Worley, Idaho, on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. All their kids are currently using the Bigger Faster Stronger program at the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Wellness Center, where McGee works as the sports director. McGee has created a program that has been recognized as the best in the Northwest in Indian country by the Indian Health Service.

McGee created a Junior Tackle program for the rural communities on and around the Wreservation; and he also started a Little League program called the Palouse Prairie Little League, which allows kids of ages 5-18 the opportunity to play baseball and softball. He also implemented a USA wrestling program for kids of ages 5-14; and through the dedication of head coach Jackson Louie, the wrestling program has produced several Idaho state champions. McGee also helped implement a USGA Junior Golf program. Whew! To give you a deeper understanding of Wade McGee’s passion for helping young people, we’d like to share with you a recent letter he sent us about his continuing success.

Hello Everyone! Well, it’s been a while since I checked in. To say the least, it has been crazy. But great things happen when it’s crazy. I am the Offensive Coordinator this year for the high school, so you combine that with running all my youth sports and doing BFS every day teaching two high school classes, to put it bluntly, I am worn out. But it’s good to be alive. Our volleyball team is undefeated again this year. Their first round of State Playoffs is this Saturday. I think they are going to go a long, long way.

They are not very tall, but they play great as a team, communicate well and they are Thanks in part to a strong off-season and in-season work ethic, the football team finished the year with a 7-3 record and the boys’ basketball team started off their season with a victory in the North State League Tournament. in incredible shape. They are still doing BFS strong and hard and it shows. Middle school football is also undefeated. Last night they played a tough one on a rain soaked field, but pulled it out in the end and came out on top by one touchdown. They have one game left in the season and they are expected to go unbeaten.

Jerry Louie-McGee is averaging 352 yards a game and averaging 5 touchdowns a game this year. With only 6 games he will go over the 2000 yard mark.

Our high school is doing awesome. We have only lost two games, by a total margin of only 6 points. Our first game of the season was against a league rival. We were down 46-20 at half time. Our Jr. QB was just not there that night. So we put in our Freshman QB Tucker Louie-McGee. I barely knew the kid (who by the way carries a 4.0 GPA!). He came in and basically took over the game, throwing 12-16, 275 yards and three touchdowns. The defense gave up a big touchdown in the fourth so we lost by four points. But we matured as a team. For the next several games, we just tore people up, winning by over 45 points a game. We then faced our toughest challenge of Wallace Idaho.

We lost 42-40 in a barn burner of a game with both sides refusing to quit or give up in any way. We had the ball with 1 minute left in the game and out of the shotgun, our center rolled the ball across the ground and the nose guard for the other team jumped on the ball. A tough way to lose it.

The women’s volleyball team continued its tradition of excellence this year, once again going to state.

But something amazing happened that night. To be honest, I was pretty upset at our center. I did not want to talk to him or see him. We had a chance and in my mind, he had fallen short. But in a moment of pure “11” team, my son, Tucker, who is still starting QB, came out of the locker room. I was leaning against the wall outside trying to let it go. In the meantime, our center was standing down the way against the wall in tears. I really thought my son would just say, “Let’s go.” I thought I would get over it and talk to our center the next day during film and tell him to just move forward. My son put his stuff down on the ground by my feet and said, I’ll be right back.”

He walked over to our center, put his arms around him and hugged him. He said, “Don’t worry about it, let’s move forward and we will get them next time.” He told his center that it was no big deal, that it could have happened to anyone but they just needed to learn from it and move forward. He said, “There is no living in the past, just learning from it.” He hugged him again, walked over and grabbed his stuff and said, “Let’s go.” I couldn’t, because now I was crying.

The emotions of the game and the maturity of what my son did just plain got the best of me. I looked up and our head coach was there and he was crying too. He said in his 25 years of coaching, he had never seen a freshman high school player do something like that. He gave Tucker a hug and Tuck looked at me and said, “It’s the 11 concepts dad. You taught me you can’t live in the past, only learn from it and move forward. If we get down on Justin it brings the entire team down. We have to move forward because we get to play Wallace again and we want to win and go to state.” Needless to say, you are never too old to learn from the young ones!!

This Friday is homecoming against the first team we lost to. Needless to say, our kids have been yelling paybacks all week. We play Wallace on the 29th. If we win this Friday and on the 29th, we go to state playoffs. This is the strongest and youngest football team that has ever been here. We have a left guard, Jeremy Stivers a Jr. who only weighs 188 lbs. His 40 time is 4.5. He power cleans 275, parallel squats 455 and deadlifts 550. He should be a running back, but because of the make up of our team, he chose to play on the line because he knows the position. Our tailback is Tyler McCulley.

Tyler is a senior who weighs 190 lbs, 40 time of 4.5, squat of 465, deadlift of 550 and power clean of about 250. He flat runs over people and around them. He is ranked like 2nd in the state in rushing. Tucker, my freshman son, is doing great. Our turnover margin has totally flipped and is on the positive side. We average a score every 12 plays. We are faster, stronger and lean and quick. The kids have bought in and man, if we don’t go this year, everyone better look out for next year. But I am believing that these kids are going to pull it off. These kids are something else. By the way, our team GPA is over 3.0. AWESOME!! God bless all you guys and I miss all of you.

Wade McGee BFS National Director of Native American Programs Coeurd’Alene Tribal Sports and Recreation Supervisor and Athletic Trainer JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 5,1* $1'+$067 ( 7 8 / * / 8 ) 5 *7+(32:( 3(5,67+( 2 / ( 9 ( ' %<,62/$7,1 0 $ +(*/87(+ 086&/(67 / 2 2 7 * 1 , & 1 $ + 1 '( 180%(5 63(( *UHDWIRUEHJLQQHUV.QHH SDGHQVXUHVSHUIHFWIRUP 5RWDWLQJWKLJKSDGVUHGXFH IULFWLRQRQXSSHUWKLJKV DEDICATED TO HELPING ATHLETES SUCCEED SINCE 1976 )25&86720237,216 *(7728*+

From BFS Magazine — January/February 2011. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).