Former Cedar Rapids Washington football coach Wally Sheets dies at age 88

CEDAR RAPIDS — They called it Air Washington.

That was the moniker given to Cedar Rapids Washington’s football program back in the 1980s. In a day and age when three yards and a cloud of dust was the norm, the Warriors back then were different.

Significantly different. Instead of a rush-heavy approach offensively, head coach Wally Sheets actually wanted to throw the football.

“He was way ahead in his football mind,” Paul James said. “When (former Iowa Hawkeye receiver) Bill Happel and that crew were seniors in 1981, we instituted an offense that was a one-back offense. It was the ‘I’ and then we motioned out of it. We had three wide receivers and a tight end, which is what you see now Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.

“But in 1981, nobody was doing stuff like that ... Wally was not afraid of the forward pass.”

Sheets died Thursday in Florida at the age of 88 after a long illness. An Iowa Football Coaches Association Hall of Famer, he was one of the most successful Metro football coaches ever, compiling a 188-88-4 career record in 31 years at Tipton and Washington.

A Tipton native who played football for Forest Evashevski at the University of Iowa, he led the Warriors program for 29 years after a short stint as an assistant for Bud Rainbow at the school.

“I was thinking about what were some of the qualities of Wally,” said James, who was Sheets’ defensive coordinator for 19 years before succeeding him in 1995. “One of them is that he believed in giving kids a second chance. He had a big heart for people that made mistakes, counseled them to try and go down the right path. He would always give players a second chance. It was like ‘OK, this athlete messed up in the classroom, in his personal life or whatever, he’s off the team.’

“Wally would always have conditions and things like that to try to bring the athlete back down the right path.”

Sheets led Washington to the playoffs 11 times, including six Class 4A state semifinal appearances between 1978 and 1985. Yet the Warriors never could get over that semifinal hump.

In fact, Washington has never won a state title in the sport despite much success over the years.

One of the best teams Sheets ever had was in 1985, a club that lost to Linn-Mar in the Class 4A semifinals, 20-13, on an icy, muddy Kingston Stadium field. Sheets had wanted the game to be moved to the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, a request turned down by Linn-Mar counterpart Greg Purnell because Washington already had played there earlier in the season.

That led to a confrontation between them in the postgame handshake line and a heated rivalry in ensuing years between the coaches and schools. Washington and Dubuque Hempstead also had a not-always-friendly rivalry in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with stories abound about the competitive relationship between Sheets and Hempstead Coach Bob Timmerman, whom Purnell was an assistant coach for prior to going to Linn-Mar.

Yet there always was respect there. In fact, Purnell contacted The Gazette on Thursday when he learned of Sheets’ passing to give his thoughts and best wishes.

“One of the greatest competitors I ever coached against,” Purnell said. “I think Wally was ahead of his time in some ways. He platooned at a time when hardly anyone did that. He had an ‘I’ offense and always had a good tailback. And he used his tight ends in the passing game really well. I really studied his film a lot and tried to incorporate some of the things he did.”

James took over for Sheets, spent 12 seasons as head coach, stepped down to become the school’s activities director, then returned to the post from 2013 to 2016. Maurice Blue has been Warriors head coach since then, a guy who played at Washington for Sheets in the early 1990s.

He addressed his team in practice Thursday about the proverbial godfather of Washington football.

“I enjoyed playing for him. He was always good to me. I always felt like he had my back and my best interests at heart,” Blue said.

He chuckled when relating his favorite Wally Sheets story.

“Going into my junior year, my dad lived in New York, so my brother and I would always go out in the summer to visit him,” Blue said. “Wally wanted me go play guard, and I was like ‘What the heck? I’m not a frickin’ offensive lineman. Forget this. I’m not playing guard.’

“Then I remember coming back from New York ... He’d always have his Eastern Iowa Football Camp. We went to that, and we tested and stuff, and I ran a 4.5 40. I didn’t have to hear anymore about playing O-line.”

Sheets is survived by his wife, Beth, son, Todd, daughter, Anne, and multiple grandchildren.

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