HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Rob Sheldon’s name was an integral part of Wynford basketball for more than two decades. On Saturday night, it became forever emblazoned there with the Rob Sheldon Court dedication inside W.R. Donnenwirth Gymnasium.

“It was a great 24 years,” Sheldon told the packed house during a ceremony held between the junior varsity and varsity games, pitting the Royals against Colonel Crawford and head coach David Sheldon, one of Rob’s sons, at the venue dubbed “The House of Thrills.”

Sheldon took over as head coach of the Wynford boys team in 1979 and accumulated a 401-156 record with nine league championships, 18 sectional championships, seven district championships, two regional titles and a state runner-up finish in the 1987-88 season before retiring in 2003.

“I never thought about this. You see coaches’ names on the floor in college. When I got the phone call late October, it was like, ‘Wow. Really, really cool.’ It’s not just my name that’s on that floor. It’s my coaches, all the guys that have played for me, this great community. I’m very humbled, but yet very proud.”

Several dozen former players and coaches attended, along with a host of family members.

One of them was Matt Slate, who greeted his former coach with a hug in the hallway. Slate helped his 2001 team win a district title.

“He hit a half-court shot against Ontario and (another legendary coach) Joe Balogh in Ashland for us to go to the regionals. No time left on the clock,” Sheldon said with a laugh.

The journey

Sheldon was a two-year letter winner in both basketball and baseball at Bluffton College, where he graduated in 1973 with a degree in education. He went on to earn a master’s degree in administration from Bowling Green State University in 1977 before entering the high school coaching ranks.

Following stints at Ottawa-Glandorf and North Central Pioneer high schools, he moved his family to Bucyrus to begin a storied legacy.

“Today in sports, the Steelers, the 49ers, the Yankees, they talk about culture. The beauty of me coming here in 1979, Wynford had won. We had Jim Bauer, Bernie Witzman. The only thing they hadn’t done was get into a regional tournament,” Sheldon recalled.

“I didn’t have to come in and reinvent the game of basketball. I couldn’t have moved to a better spot to continue to grow the program, and it flourished from there,” he said.

Sheldon said his teams played in virtually every big university in northwest Ohio.

“This was before the internet and there were no cell phones. On Friday nights you turn the lights off and you came to the gym or the football field. We were the only show in town. We were very fortunate that we had enough good players to make that show worthwhile.”

Numerous accolades

Sheldon was inducted into the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2005.

Wynford finished ranked in the Associated Press top 10 five times in Sheldon’s career and he coached 12 different players to be All-Ohioans a total of 16 times.

Sheldon once earned Class A Coach of the Year and repeatedly was voted Crawford County and District 6 Coach of the Year. He was on the sidelines for both the North-South and Ohio-Michigan All-Star games.

He had a career coaching record of 450-195 and was part of the inaugural class of the Crawford County Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2013 Sheldon was inducted into the Wyandot Sports Hall of Fame.

Changes in the game

“I felt we had a pretty good game in the ’80s. I thought the NFL was a pretty good game. You could knock the quarterback on his butt,” Sheldon said. “We keep trying to make the game more offensive. They added the three-point line. They want more scoring.

“But fundamentals have taken a big step back. When was the last time you saw a kid stop in the lane and make a pass? They’re usually floating out of control. You see it (at Colonel Crawford) because David is a throwback,” he said.

“We valued every possession of the game, one at a time, both offensively and defensively. You miss a shot, and you drop your head, and you don’t hustle back, come sit next to me.”

Games seemed more competitive when Sheldon roamed the sidelines.

“I don’t remember back in the day games getting totally out of control. When we went to Buckeye we had a ball game. I had coaches that I coached against for 20 years. That doesn’t happen anymore. It was old-school and they were in it to coach basketball.

“I became a pretty good coach because I had to play Joe Pratts, Gregg Collins, Joe, Steve (Gray). If I didn’t get better every day, I was gonna lose.”

Cultural changes have also taken place in the past several decades since Sheldon retired.

“What 21-year-old kid wants to graduate from college and listen to all the crap he’s going to hear when he makes a decision about their son?”

The family business

“This is where I give Amy (Taylor-Sheldon) a lot of credit. She’s a survivor. She’s the winningest coach in (Wynford) history. I root for her more than I do my sons.”

Rob’s father was a football coach in Elyria, so coaching has been in the Sheldon bloodlines for a while.

“Four of my six sons have gone on to coach. That’s a privilege for me.”

David recalled his youth, trailing his father to practices and games.

“I grew up in diapers in this gym. It’s why I’m doing what I’m doing, as well as my brother. My father hired my wife. If you look at all the successes, it’s because of that guy that started it,” he recalled.

“It’s neat to see the guys who were his assistants, the former coaches from all over the state. It’s a special night for the 73-year-old that built this program.”

That’s when “The House of Thrills” was born.

“This was the mecca back in the late 80s, the 90s and early 2000s. Just lots of great memories of me growing up in the gym because of my father.”

David has more than 300 career coaching wins and Amy just surpassed the 400-win mark this season.

“It’s just a special weekend for our family. All those years in that gym. That was our life and that’s all we knew.

“My dad is my hero, and the guy still yells at me if I do something wrong. He’s my biggest critic and it’s why I’ve gotten to where I’ve been.”

Coaching tree

The elder Sheldon joked about watching David make his coaching debut.

“When I saw him coach for the first time when I wasn’t coaching, I felt embarrassed, hoping I didn’t look like David out there. But I guess I did.”

His sons have adopted their own coaching styles.

“He knows the game. David’s style is a little slower tempo than what I play. But he guards you from half-court. He’s won his way, and Chris has also been very successful. But he is a little more offensive oriented. But that’s coaching and you adapt to your personnel.”

Building a program from the elementary school level remains the foundation.

“David has got what I had here. He’s got a factory in North Robinson and that’s because he went out there and started working with those third- and fourth graders, and it shows.”

Sheldon maintains he gives less advice to both Chris and David, the head coach at Western Reserve High School, now than when both started their respective careers.

“I remember grabbing Chris after he won a sectional championship. He ran a backdoor play when he had the people beat and he threw it to the cheerleaders. He comes out of the locker room, and I grab him, and I say, ‘You’re messin’ with the game. You had them beat and you tried to show them up and you turned it over.’ And he looks at me and he says, ‘Dad, the game has passed you by.'”

Reflecting on his early days coaching, Rob recalled a familiar scene.

“I’m breaking down film and this is a sixth grader and a fourth grader that’s sitting there doing the stats. They were the two kids in the backseat when we were going to scout. He and Chris grew up in this gym and in the backseat of a car listening to coaches talk about what they’re gonna do and how they’re gonna do it.”

Sheldon is quick to credit the young men who played for him on the court.

“There’s no coach that has ever won a league championship, a state championship or a national championship that hasn’t had great players,” he noted.

“That’s the bottom line to my success. It was about my players and my assistant coaches.”

To cap off the special night, his granddaughter Paige sang The National Anthem prior to the varsity game.

Following the grandkids

Sheldon and his wife, Brenda, now split their time between Ohio and North Carolina.

They have six sons, Josh, David, Chris, Michael, Robbie, and Todd. Granddaughters Caroline and Paige play sports at Wynford, and a grandson Ryan also participates.

“Because we have grandkids that are now athletes, we bought a condo up here. We’re here for part of golf and football season, go home and then come back to watch my grandkids play,” he said.

“I’m the only guy in North Carolina who goes to Ohio in the winter.”