CLARKSVILLE, Ind. — The Our Lady of Providence football team is missing a key figure on the sidelines: their strength and conditioning coach, Tony Weisen.
"During the game I felt like he was kinda there, even if he wasn't really there," Griffin Tucker, Providence senior and defensive end. "I felt, like his soul so to speak, whatever people believe, but his soul was there with us and I felt his intensity."
Weisen started getting involved with the Pioneer football program around the early 2000's. He started working under legendary Providence head coach Gene Sartini.
"He brought a lot of that tough nosed mentality for us, that frankly we needed," Daniel McDonald, the current Providence football head coach, said. "He was tough on our guys, he wasn't afraid to tell them how it is. But by that same token extremely generous with his time and extremely generous in giving back to the program."
A few years ago, Weisen was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, and later lung cancer.
His widow, Bobbye Wiesen, said he underwent treatment for the cancer, and was in remission. However, the cystic fibrosis was incurable.
But his illness never prevented him from helping the next generation of football players.
"Up until the day he was hospitalized, he was doing Providence football," Bobbye said.
Wiesen's widow said while the coach was in the ICU, former football players visited him.
"While we were gone, unbeknownst to us, the boys that graduated last year from the football team, came up to see him, and they prayed over Tony," Bobbye said. "The next day, I'm there. Here comes all the seniors, and they hold hands, and hug me, and they prayed over Tony. They left, then here come the juniors. Then comes the sophomore, and then the freshman."
Tony passed away in the hospital just a week before the Pioneers started their season on Aug. 11.
The Wiesen family hadn't arranged any pallbearers for the funeral, since Tony was cremated. So when the funeral director asked her where they were, she felt divine intervention looking at the seniors of the team.
"I had pointed out the area where they could gather and write these memories, and I looked over, and there were seven of them. and I asked 'would you be pallbearers?' They said 'we would be honored.' There were seven spots. three on each side and one on the end." Bobbye said.
Tucker was one of the seniors who participated.
"It was a great honor," he said. "At that point in time he was standing next to me in my opinion. Because at that time we were just carrying a shell of what he was. That entire funeral I though of him as sitting next to me or looking down on me smiling."
The coach had a motto in the weight room: "To embrace the suck."
"It's pretty much before every breakdown and every game we say 'embrace the suck', because that was his slogan," Tucker said. "Embrace the hard times, when it gets hard it gets good."
The team plans to create warm-up shirts with ETS on the front, paying homage to the late coach. Plus, they're creating a sticker to wear on their helmet throughout the season.
The team wants the Wiesen family to feel included as they move forward.
McDonald said the team brought out his son Dan as an honorary captain.
"That was kind of a tough moment for a lot of our guys, realizing that Coach Wiesen's not here," McDonald said.
And the Wiesen family isn't going anywhere. They said they'll stay on the sidelines cheering on the pioneers.
"I want those boys to know I love them, and the coaches know I love them," Bobbye said. "I know the impact that Tony's death has had. I believe I understand that. and that I'm appreciative of the love they have for him"
The Pioneers will take on Holy Cross in their Week 2 matchup.
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