By Sean Pitman
Once a wolf, always a wolf.
David Leom will always be a Watford City Wolf, but now he is still howling as the new head boys basketball coach of the Milaca High Wolves in Milaca, Minn.
There's just one problem. "Now our colors are red and black and that makes me think of Ray and gives me a little twinge. If we were maroon and gold everything would be perfect," said Leom. Ray reminds Leom of a big part of his life...basketball.
Leom's Watford City Wolves fell to Ray in the regional championship his junior year, thus the twinge.
However, Leom, along with Fred Fridley Jr., Garth Stenehjem, Shannon Hammeren, Jason Ingebret and Marty Knudtson got payback with an undefeated senior season and state championship in 1991.
"It was fun, we beat Marty McDonald and Munich 65-64 to go undefeated and I think the next year they went unbeaten," said Leom.
High school days
Leom was the "big guy" at Watford City, standing 6-foot-8, and he will always be linked with three of Watford City's most successful coaches.
Brian Anderson was the boys basketball coach at the time and Tom Suelzle was the freshman boys coach and girls head coach. Fred Fridley was the football coach and still is one of the most successful gridiron head men in the state.
Anderson provides the blue print for Leom to follow in coaching. "I remember helping out with basketball camps and I still use some of the techniques he used now with my camps and teams," said Leom.
Leom didn't have direct contact with Suelzle since Leom jumped from eighth grade to varsity in basketball and he didn't play for Fridley on the football field.
However he did see what impact they had on the teams around them.
"We never had much money but Brian and Fred always took us to tourneys in Dickinson or Bismarck and they'd drive a lot and do a lot of the leg work. Now I look back and know what that takes and how much work it is, they really are role models," said Leom.
A tragic turn of events links Leom and Suelzle as Leom lost his mother, Kathy, when he was a junior in high school. The team wore a black shoe lace during the hoops season to honor her.
Leom's dad, Arne, was single for six or seven years before meeting Bev Suelzle, Tom's mother, and the two eventually married, making David and Tom step-brothers.
How's that for coincidence? "It's kind of funny," stated Leom.
Off to college
Leom stayed close to home, playing two years at Williston State College under the tutelage of Terry Olson.
"I still remember Terry and some of the things in practice. He really kicked our butts every time. I just remember how hard practice was and I'd love to be able to teach our kids to play ball the right way and not just what they think they see on T.V.," said Leom.
Leom played with Ron Allard for the Tetons, and after a lackluster freshman year, he said they picked it up his sophomore season when Shawn Stephens started the Trinidad pipeline and the Tetons won the Mon-Dak.
From there, he went to Concordia College in Moorhead to finish his teaching degree.
He was having an okay season when a severe sprain put him on crutches for two months and he was too far behind to get back and opted to hang up his sneakers.
"It was tough to get back into it, so I stopped playing at that time," he said.
Get a job
Leom turned his focus to his career as he lined up a job at Milaca in 1995. He taught math at the school and coached eighth-grade basketball.
Once again tragedy visited Leom as he lost his mentor, Bill Jacobson. The funeral was even held at the school and Leom said it was a difficult time.
However, with another teacher getting on in years and retiring, Leom moved up in the ranks to coach the freshman basketball team and was on his way to becoming a pillar in the school.
"After third year of teaching, I was a senior member of the department," he said.
Leom then moved up to coach junior varsity for seven years. He took last year off to be with his family and now will start the season as the head coach, his first head coaching job.
"It would just be nice to get the season started, I've been looking forward to this for a long time," he said.
Coaching catches on
Leom knew he wanted to be a coach early on. "I always kind of wanted to coach and it started as a freshman, I coached pee wee baseball in Watford. It was just nice to be able to teach kids and I thought, 'Oh wow! I can do this.'," said Leom.
After high school, Leom spent three summers in Williston helping coach Babe Ruth baseball with Cory Hanson, being hired by Doug Black at the time. Leom had taught players such as Shawn Cote, who coached the Keybirds recently, Dana Ebel and Steve Gendreau.
In 1993 the team took second in state.
He also ran the baseball program in Beach in the summer before getting the job at Milaca.
Family man
Milaca has provided more than just a career and a job, it provided Leom with a family.
Michele Stelmach started the same year as Leom and through new teacher meetings they met and became interested in each other. A year later he asked her out and they started dating, eventually getting married in 1999.
"It wasn't too different, we hung out with a lot of the same people and no one really said much and then it was like 'Oh, you're getting married.'," said Leom. "Now I have a lot of the third and fourth-graders she had and they still tell me, 'We remember when she was still Miss Stelmach.'"
The union led to three children, Jillian, four going on five, and 18-month old twins Hilary and Thomas.
The twins were premature, which prompted Leom to take a break from coaching, but now they are healthy bundles of fun.
The marriage hasn't been without it's tension, although it's a bit light hearted.
"He's totally North Dakota and I'm totally Minnesota, so we have some fun with it," said Michele.
Border battle
With Michele being a died-in-the-wool Minnesotan, the couple has a lot to jab each other about.
She was a standout swimmer for St. Cloud State and often competed with the University of North Dakota. She even had a friend who moved to Bismarck and Michele said she'd never come to visit.
So the friend gloats each time Michele stops on their way to Watford City to see Arne and Bev, and David can't help but gloat a little too.
He said he enjoys wearing his UND hockey jersey to school and gives a woo hoo for anyone getting hired from North Dakota.
"It's fun, we're always joking around and she is still trying to convert me to be a Vikings fan and I just can't do it," said Leom.
He said he's become more of an anti-Vikings fan than a fan of anyone in particular, but did admit he's becoming a Gophers basketball fan.
"Mainly because of Tubby Smith. I just went to clinic he taught and with 500 coaches there I think if the front row would have bowed down the whole group would have followed. He's one of the top coaches ever and he's at the University of Minnesota, we were all in awe," he said.
Coach Leom
Leom said he is taking over a program that hasn't seen a lot of success lately. The school, about 500 in number, last went to the State AAA tournament in 2002, their first visit to the big dance.
"Recently we haven't seen a whole lot of success, but I just want to teach the guys and make it as fun for me and my family and the team as I can," he said.
You can follow Leom and his team by going to maxpreps.com for stats and scores.
With his attitude and foundation in basketball, Leom should be just fine as a head coach as he continues to howl.
Sean Pitman | sports@willistonherald.com
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