Trey Perry - Feb 21, 2018
Courtesy Photo | Doaneline
An empty office now sits at the back of Doane’s Fuhrer Fieldhouse. Pictures boasting memories of one of Doane’s most memorable coaches still sits on the office’s shelves and a simple name tag next to the door still labels it as his own.
Fred Beile, multiple time NAIA Coach of the Year, NAIA Track and Field Hall of Fame inductee and legendary Doane track and field coach for over 40 years, died Sunday in Crete. He was 86.
Brad Jenny, assistant track and field coach, said Beile had suffered for some time from red blood cell and bone marrow issues, causing weakness and resulting in Beile receiving a blood transfusion on at least one occasion.
Originally from Park Ridge, Ill., Beile was born to Charles and Elsie Beile on Nov. 20, 1931. He was a 1949 graduate of Maine East High School and received his BS in Education from Northern Illinois State Teachers College in 1953 and his MS in Education from the same school in 1955.
He married his wife, Esther Lou Doxey, in 1954 and the two spent five years in Kansas City, where Beile coached track and taught at the University of Kansas City. After the cut of the university’s sports programs in 1961, Beile found his way to Doane, where he first served as head cross country coach, assistant track coach, athletic trainer and a physical education professor.
Beile took the reigns of Doane’s track and field program when he became the head coach in 1973. He held his official title until 2002, but that didn’t stop him from continuing to assist the team. Ed Fye, current head track and field coach, said in an interview that Beile had been showing up to help with practices as recently as last fall.
Coach Beile spread his legacy throughout Doane and the surrounding community through a combination of tough love and unselfishness. Always putting the needs of his athletes and coaching staff before his own, Beile fostered a culture that pushed everyone on his team to be the very best they could be.
“Give me a reason to remember your name,” was a quote from Beile that Fye distinctly remembers hearing from Beile while Fye was an athlete and coach under him.
Throughout his career, Beile acquired multiple awards and accomplishments. These included leading Doane’s track team to two separate national championships, three runner-up finishes and 65 conference title wins. Coaching a total of 60 individual national champions, 101 NAIA Scholar-Athletes and 327 All-Americans, Beile was inducted into the NAIA Track and Field Hall of Fame and was named NAIA Coach of the Year six different times.
Fye and Jenny both recall Beile not only wanting the best for his team but the sport of track itself, even allowing opposing conference teams use Doane’s facilities to practice. He was constantly speaking with other coaches and athletes to learn the most up to date trends in the sport and how he could apply them to his own team.
Outside of track and field, Beile was a loving father, grandfather and husband. He enjoyed golfing and was involved in his church, the same church that Jenny attends. Jenny recalled Beile serving as the church’s congregation president and leading a bible study as well.
Fye said that Beile got to give his peers his last curtain call at this year’s Fred Beile Invitational on Feb. 3, where over 200 people were in attendance for an alumni reunion. In his classic unselfish manner, Beile spoke to how important all of the athletes were and happily took pictures with anyone that requested one.
After visiting Beile’s wife last Sunday, Fye recalled her saying, “He had got to speak to his athletes again and tell them how important they were and once that was done, he felt like he could go.”
Beile is preceded in death by his parents Charles and Elsie, his brother Bill, and his son Jim. He is survived by his wife Esther, his daughter Jan, his son Chuck, his granddaughter Natalia Kolk and his grandson Evan Kolk. Funeral services were at 1:00 p.m. on Feb. 22 at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Crete. A reception followed at the Fred Beile Competition Arena on Doane’s campus. Doane University also hosted a live stream of the funeral service in Fuhrer Fieldhouse.