"Coach Shel" was an assistant with the Northwest Christian University volleyball program from 2009-2015. He passed away on December
(Written January 5, 2016) The NCU volleyball program mourns the loss of assistant coach Shel Kaiser, who passed away on December 22 after a long battle with cancer.
Kaiser, who had been on the coaching staff with the Beacons for seven years, was hospitalized for brain surgery due to metastatic melanoma just before Thanksgiving. Complications following surgery finally overcame his indomitable spirit.
No stranger to the local volleyball scene, Kaiser played and coached in various capacities throughout Lane County for the better part of 30 years. Kaiser was an assistant with the University of Oregon, helping to guide the Ducks to back-to-back NCAA Sweet 16 appearances in 2007 and 2008. He has also coached at Lane Community College, Sheldon High, and Triangle Lake, where he led the Lakers to the state playoffs for the first time in school history, before joining the Beacons.
Coach Kaiser also founded the Kaleo volleyball club, now Storm'n West, in 1982. He ran and coached in the club for nearly 30 years.
Coach Sheldon also has an extensive playing background, and was still active in the US Volleyball Association Senior division into his late 70's. In 2007, at the age of 75, he was a member of a USVBA All-Tournament team, and was named the Most Valuable Player. He has played with teams from Oregon, Minnesota, Washington, Michigan, Virginia and has received nine gold medals, 11 silver medals and nine bronze medals.
Kaiser was inducted into the Junction City HS Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013 for his athleticism during high school, his ongoing participation in volleyball, and the positive impact that he made on the lives of the hundreds of players he coached.
Among those hundreds of players were nearly 50 Beacons. The most recent group of NCU players so loved Shel that they named him the team's "Most Inspirational", an award that is usually given to a player.
NCU head volleyball coach Kelly Pitre said, "Shel was a local volleyball legend. He had coached many generations of athletes, including myself and [NCU assistant coach] Mandy Wiginton. Shel can be described in one word: Giver. He always gave everything he had to be at practice and matches and no matter what he was feeling he entered the gym and gave us his smile. He gave his knowledge and experience and he gave positive words as well.
"Shel was incredibly happy just to be in the gym where volleyball was being played, ecstatic when he got to help out in drills. While the team was taking a water break, Shel would take a volleyball and hit it against the wall or try to serve the ball. During matches, he would often be the first coach off the bench to give serving advice to a player or to give praise.
"Some of my favorite memories of Shel include his stories of traveling to the Midwest to compete in national tournaments and recalling his left handed serve down the line that scored the match point. During defensive drills, Shel would do his "quick feet" moves and put a smile on everyone's face. He could move pretty fast! Every once and a while, Shel would ask to say something to the team. It was such a site having 19 young women surround Shel as he shared his wisdom.
"I will never forget the practice Shel showed up to the gym and he had been wearing a hat for a majority of the time he was recovering from his first battle with cancer. I was an assistant coach for NCU at the time. He walked in, took his hat off and said, 'Look!' He pointed to his head and was so proud to show his hair had grown back. NCU Volleyball will always remember Shel for his great example of hard work, dedication, independence and courage."
Assistant Coach Robbie Pitre added, "There have been many ups and downs during my tenure on the coaching staff with NCU and Shel always provided Kelly, Mandy, and I with encouragement and positivity that kept our heads up during those down times. As much as he supported the girls and the team as a whole, he was always an important support for the coaching staff."
Kaiser retired in 1987 after a 30-year career working for EWEB. He is survived by his brother Vern Kaiser and sister-in-law Marge, his sister Vida Thompson, his two daughters and their husbands (Kimberly and Carl Shepherd and Michele and Joel Johnson), his four grandchildren (Aleisha Johnson, Joshua Johnson, Glenn McCumber and Gabriel Shepherd) and his two great-grandchildren (Hemlock Conall Harvey McCumber and Emmerich Alder Harvey McCumber). He was married to his wife Louise for 50 years before her passing in 2004.
