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Editor’s Note: This story is an installment of the Vail Daily’s “Where Are They Now” series, catching up with former local athletes. If you have story tips for the series, email Ryan Sederquist at rsederquist@vaildaily.com.

Longtime Battle Mountain teacher and coach Pat Phelan gave his heart and soul to mentor generations of young student-athletes. It was fitting then for the football coach to take a piece of the field — named in his honor — when he moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, this fall.

“It’s alive and well,” Phelan said of his square patch of sod.

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“Obviously I can’t plant it anywhere. You have to be on a golf course to grow grass,” his warm voice continued. “I have it in a large Tupperware on my back deck and it’s growing like crazy.”

Phelan started working at Battle Mountain as a 23-year-old in 1973, when the school was at Maloit Park. Two years later it moved to EagleVail at what is now Homestake Peak School. In 2004, the field there was named after him to honor his 77 seasons of coaching between football, wrestling and track during 33 years at Battle Mountain.

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A couple nights prior to Pat and Becki Phelan’s departure, the couple gathered with friends Jeff and Lisa Babb and Jim and Janette Steinbach for a going-away party. Jim Steinbach jokingly asked Pat if he was taking a piece of Phelan Field with him. Everyone laughed, Phelan said, but Janette was adamant about carrying it out.

“The three girls unanimously said, ‘we got to do this,'” Janette Steinbach said. “He played such a role in Battle Mountain’s history.”

Steinbach said the three women — who met working at the Hyatt Regency Beaver Creek and were there when it opened as the Park Hyatt in 1989 — originally planned to dress up in black clothes and take a piece of sod in the middle of the night.

“Then we came to our senses,” Steinbach said. “Better to ask for permission than for forgiveness.”

They contacted Stephanie Gallegos, principal of Homestake Peak School. She put them in touch with Joel Rabinowitz, the sports director at the Vail Recreation District, which maintains the field.

“I sure do get some strange requests in this job,” Rabinowitz stated in an email. “I told her I would be happy to meet her at the field and dig up a piece, it was the least we could do for someone that was such a well-respected teacher and coach and was so instrumental in the success of high school athletics and students in the valley.”

Rabinowitz, Becki Phelan and Janette Steinbach dug out a piece from behind the goalpost and presented it — along with a letter signed by Gallegos and Rabinowitz — to Pat Phelan the day before he left.

“This reminds me that we need to get out there and fix that spot before the spring season,” Rabinowitz continued. “I hope that piece of turf is thriving in Arizona.”

Phelan said he still follows the local teams closely. His son — who ran for Rob Parish — provides regular track and cross-country updates. Phelan also chats with Dave Cope at least a couple times a season. Cope said he looked up to Phelan throughout his similar run as a Huskies coach and teacher.

“I always wanted to have the longevity and a fraction of the impact that he had. Also, he was a great public speaker. I tried to model my speaking style after his a bit,” Cope said. “He was one of the finest educators and coaches that I had the chance to work with. I always appreciated when he told me, ‘the only soccer teams in the world that I care about are the Battle Mountain Huskies!'”

When asked about the recent merger of Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley’s football teams, Phelan said, “it’s always been a struggle to field a team at Battle Mountain.”

“When I got there, we had probably 18  — never more than 20 total kids, freshmen to seniors,” he said. “And then we built the program up in the ’80s.”

It wasn’t until 1984 — 24 years after the program launched — that the Huskies had a winning season. Phelan credited the work of athletic director Dave Ortiz and the head coaches he worked under, particularly Steve Moran and Bob Isbell, for the team’s improvement. You read that right: ‘worked under.’

“I was the head football coach for one single season out of my 30 years coaching at Battle Mountain,” Phelan said, referencing the 1988 season after Moran left. “I accepted it once because we were just totally decimated.”

What about the 100 wins?

“Those were cumulative wins,” Phelan said. “If you ask people, they’ll say, ‘Phelan was the head coach all those years.’ I go, ‘no, that’s not true. I worked for a bunch of head coaches.'”

Reflecting on his career, Phelan said coaching gave him a sense of purpose. While he never doubted his career path, he did waver at one juncture. After taking a sabbatical in 1980, Phelan went back to college and took an assistant coaching gig at his alma mater, Mullen High School. The year after, the head coach was departing to Rangeview and wanted to take Phelan with him. He almost followed.

“During those years, it was tough coaching at Battle Mountain,” Phelan said. “But Steve Moran told me he had a really good freshman class. (He) wanted me to come back.”

That team — which featured Jeff Campbell, J.C. Moritz, Jimmy Pike and Timmy Adams — went on to play in the 1985 2A state title game. From 1989 to 1995, the Huskies went to the playoffs every year, winning their lone league title in 1992. But when Phelan looks at the patch of grass in his Scottsdale front yard now, he doesn’t reminisce about trophies. Instead, he thinks about the individuals he coached — and in some ways, the kids who played during the lean years stick out even more.

“Sometimes we didn’t win a game in a season. … I mean, talk about showing character and courage,” he said. “I’m just so happy the way they’ve grown up.”