By Jay Drew
The Salt Lake Tribune
HEBER CITY – A half-hour before Thursday’s memorial service for longtime Wasatch High football coach Ron Tree, a heavyweight wrestling champion, an all-state baseball player, a burly football lineman and several other recently graduated athletes staked their place on the back row of chairs at the Heber LDS Stake Center.
“So no one will see us cry, “said baseball and football star Zack Larson, headed to Utah Valley State College on a baseball scholarship.
But cry they did, along with thousands of others who packed the church to pay their final respects to perhaps the most beloved man in the Heber Valley.
Tree was found dead of an apparent heart attack Sunday morning dressed in his church clothes and laying on the floor of his Heber home. Members of his church congregation had gone looking for him because he
was scheduled to speak in services that day.
“No one can believe it, and it hurts real bad, ” said senior Dallin Norton, a three-year football starter for Tree and the top-ranked heavyweight prep wrestler in the country. “He was the best guy in the world. He was always willing to help anyone, and he never worried about himself. Never. “
Among those in attendance Thursday were Weber State football coaches Ron McBride and Ken Schmidt, dozens of Tree’s fellow prep coaches, many of his former teammates from his college football playing days at Brigham Young University – where he was an all-conference linebacker – and half the towns of Heber City and Midway, it seemed.
“Everyone in town knew Coach Tree, “said Cyler Sanderson of the famous Sanderson wrestling clan, “and everyone loved him. “
Having divorced many years ago, and with no biological children, Tree lived alone. But that doesn’t mean he was lonely, said Wasatch basketball coach Lonnie Magnusson.
“He wanted kids of his own so bad, it was always tough on him, “Magnusson said. “So, the kids here at Wasatch became part of his family, and he treated every one of them just like that. “
Often, said funeral speaker John Moss, one of Tree’s best friends and his radio broadcast partner for Wasatch basketball games and wrestling, Tree could be found at one of Heber’s restaurants with three or four of his driver’s education students. Of course, the likeable coach always picked up the tab.
“It is OK to let your sorrow show, “Moss told students in a stirring tribute to the 54-year-old coach who had taught at Wasatch for nearly 20 years after starring in three sports at the school before playing for BYU. “All our hearts are broken. “
Magnusson said Tree, son of former UHSAA Executive Director Marion Tree, had a health checkup about a year ago and was pronounced fit, if not a little overweight. And junior football player Scott Rawlings said Tree, who also taught weightlifting, “was still stronger than all of us, put together. “
Wasatch’s 900 or so students got out of school last week for the summer, but counselors have been on hand this week to help them deal with the loss.
“Typical Ron, “said Moss. “He checked out without being a burden to anyone. “
A display in the church’s cultural hall included Tree’s BYU letterman’s jacket and other memorabilia from his college career, a picture of him fishing with a youngster, five Louis L’Amour paperbacks, an “All for one, and one for all, “sign and a Wasatch football helmet with a rose stuck in the facemask. A Wasatch blanket was draped over his closed casket.
Asked what items they would include in a memorial to Tree, students suggested a Carpenters CD, a menu from the Golden Corral steakhouse, a map of Utah’s ghost towns, a football, a picture of Tree’s horses, a picture of Tree hugging a student, a picture of Jesus Christ and some poems Tree had written.
“Ron would have been embarrassed by all this, “Moss said. “But we needed to celebrate his life. Ron Tree left a legacy that every teacher wishes he could leave. He was the heart and soul of the school. “
Said McBride, the former Utah coach: “He did a heck of a lot for this community, I will tell you that. “
Randy Tree said his older brother was always the first player to run to the other end of the football field at the end of quarters, and once returned a hotel room key in California – two years later. Another brother, Richard Tree, told the mourners that Ron once felt so bad for a horse he was riding that he got off the horse and even carried its saddle up a mountain trail.
“Someone will fill his classroom, “Richard Tree said. “But no one will fill his place in our hearts.”
Wrestling Gear
