The End of Missile Football

This past Saturday marked the end of an era. As the Milledgeville Missiles were knocked out of the IHSA Class A playoffs by Stark County, Coach Gary Hartje's 30 year tenure came to a close once again 1 game short of the state championship game. 30 years is a long time and in a small school/community it is the cornerstone needed to build good programs. But not only did he coach high school football he used to coach 8th grade basketball and the high school girls softball let alone his normal teaching duties in the junior high. Dedication and commitment to a community that so desperately needs people to stand up this way and wear the many hats.

Still his accomplishments with the gridiron are by far his greatest. There was an article this fall in which Coach Hartje paid his respects to a founder of Missile football, Lester Snow. But every accolade you could give to Coach Snow & Molson for building the foundation of a football program for the farming community of Milledgeville, Hartje was the one who made it last. I played on many sports teams and have had several coaches but I cannot recall one with a better emotional connection to his players than what everyone experienced with Coach Hartje. Even when he was mad & screaming in practice it felt different. He was always about moving on to the next game or season whether the previous was good or bad. In his last 10 years he came 1 game away from the state title game 3 times. That is only 3 times in school history teams had made it past the 2nd round. There are always coulda's and if's no matter what happens in life but it takes someone special to look past most of those and be proud of every team they coach, win or lose.

All the Missiles can do now is look forward just as Coach Hartje taught all of us to do for so many years. And even if the day comes soon when the Missiles cease to exist there will still be memories of the teams 'With One Heartbeat' and a man that was Missile football.

Thanks for all you've done Coach!