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High school football coach John Kusleika will be remembered as a student, coach and scholar of the game – Daily Bulletin

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Former Ontario High School students Noemi Arellano and Juan Gutierrez stand on the school's 50-yard line prior to a memorial service for late Ontario High School football coach John Kusleika on Tuesday, March 12, at Ontario High School. They laid bouquets of flowers at the temporary memorial. , 2024. Kusleika, 55, who was the head coach at the University of Ontario for the past 10 years, died Saturday after a battle with cancer. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

On Tuesday, March 12, 2024, a photo of the late Ontario High School football coach John Kusleika will be hung on the fence of the Ontario school's temporary memorial ahead of a celebration of the life of “Coach K.” Kusleika, 55, who spent the past 10 years as head coach in Ontario, died Saturday after a battle with cancer. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

ONTARIO — At 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds, Ontario High School head football coach John Kusleika looked like he could overcome anything with his larger-than-life frame.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Kusleika passed away on Saturday, March 9, shortly after starting chemotherapy for stage 4 cancer. She was 55 years old. He left behind his wife and his three children.

“He was attending school until his first round of chemotherapy two and a half weeks ago,” Ontario athletic director and assistant football coach Joe Szczepanski said Monday. “He's doing really well and he was talking about finishing his chemotherapy and getting back to coaching.”

Ontario held a celebration of Kusleika's life on Tuesday night at the soccer field, where former players, colleagues and family left mementos, balloons and battery-operated candles at the 50-yard line, and several people spoke about Kusleika. Told.

“Coach K was a great guy,” said Adrian Ochoa, who played quarterback at Kusleika until graduating in 2020 and then quarterbacks coach. “It was much more than a coach-athlete relationship. I saw him as like another father figure in my life. , really helped me learn to be respectful and loving.”

See also: Chaffee Joint Union School District supports grieving students, staff

Kusleika graduated from Redlands High School in 1986 and went on to play tight end at the University of La Verne.

That's where I met Chris Kimberly.

“He made it easy (to make friends) and was approachable,” Kimberly said. “He was able to bring people together into groups and make them work well together.”

Mr. Kusleika was hired by the Chaffey Joint Union High School District in 1999 as a teacher and head football coach at Montclair schools, where he began his 25-year career as a teacher. He met Szczepanski, who was hired as a teacher at the same time, at a district orientation meeting.

Szczepanskiy told Kusleika that he has coaching experience. The next day, Kusleika called him and asked if he wanted to be part of the coaching staff.

Kimberly came to Montclair the following year thanks to Kusleika.

“(The last coaching visit) didn't go well, and he was the first one to call me,” said Kimberly, who now coaches at Etiwanda. “I have to thank him (for being in the district). It's, 'Let's see if we can take it this far.' He did the same thing to some people. ”

After three years in Montclair. Kusleika has resigned to take another head coaching position in the Alta Loma District. In his first year at Alta Loma he coached Eric Weddle, who went on to have a 14-year NFL career, earning six Pro Bowl selections and two All-Pro team selections.

At Alta Loma, Kusleika had a huge influence on many athletes, including Greg Kiel, who played linebacker at Alta Loma until he graduated in 2006.

“He was an avid student of the game, a careful and thoughtful game planner, and one of the best organizers of a football program I've ever met,” Keel said in a recording after learning of Kusleika's death. He spoke on the podcast. “I would like to thank my coach for raising me to be a man.”

Kiir went through many crises in his personal life, but Kusleika helped him overcome them.

“He was a big teddy bear. He knew by nature that he was a (physically) dominant person. No one ever questioned that,” said the coach under Kusleika. said Keel, who is currently an assistant coach at Vista Murrieta. “You'd get the impression that he was a very tough guy. In fact, he was an academic. The conversations I had with him were the kind of thing you'd get from a Harvard nerd. We would get together and talk about coaching philosophies. He loved to learn.”

Kusleika ultimately resigned from Alta Loma and took the Ontario job in 2014 after several years as an assistant coach at Redlands East Valley and Rancho Cucamonga.

Ontario did not have much success on the field, reaching the playoffs only once in a decade, but was recognized for constantly adjusting its offensive and defensive schemes to suit the strengths of its players. .

“The great thing about John was that whether the team was 0-10 or 10-0, he was going to give 100 percent,” Szczepanski said. “Obviously, going against better talent can make things worse. We're going to fight our battle. I can't say enough about that commitment.”

After Tuesday's celebration, the scoreboard clock counted down from 10 minutes, marking his 10th season as manager in Ontario. His 10 seasons were the longest tenure as football coach at the school.

“Success comes in different ways in different places,” Szczepanski said. “He had a passion for the school. He was a much-loved person on campus.”



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