Elk River golf team remembers their leader of 38 years, Dave Blehyl
ELK RIVER, Minn. -- The Elk River girl's golf team is consistently represented at state. The obvious constant was Dave Blehyl, their coach for 38 years.
"He was something else. He was special. No matter good or bad shot, he would tell me, that was horrible," laughed Avery O'Donnell, the team's top player.
Bleyhl brought the Elks to state again in 2022, despite illness. It was his final season.
"He would go to their hockey games and whatever else and he would always make sure he was there," said current head coach Jessica Kammann. "In the middle of December, he stopped coming. It was too hard for him to get there."
Bleyhl's cancer battle ended in January. He was 80.
O'Donnell will play Division 1 golf at the University of South Dakota. Bleyhl was one of the reasons she fell in love with the game. He died on her 18th birthday in January.
"It really didn't hit me until about the funeral," said O'Donnell. "Then first golf season, first golf match. Just not having him there walking beside me on the course. That was probably the hardest part."
"They talk about him all the time," said Kammann. "In every van ride a story gets brought up about him. He's just not forgotten with this crew and I think that's really special to have that, to see that they always want to have him be part of their day."
A long-standing Dave Bleyhl inside joke had to do with turtles up in Duluth. His presence is still felt in many ways. One of the sillier ones, at a Monday's tournament at Hazeltine National Golf Club there were turtles in the pond as the team walked by."
"It's so funny, the little things that he does," said Haylee Kamman, Jessica's daughter. "It's so clever."
"Lots of funny stories with him," said O'Donnell. "Lots of laughs."
Serious moments too. The team keeps his tradition of sprinkling holy water on their towels before each meet. This year, their pre-match prayer has a new ending:
"Play our best and play for Blehl today. Amen."
"Just always keeping it in the back of our minds, he's here, he's watching us," said Haylee Kammann. "He's proud of us."
Bleyhl coached generations of Elk River golfers, including his daughter and granddaughters. Plus, Jess Kamman who now has his old job.
"My 18-year-old self, if you were to say, in 2023 you're gonna be coaching the girls' golf team and Bleyhl is gonna be the person you're replacing, I would've never imagined that in a million years," said Kammann.
The golf course is a good place to find peace.
"It's different, but at the same time, it's OK," said O'Donnell. "We know he would be proud of us and what we're doing this season and we just wanna keep making him proud and do our best for him."