Reusse: Willard Ikola’s hockey journey led him from Iron Range fame to unparalleled high school coaching success

Willard Ikola was born in Eveleth in 1932, when the Great Depression was going full steam, several mining facilities were closing and unemployment on the Iron Range was 70%. Which would tell you that “Ike” and everyone else in that melting pot of northern Minnesota had a considerable appreciation for a quarter, much less a buck.

Ikola was the goalie for three Eveleth state hockey champions (1948-50), an All-America at Michigan, the goalie for the U.S. Olympic silver medalists in 1956 in Cortina, Italy, and in 1958 as an Air Force officer serving in California.

He was making $7,200 a year in that capacity. He received a call from the Twin Cities, with Gophers coach John Mariucci and jack-of-all-sports Sid Hartman on the phone, informing Ikola the hockey coaching job at Edina High School suddenly had opened.

“Edina could have been a St. Paul suburb for all I knew,” Ikola said years later. “I graduated from Eveleth and left for Michigan in 1950. I had never heard of Edina.

“Ken Yackel was coaching there in ‘58. The Boston Bruins offered him a contract. It was October. Edina needed a coach right away, and I could get out of the service immediately.”

Not so fast, though, Maroosh and Sid. That number — $7,200 — carried considerable importance with this now 26-year-old Iron Ranger.

“Edina was paying $5,400,” Ikola said. “There was an Air Force Reserve Unit in the Twin Cities. I could make another $1,800 in the Reserves. That made me even financially, so I took the job.”

Of course, one thing Ike didn’t take into account in these finances was the need to invest in a hat.

“I had never coached, but Cliff Thompson, my coach at Eveleth, wore a hat,” Ikola said. “If I was going to coach, I needed a hat. I bought this one for $5.”

This conversation with Ikola was taking place around Christmas in 1990, with a couple of months remaining in what he had announced would be his final season as the coach of Edina’s Hornets.

That hat lasted 15 seasons, Ikola put it on a closet shelf, bought a new one, but it disappeared after a few years. “I’ve always accused Al Godfrey, the old coach from Hopkins, of stealing the hat,” Ikola said.

Godfrey died in Florida in 2010, so I couldn’t do a decades-later check on this accusation, but if anyone ever had a reason to swipe an Edina hockey coach’s chapeau, it would be a Hopkins coach.

Ikola died late Monday night at 92. He won eight state high school hockey titles and made 19 state appearances in 33 seasons at Edina.

His Eveleth pal and fellow hockey star, John Mayasich, was vacationing with friends in the Florida area when he heard the news.

Ikola and Mayasich played together for the Eveleth dynasty, played against one another when it was the Wolverines vs. the Gophers, and they were teammates on that ‘56 Olympic team.

Ikola always has been “Ikey” to Mayasich in our conversations, and that was the case Tuesday.

“People say ‘goalie and coach’ when they bring up Ikey, but to me he’s one of the greatest athletes to come off the Iron Range,” Mayasich said. “He was short, weighed about 120 pounds when he started in high school, but he was a catcher — of course — in baseball … quick, active, smart.

“We played three years of football together, and he was shifty as could be. And then they built this beautiful recreation hall in Eveleth. We’d play Ping Pong in there for hours. Might take that long to beat Ikey.”

Ikola’s father had a car. The Mayasichs, 12 kids, did not have a car.

“We didn’t have a wagon you could pull,” John said. “But Ikey’s father, he would drive us all around the Range to play ball games in the summer.”

Ikola was 58 when he coached his last game with the Hornets. He had reached his full pension as a teacher, sweated out too many victories, lost just enough heartbreakers, to want to enjoy life with Laurie, the bride he met as students at the University of Michigan, and family.

And he offered another reason in December 1990 for quitting comparatively early:

The Hat.

“My hat is reddish, greenish, brownish, checkered, dirty and worn out,” Ikola said. “It’s so cruddy ... it’s falling apart. I’d have to buy a new hat if I kept coaching.”

Ikola’s hockey career started at age 8. Eveleth had two indoor rinks.

“There were 10 kids to a team,” Ikola said. “There was a scorekeeper and referee, but no coach. You played for the street you lived on. John Matchefts and Mayasich were Summit Street. I played for Jackson Street.

“Matchefts was a year older than me, Mayasich a year younger. Great, great players.

“We were unbeaten and won the state the last three years I played. The next year, 1951, Eveleth was unbeaten again. Mayasich never lost in his four years in high school.”

Matchefts and Ikola went to Michigan because it offered scholarships. As Gophers coach, John Mariucci pleaded for a scholarship for Mayasich, and the U relented — a football scholarship to play hockey.

So, it was Eveleth greatness vs. Eveleth greatness when the Gophers met Michigan.

“We had lots of Canadians at Michigan,” Ikola said. “We’d come into Williams Arena, the place would be jammed and Gophers fans always brought a sign for us that read, ‘God Save the Queen.’ ”

For Ikola it became: “God Save The Hat.”

Thirty-three years. A Ranger from Ike’s time would expect no less wear for an entire $5 bill.