By By STEVE MORRISON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – For many Niles Coach Ed Weede probably was a father figure.
He really should be given credit as the "Patriarch of Wrestling in Southwestern Michigan". When Weede came to Niles as a physical education teacher and assistant football coach, in 1952 wrestling, at a high school and college level, was new to the state.
"I learned my wrestling after getting to Niles," Weede stated back in 1985. "Only 20 teams (in Michigan) had programs, at the time."
A graduate of Traverse City High School, Weede served two years in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1944 to 1946, which included combat in Okinawa. After graduating from Central Michigan University, where he played guard and linebacker and captained the football team during his senior year,
Weede began his career as an educator in 1950 at Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Following two years of teaching and coaching football, basketball, baseball, and track at Mount Pleasant High School, Weede came to Niles to begin a new chapter in his life, which would impact multitudes of Niles student athletes.
Weede had never actually wrestled on a high school or college level. He picked up an interest in the sport from a couple of his buddies while a Marine. The first match he saw was the one he coached here.
Niles' head football coach, Al Lewis, had acquired a wrestling mat for conditioning of the football players. "We started using it, and pretty soon we had a team," Weede recalled earlier. Sturgis was the only area school that had a team at the time, but Buchanan quickly initiated wrestling as a varsity sport, thereafter.
Coach Weede continued to coach football, wrestling, and golf for 15 years, but he left the golf team for three years to coach track. In 1964, the year after Weede went to the track program, his golf disciples won the state championship. They had promised to win it, and they did. His golf teams netted a 62-32-5 record during his 13 years of mentorship. Several of those squads placed in the top 10.
After coaching football as line coach, Weede assumed the head-coaching gridiron job in 1958. His teams became a powerhouse, compiling a 65-32-5 record during his 11 years at the helm.
After a perfect 9-0 season in 1969, Weede resigned as football guru to become Niles' athletic director.
His most pronounced success, however, was as the leader of the wrestling program, his brain-child. In his Niles career, his grapplers captured 350 wins, and 15 Big Eight Conference championships, including 10 consecutively.
Weede coached four state titlists in Class A: his son, Mike; Dale Tomsits, Pete Weinke, and Jim Forler. His sons, Mike and Pat both coached varsity high school wrestling.
After Weede had become Niles' athletic director, succeeding Joe Whitwam in 1968, he later was appointed assistant principal at Niles High School in 1983. Weede retired from Niles in 1986 after 36 years of inspired teaching (34 in Niles) and profound dedication to athletics.
For his many years of success coach Weede was honored by induction to the Michigan High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 1982, and the Michigan High School Coaches Hall of fame in 1982.
Weede continues to reside in his retirement near his hinterlands of Traverse City; where he has retired from operating a cherry farm and a cherry brokerage.
Niles can remember some golden moments when "Bud" Ed Weede was in command. He grew more than he harvested.