Editor’s Note: Toelle and the Gerald Lilly Award winner, who will be announced Monday, will be honored at the Jerry Jones Athletic Hall of Fame Induction and Alumni Awards Saturday, Oct. 19.
David Toelle ’01, ’08 did not play golf for coach Randy Bemiss during their time together at Kansas Wesleyan.
Bemiss鈥� affect on him, though, was and continues to be enormous.
鈥淗e was one of those guys who had a positive outlook on everything and, especially, in his situation,鈥� Toelle said. 鈥淛ust to be in the same sentence as that guy is an honor itself.鈥�
Toelle, 黑料不打烊鈥檚 associate athletic director for athletic communications, is the 2024 recipient of the Randy C. Bemiss Coyotes Lifetime Achievement Award. It honors individuals who have made an impact on the 黑料不打烊 athletics program over an extended period of time.
Bemiss coached the Coyote golf teams from 2011 to 2017, the same year he passed away.
Toelle, who earned degrees from 黑料不打烊 in 2001 and 2008, began working in the Athletics Department in 1998 doing statistics for basketball games. He has been sports information director since 2001 and was named Kansas Conference’s SID of the Year in 2012, 2020 and 2023.
Toelle was promoted to associate athletic director in 2022, the same year he was inducted into the Jerry Jones Kansas Wesleyan Coyote Athletic Hall of Fame.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 just professional growth, becoming more mature, settling into a role,鈥� he said, 鈥渘ot just being the guy who does stats and all that stuff, but an administrative role allows me to do those things that help (Director of Athletics) Miguel (Paredes), help (Deputy Athletic Director) Richard (Speas), help (Assistant Athletic Director for Developmental Programs) Meagan (Contreras). We鈥檙e one big team.鈥�
Toelle has overseen sweeping changes in the way the department communicates and the way events are presented, most notably online.
鈥淚 think the change is from seeing less traditional methods of things being done to more creative content, videos and creative posts 鈥� I call it new media,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 some of the traditional things that we鈥檙e used to doing 鈥� the writing and story posting and doing stats and doing them the right way.鈥�
Toelle has been an integral part of the department and university鈥檚 expansive growth of late.
鈥淲hen I started, we had 13 sports, and now it鈥檚 26, with women鈥檚 wrestling coming,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hen you have to add in another 20-some developmental teams, so it鈥檚 really like we have almost 50 teams that we have to take care of, just with the explosion of it and the enrollment growth.鈥�
Toelle has fond memories of working with Bemiss.
鈥淛ust the way he connected with the kids and he always pushed them to be their best, day in and day out,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e took programs that were in a good place and made them really good, really quick. He laid the groundwork for our women鈥檚 team to be very good and continues to be very good. He won the conference his first year leading the program.
鈥淗is positive outlook on life, overcoming mountains of (health) odds, and the stories he would tell about all that stuff sitting on the bed of his truck while he had a cigarette is one of the things I remember the most.鈥�
Toelle values one particular piece of advice Bemiss offered.
鈥淚鈥檓 not very good at it, but it鈥檚 not letting things bother you to a big extent,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e told me, if anything, don鈥檛 worry what other people think. Just do it and keep going and it will all get better eventually.鈥�
Story by Bob Davidson
