Lee Insko patrols the Eastern Oregon University sideline in 1971. Insko, who died Nov. 16, 2021, at the age of 86, was the head coach of the university’s football program 1968-77.

LA GRANDE — Lee Insko led Eastern Oregon University to many triumphs in the athletic arena during his 14 seasons as a head coach for the Mountaineers. But along the way Insko did much more than win.

Insko, who died Nov. 16 at Grande Ronde Hospital, La Grande, at age 86, also taught life lessons so timeless and enduring that some of his players did not fully appreciate them until decades later.

“I never realized the impact he had had on my life until I got older, “ said Greg Oveson, of Wallowa.

Oveson played for Eastern from 1970 to 1973, during the first half of Insko’s 10-year tenure as Eastern’s head football coach, which ran from 1968 through 1977.

Oveson went to become an educator and high school coach. He said there have been many instances in which he has encountered issues in coaching and thought back to how Insko handled them. He remembered the compassion Insko showed his players and tries to replicate it. Oveson also recalled how Insko balanced being a competitor without having a triumph at all costs attitude.

“He loved to win, but wanted to do it right, with hard work and intensity,” Oveson said of Insko, who later became an EOU dean and helped jump start Eastern’s groundbreaking distance education program.

The highlights of Insko’s gridiron coaching career at Eastern included a 21-19 upset of national power Carroll College at Helena, Montana, in 1974. It was the Fighting Saints’ only home loss that season, its first in Helena since 1972.

Insko stepped down as Eastern’s football coach in 1978 to become the Mountaineers’ head men’s basketball coach. He guided the men’s hoopsters for the next four seasons, winning 54 games in the process.

His cast of roundball players included Emmett “Rodney” Roberts who played for the Mountaineers from 1978 to 1980.

“He was one of the most kind hearted men I’ve ever met in my life,” Roberts said. “He had a heart of gold. Whether you were on the varsity or the junior varsity, he was concerned and showed compassion. He was such a blessing in our lives.”

Roberts came to Eastern from Bowie, Maryland.

“I was a long way from home but I never felt alone because coach always made sure I was OK,” Roberts said.

The former EOU player returned to La Grande earlier this year to visit Insko and his family.

“I felt like I was their son because of the way they treated me,” Roberts said.

Gary Vaughn of Pendleton, who played football for Insko in the early 1970s, was struck by how Insko treated all of his players the same regardless of their talent level.

“Lee Insko was always one of my favorite coaches because every one of his players really mattered to him and it always showed,” Vaughn said. “Lee didn’t care if you were the star or the last man on a roster, you were going to be coached hard and taught the game. His humor, decency and kindnesses was always on display.”

Vaughn, who said Insko won several regional coach of the awards, later served on his coaching staff.

“When I coached for him, he expected the same from his assistants, how we all treated and cared for each other was very important to him. He became family and your players were like family,” Vaughn said.

Insko later served as dean of Eastern’s distance education program for eight years after ending his coaching career at EOU in 1982. Dixie Lund, who worked under Insko while he led Eastern’s distance education program, credited Insko with doing a remarkable job furthering the development of the distance education program. The program was one of the first in the nation to allow students to earn a degree without attending classes on a college campus. Today, it remains one of the most successful distance education programs in the region.

Lund also credited Insko with being a remarkable mentor for her.

“I just had so much respect for everything about him,” Lund said. “He was a role model for the rest of us to follow.”

She said Insko urged her to earn a doctorate degree, which she later did.

“That was the best advice anyone could have given me,” Lund said.

Still she vividly remembered how concerned Insko was about the stress this would put on her family.

“There was always this sense that he truly cared,” Lund said.

To illustrate this point, Lund recalled that once she received a phone call from an administrator at Eastern which sparked an enraged response.

“It lit my fuse,” Lund said. “I was so angry that I slammed down my phone.”

Insko, whose office was next to Lund’s, then asked who she had been talking to. When he realized who it was, he urged Lund to leave immediately.

“Get out of here, go home,” Insko said.

Insko did not ask about what sparked Lund’s outburst, all he cared about was seeing to it that Lund was out of the office before the individual she had been talking to came and gave her a tongue lashing,

“He wanted to protect me,” Lund said.

Insko, a member of EOU’s athletic hall of fame, came to Eastern in 1968 after serving as the coach of Springfield High School’s football team. Jack Redling, who later played for Insko at Eastern, was one of his players at Springfield High. Redling was a sophomore at Springfield when Insko took over its football program in 1965. Insko inherited a downtrodden program and did not win a game his first season. Two years later, however, Springfield won its district title and advanced to the state playoffs. Springfield lost to eventual state champion Grants Pass in its first round playoff game in 1967 by just seven points.

“He (Insko) was a god in Springfield while he was football coach,” Redling said at a banquet conducted in honor of Insko in 2013 at Eastern.

Redling, then a Salem resident, according to a story in a October 2013 edition of The Observer, like many of the Springfield players who had recently graduated, wished he had come a lot earlier so they could have played for him.

Insko stepped down from coaching in 1982, Lund said, so that he and his wife, Beth, could have time to attend the high school games of their daughters, Lori and Lisa, and sons, Tom and Matt.

Tom Insko, now the president of EOU, once asked his father if he ever had second thoughts about stepping away from coaching so that he could attend the games of his sons and daughters.

“He told that he never regretted it for one minute. He was highly competitive but his priorities were clear. What he did speaks volumes of his love for his family. It was an easy decision for him to make. To have a father like that is very impactful,” Tom Insko said.

A celebration of Insko’s life will be Dec. 4 at 10 a.m. at Quinn Coliseum on the Eastern Oregon University campus, La Grande. Arrangements are by Loveland Funeral Chapel, La Grande.