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I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this type of contribution,
however I'm almost certain your readers who love soccer will appreciate
reading about the person, who was my father, who with his great
determination was the greatest contributor to the growth of the sport of
soccer in the state of Iowa. We moved to Iowa in 1978. During the 20 years
that followed, my father involved himself in the almost non-existent soccer
program in the area and three sons/players later, found himself looking at
an increased participation of exponential proportions. I don't have the
exact statistics but many people in the Des Moines area know of his
unwavering enthusiasm that helped to build such an immense resource for the
future of soccer in the states. He passed away this past summer and it was
not until the outpouring of sympathy and gratitude from the coaches he
worked with and the players he inspired, that I realized the depth of his
commitment. I promised myself that since I was an experienced web explorer
and developer, I would spread his small town newspaper tribute and all of
our recognition of his efforts throughout the sports community on the web.
The great tree of athletic commitment and success in the world starts from
small seeds of enthusiasm and love for sport. My Dad planted some pretty
big seeds.

Scot Mellor
12/11/98- NYC,NY
smellor@farcystems.com

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Long time Urbandale soccer coach K.G. Mellor was remembered by his former
players as someone who had the ability to relate to them, and maybe even
spark their interest in the sport just a little bit.
Memorial services for Mellor, who died of a heart attack on Monday night,
will be today at 1 pm at the temple B’nai Jesherun,. Mellor who was 56, was
the Urbandale boys soccer coach from 1988 until the first game of the 1997
season, and coached the Urbandale girls soccer team in 1996, it’s first
season as a varsity sport.
The Urbandale boys went 130-35-18 under Mellor. His 1990 team went
undefeated and in 1991 Urbandale won the inaugural central Iowa
invitational, a postseason tournament held in the years before there was a
state sanctioned tournament.
“K.G. has meant a heck of a lot to Urbandale soccer, said Lee Kane, a
longtime Urbandale soccer supporter, who started the Urbandale boys program
in 1985. “When he took over the program it was strictly in the embryo
stage, and I don’t think there is any question he took it to a higher
level. We received state-wide recognition, not only from the success of the
program, but from the fact that he made himself visible.”
But it wasn’t Mellor’s win-loss record that former players remembered on
Wednesday. “K.G. did a great job of relating to the players,” said Jared
Harshbarger, who played three seasons for Mellor. I was injured once, and
he came over and talked to me and said he had the same injury in college.
He started talking to me and telling me what he did to get over the injury
and it made me feel a lot better.”
One of Mellor’s strengths was his ability to get his players enthused about
the game, former players say.
“He inspired me to keep on playing, even when I wanted to quit in junior
high school,” said Dan Blossom, who played for Mellor for two years of club
soccer and for years at Urbandale. He actually influenced my life in ways
that I didn’t realize at the time, so I was shook up when he died. I wanted
to quit soccer, but he wouldn’t let me.”
Urbandale Athletic Director George Long said Mellor helped Urbandale soccer
in more ways than just on the soccer field. Long will give a eulogy at the
service.

“He loved soccer and did a lot for Urbandale soccer,” Long said. “He was
always there when I needed him, whether it was a ticket seller or a
scoreboard operator, or anything else.”
The Urbandale girls’ soccer team was informed of Mellor’s death immediately
following a 2-1 victory over Valley High School on Tuesday night. Seven of
the players on the current team were on Mellor’s 1996 team.
“It came as a big shock to everyone on the team,” said Kelly Best, who
scored a goal against Valley on Tuesday and was on the 1996 team.

By Bill Kopatich
©1998, Des Moines Register

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