Repeating History Won’t Be Enough for Azusa Pacific

Vic Shealy has repeated family history all the way to the NAIA national championship football game. But today, Shealy will try to make his own history.

In 1972, fourth-year Coach Victor Dalmouth Shealy II led Carson-Newman College of Jefferson City, Tenn., to its first visit to the NAIA playoffs before losing in the championship game. His 11-year-old son, Victor Dalmouth Shealy III, was a ballboy for that team.

That ballboy is now in his fourth year as coach at Azusa Pacific, and his Cougars have reached today’s NAIA final in the first playoff appearance in their 33-year history. They play Olivet Nazarene of Kankakee, Ill.

And his 11-year old son, Victor Dalmouth Shealy IV, will be his ballboy, as he has been all season.

“It’s really something,” said Vic Shealy, whose father goes by Dal. “We have talked lately about it. The probability of this would have to be in the millionth, if not billionth, percentile.

“I hope the percentages aren’t too exact, though, so we can come out with a win.”

Instead of repeating his father’s history in the NAIA title game, if Shealy can follow his own history, he will walk out of Jim Carroll Stadium as NAIA champion.

His Cougars (11-2) played the Tigers (11-2) on Sept. 12 and won, 31-24, at Azusa Pacific.

“Our guys are here to win a national championship,” Shealy said. “But [Olivet Nazarene players] are here to win a national championship and to get some revenge. That gives them a personal award to it.”

If revenge gives the Tigers added motivation, Shealy will have some of his own in the stands--his mentor father.

Retired since 1989, Dal Shealy lives in Kansas City, Mo., where he serves as president and chief executive of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Today, he will see his son’s greatest moment in a lifetime that revolves around coaching.

“That’s all he ever wanted to do,” Dal said of Vic. “Even when he was [6] and I was coaching at the high school level, he would go with me and help water the field or drag the track.

“And he loved watching film. By the time he was in eighth grade, he could break down film as good as any of my coaches.”

Vic got a chance to work for his dad in college, serving as an undergraduate student assistant at the University of Richmond in 1982 and 1983.

From there, he spent two years at Baylor as a graduate student assistant before two stints each at NAIA Mars Hill College of North Carolina and Austin Peay as an assistant coach.

And even though Dal retired before Vic got a chance to work full time with him, they got to work together for a week in Vic’s first year at Azusa Pacific. After his running backs coach left only days before summer camp began, Vic turned to his father for help.

“He always wanted to get established as a coach and then work for me,” said Dal, who left Kansas City and coached the Cougar running backs for a week. “Instead, he got established and let me come back to coach for him.”

In the four seasons since, Vic’s players have seen his style change, and attribute this year’s success to the change.

“This year he has taken more of a head coaching role, looking at each position and evaluating every player,” All-American receiver Dexter Davis said. “He was doing a lot more of the hands-on work. Now he is letting his assistants do more of the work.

“It seems a lot less stressful for him.”

Shealy also sees his coaching bringing him and his son, who also goes by Dal, closer.

“It’s great because in a job that should be taking time away from my family, it’s bringing us closer together,” he said. “When we had the [semifinal] locked up, Dal hugged my leg and I leaned down and hugged him and he said, ‘Dad, isn’t it something? We’re going to the national championship.’ ”

And as Vic did when he was younger, Dal and Vic’s 7-year-old son Jacob are already showing an interest in coaching, drawing plays at home while Vic is at practice.

“Some of those plays are actually sound schemes,” Vic said. “Football seems to run in the family.”

The question now is, how closely will Vic follow the senior Dal’s path? A year after leading Carson-Newman to the championship game, Dal left for Baylor, where he served as offensive coordinator. He also served in that capacity at Tennessee and Auburn, before becoming head coach at Richmond.

But taking over a Division I program is not in Vic’s plans.

“I don’t think I have to be a major conference head coach to have a career I’m proud of,” he said.

“But there are a couple opportunities out there that if it were the right time and right place, I would consider.

“It would be really neat to coach at a military academy.”

For now, though, Shealy has only one focus:

Going from a repeater of Shealy family history to a creator of it.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NAIA Championship

Azusa Pacific (11-2) vs. Oilvet Nazarene (11-2)

10 a.m. PST today

Jim Carroll Stadium

Savannah, Tenn.

Fox Sports West 2

* The teams met earlier in season, with Azusa taking a 31-24 decision.