Mukilteo Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

How do you say thank you to someone who changed the course of your life, especially 40 years later? Do high school teachers really have an impact on a young person’s life?

In 1977, I was a very small, 95-pound high school freshman attending Riverview High School in Sarasota, Florida. Because of my size and long blonde hair, I was a natural target of bigger kids for teasing, and didn’t make much of an impression on anyone.

While not a bad kid, I had no discipline, no goals in life, and no idea what I should be doing.

All that changed when the wrestling coach, John Ondriezek, walked up...