For about 60 years, Earl Yestingsmeier stood in the crowd and supported Ball State’s golf team.
On Tuesday at his funeral, about 50 current and former team members stood up in his honor at the request of Ball State golf head coach Mike Fleck.
Then Fleck paused, fighting back tears.
“Coach not only impacted the lives of all these men,” he said. “He impacted the lives of their parents, spouses, children, grandchildren … so many others that are associated with these team members. This right here, this is Coach’s golf family and legacy.”
After Yestingsmeier retired in 1998, the former coach missed three tournaments.
“It was amazing; it blows me away,” Fleck said of Yestingsmeier’s dedication. “You name it — Coach was there.”
And if Yestingsmeier was unable to make it to an event, he’d pay a visit to Fleck’s office asking for results the next day.
“It’s an honor to be associated with the greatest family in college golf,” he said. “The impact that Coach had on Ball State University, college golf and golf around the world is well documented.”
Yestingsmeier came to Ball State from Evansville, Ind., and received his bachelor’s degree in 1955 and his master’s degree in 1958.
After graduation, he worked his way up from athletic ticket manager to assistant director of alumni relations. He was later named both sports information director and golf coach, a dual title he carried for 36 years.
As sports information director, Yestingsmeier produced statistics with meticulous detail, said Mark Popovich, who worked as a student assistant under Yestingsmeier in the ’60s. He was the first to assemble a history book of Ball State sport’s statistics and records.
He kept the sports information director position even after becoming the men’s golf head coach in 1963, something that is unheard of now, said Joe Hernandez, associate athletic director.
“Ball State pay wasn’t that great,” Popovich said with a laugh. “[His work] was a testament to his love of Ball State and his desire to help the institution. … He advanced the reputation [of the university].”
During his time as head coach, Yestingsmeier’s teams won 107 tournament titles, won six Mid-American Conference championships and played in 11 NCAA Tournaments.
Four of his players — Brian Tennyson, Jeff Gallagher, Denny Hepler and Scott Steger — went on to play on the PGA Tour, according to Ball State Sports, and 89 of his golfers went on to teach professionals or went to golf management positions.
Senior Tyler Merkel said he came to Ball State partially because of Yestingsmeier.
“He went to every men’s and women’s basketball game — he would never miss them,” Merkel said. “Every football game, he was there. He was just Ball State, through and through. He did everything there was to do for Ball State. It was just awesome that he really supported our golf team as much as he did throughout his career.”
In the early ’90s, Fleck met Yestingsmeier during a visit to Ball State’s campus. Yestingsmeier initially told Fleck he wouldn’t be able to play golf at the university. Fleck wasn’t “good enough” to play for the coach that was described as a fiery competitor, a title he held even late in his life.
By the recommendation of Paul Bessler, one of Yestingsmeier’s former players, Fleck made the team. It was a decision that Yestingsmeier would not regret and one for which Fleck remains thankful.
Yestingsmeier never had children of his own, so athletes, students and fellow faculty became part of his family.
“The love that he had for his players, whether it be current players, former players or future players … he wanted to know what all those guys were up to,” Fleck said. “If you talked to the 270 plus letterwinners that have gone through this program in the last 50 years, all of them would say that Coach is the guy, that he is the patriarch of Ball State golf.”
During his time playing for Yestingsmeier, Fleck learned more than how to improve his game on the green.
“The concept of working hard and being passionate and doing it with a purpose and being committed … all of the things that encompass our program today, he’s had such a huge influence over,” Fleck said.
He took over as the team’s head coach after Yestingsmeier’s retirement 16 years ago.
“Luckily, Coach saw something along the way that inclined him to give me that chance,” Fleck said. “And here I am 16 years into a coaching tenure at my alma mater and couldn’t be more blessed or honored to be doing what I’m doing.”
Yestingsmeier also hired Popovich and Hernandez.
“He was concerned with us,” Popovich said of the time he spent working for Yestingsmeier in his 20s. “The people that worked for him in the office — just how we were doing — [he was concerned] with our grades and mindful of the fact that we might have to miss something if we had a test.”
Hernandez even met his wife through Yestingsmeier.
“[Yestingsmeier] was supposed to take [his wife] to a retirement dinner for a vice president,” Hernandez said. “He couldn’t go because he had a golf tournament, so he asked me to take her to dinner. So I did and my future wife ended up sitting at our table.”
Yestingsmeier met his wife, the former Mona Fahl, while they worked together for a 28 years in the sports information department.
After they both retired, Yestingsmeier asked for her hand in marriage. They were together for roughly five years before she died in 2003.
They married at High Street United Methodist Church. It was the same chapel where the congregation gathered Tuesday.
The same chapel where a teary-eyed Fleck summed up his good friend in one word: committed.
“I’ll forever be grateful,” he said.
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