The name on the new sign is nice.

But Bill Schuchardt said the names that go with all the faces he met during his long career at Salem High School are much more important to him.

Schuchardt and his wife, Karen, returned to Salem Saturday afternoon for a ceremony to officially dedicate the SHS football facility in honor of the Tigers’ former hall-of-fame coach. It is now known as Bill Schuchardt Stadium.

It took some time to get the ceremony scheduled. Schuchardt is now an assistant football coach at Rolla High School, along with his son Joe, so Plan A of doing it during a Tiger home game on a Friday night wasn’t possible. And when Salem couldn’t get any of its home opponents to switch its game to a Saturday, the Oct. 15 ceremony was organized. Ironically, the class reunions of two of Schuchardt’s best senior classes, 2001-2002, was held the same day.

As it was, a large crowd of former players, coaches, school administrators and friends were on hand for the event.

Schuchardt’s first head coaching job was his only head coaching job, when the guy from the big city – St. Louis – came to a little town in Dent County and didn’t leave for more than three decades, making the Wishbone formation famous – or infamous – around the South-Central Association.

He came to the country because no one in the city would give him a head coaching job. After a few years of excellence with the Tigers he had plenty of opportunities to coach in other places. He chose not to, because of the kids and community here.

Schuchardt was a coach, teacher and athletic director at Salem for 32 years and finished with a record of 255-91– ranking in the Top-20 all-time among Missouri coaches – and won 14 SCA and 12 district championships. He was inducted into the Missouri Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and in 2021, into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

During a stretch from 1998-2002 Salem made it to the state championship game in The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis twice, and three times advanced to the semifinals. The Tigers had a combined record of 58-9 during that span. Salem was 11-2 in 1998, 12-1 in 1999, 13-1 in 2000, 11-2 in 2001 and 11-3 in 2002.

And his time in Salem has affected generations of Salem youth, which continues today.

“They’re alive, they matter,” Schuchardt said pointing out to the crowd of well-wishers after the ceremony. “Those are the names that matter. This stuff (pointing to the stadium sign that bears his name) is nice, but it really doesn’t mean anything. It’s the live people that you met along the way…that means everything.

“Like I said before, I was just at the right place at the right time with the right people.”

Schuchardt also had advice for the current Tiger football program that he directed for so many years. Salem football has fallen on hard times in recent years as far as wins and losses.

“Don’t give up,” Schuchardt said, directing his comments to the coaches, players and parents. “You’ve got to remember, things in high school athletics go in cycles, as far as athletes and other things. Just keep going; don’t give up. Never give up. Play to the end. My kids heard that every year; every practice. That’s the key.”

He also mentioned his two sons, Jeff and Joe, who also were two of his finest players. They couldn’t attend the ceremony for various reasons, which dad and mom completely agreed with. “I tried to raise my sons to be good fathers and to be good coaches, and they both are,” Schuchardt said. “And that’s why they couldn’t be here.”

Former Salem school administrators Phil Karr and John Smith spearheaded the project to rename the Salem facility after Schuchardt.

“In my 33 years of education I’ve not met a single coach or teacher I respected more or who did more for me professionally and as a friend (than Schuchardt),” said Smith, a former principal and assistant superintendent at Salem before retiring earlier this year. “I left Salem for a couple years and took a job someplace else. I came back for a visit and knew Salem had a job opening. It was at Salem at halftime of a football game, and when Coach Schu was going up to talk to the kids at halftime he saw me standing there and instead came over and told me to come back to Salem and don’t leave again! That meant a lot to me, for him to take the time at halftime of a game to tell me that. And I did!”

“John Smith and I both retired the same year,” said Karr, a Salem graduate and longtime teacher and coach at his alma mater, who served on Schuchardt’s coaching staff and succeeded him as athletic director before retiring after the 2021-22 school year. “And we wanted to see this through. Nobody in this town deserves it more. And I’m really happy that Andrew Wynn, Steven Patterson and Josh Gordon took off with the project and helped get it done.”

Wynn, representing the Salem R-80 Board of Education, was the master of ceremonies at Saturday’s event. He was one of Schuchardt’s best players, earning all-state honors and playing on some of Coach Schu’s finest teams.

“What you’ve done for this town is, at times, immeasurable,” Wynn told Schuchardt at the ceremony. “I was fortunate, along with many of my former teammates. I grew up in a family and household that breathed, slept and bled Tiger Blue. I had two amazing, standout brothers (Dave and Mark) that played before me who I looked up to that paved the way for the memories I’ll always hold dear. I remember as a kid, being a football player is all you wanted to do.

“You wanted to wear that blue on Friday night and play for Schu. That was it. Some kids aspired to be policemen, firemen, doctors, whatever it may have been. But in Salem the only thing that mattered was being a Salem football Tiger. That’s it. From Fridays in elementary school when the players wore their jerseys and came to read to us, to standing along the blue wall or by the gate after a home game hoping to get to talk to a player and asking for autographs, they were immortals to us when we were young. And that was all due to Schu. The type of person he is. The type of program he led. He led with ferocity, but also led with care. He cared about his town, this community, this school and each player individually.”

The stadium project is ongoing, as Wynn said funds are still needed to complete the work.

To donate, see a member of the board of education or athletic booster club.

There are levels of donations. “And no donation is too large or too small,” Wynn said.

Here are donation club members (recognized on a sign inside the stadium):

Varsity Club: Town & Country Bank, The Bank of Salem, Ridge Runner Drilling & Pump Co., The Patterson Family, The Dillon Family, Dr. Charles and Jan Cunningham, Town & Country Supermarkets/Country Mart, D&K Welding and Salem Publishing Co.

Big Blue Club: Nathan Gott and Progressive Ozark Bank.

Letterman Club: Willie Strader/Farm Bureau Insurance, Steven Patterson Attorney at Law, Michael Sullivan, CPA, Salem Monument Works.

Coaches Club: Justan Blair, Salem Farm Equipment, Terrill Complete Auto Care, Bob & Susan Jenkins, The Wynn Family and The Gordon Family.

Among the other work done includes D&K Welding and Action Graphics on the overhead sign and fence; Dunlap Masonry on columns; Salem Monument Works on pavers; Davey Gray on concrete work, and Josh Gordon, Steven Patterson and the Salem Athletic Booster Club.