Last hurrah Cheek-Willis going out on her terms

SILOAM SPRINGS -- Rose Cheek-Willis didn't think the day would ever come that she'd even think about retiring from coaching.

But after battling back from colon cancer and with her husband, Bill, enduring some health challenges as well, the ultra successful Siloam Springs volleyball coach decided this season will be her last.

The Lady Panthers (17-17) will open play in the Class 6A state tournament against Searcy at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Lake Hamilton High School.

Cheek-Willis, 60, said her husband asked her about stepping away last year, but she wanted one more season since that would allow her to coach her nieces. The fiery Cheek-Willis admitted the end is getting real as she coached her final home match a week ago and the state tournament is upcoming.

"It's going to be hard to walk away," Cheek-Willis said. "It's huge for me. I've been coaching 38 years. I never imagined I'd retire. I thought I'd die coaching."

She's now able to choose to walk away from the profession she loves.

Life-changing Times

Three years ago she wasn't sure that would be the case, after being diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. But it was going through multiple rounds of chemotherapy that she was able to reflect on her life. Cheek-Willis said her desire to return to the profession she loved was what helped her persevere and ultimately beat the disease.

"Thinking about my life, all I could think about was getting back to coaching," Cheek-Willis said. "I think that was the thing that got me through."

She said her priorities have changed in the past couple of years with her husband having some health issues. They will now get to enjoy time together traveling and enjoying the outdoors.

"He's had two open heart surgeries, and we thought he had pancreatic cancer, but we thank God it wasn't," Cheek-Willis said. "I'm passionate about what I do, but my husband is my world. He took such great care of me."

Getting Started

Her career in education started in the Moseley (Okla) Public Schools in 1979, coaching a variety of sports for students in grades 3 through 8. Her duties even included coaching football. She credits the students there with pulling her out of a deep depression after her father died.

"All I wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed, pull the covers over my head and cry," Cheek-Willis said. "A couple of months around those kids I was smiling and laughing. Those kids really helped turn my life around."

Her career took another turn two years later when she took a job as the high school volleyball and girls track coach and cheerleading sponsor at Siloam Springs.

She knew very little about volleyball initially and admitted that to her players. But she promised to help instill them with the fighting spirit that's been a cornerstone for her dynamic career.

"I told them I don't know volleyball, but I know how to fight, and I can teach you," Cheek-Willis said.

She was the only female coach at the time at Siloam Springs, which by her own admission wasn't always easy. The 5-foot-1 1/2 slightly built Cheek-Willis learned to stick up for herself and her players quickly.

"I was a little passive in the very beginning," Cheek-Willis said. "But I learned you've gotta stand your ground. It didn't take long for them to learn that I might be only 5-1, but I'm pretty dadgum feisty."

She used that fighting spirit and learned plenty about volleyball, too, helping build the Siloam Springs volleyball program to one of the best in Arkansas in her 36 seasons. She's racked up 565 career wins and seven state titles. The Lady Panthers enjoyed a run of dominance, winning a state record six consecutive state titles from 2004-09. She also earned National Coach of the Year honors from the National Federation of High Schools in 2011.

Ken Ramey, Siloam Springs superintendent, praised Cheek-Willis for her work as a teacher and a coach.

"She's done an outstanding job building this program from nothing to where it is now," said Ramey, who came to the district as high school principal in 1993. "She's a self-starter, a survivor, very dedicated to this district. She's got an indomitable spirit. She's a fighter, and I don't mean that in a negative way. She built the program from nothing to what it is now."

Setting an example

Hannah Allison, who played on four state championship teams at Siloam Springs and also a national champion at Texas, has now joined the high school coaching ranks. She has a deep respect for the job Cheek-Willis did. Allison points to her ability balance serious work with fun.

"The biggest thing I remember is we had so much fun," Allison said. "We took it serious. We had high expectations and expected to win. But we were able to balance having fun with being serious and winning, and coach Cheek was the reason for that."

They even had a little fun at the coach's expense. Once Allison and a teammate dressed up as coach Cheek for Halloween complete with trademark blonde hair and makeup.

"Oh yeah we had the blonde hair, makeup, everything," Allison said. "She was a good sport about it. We were all the time pulling pranks, too. My sister rolled up to the bus before the state tournament with her ankle wrapped like she'd hurt it. Scared the heck out of coach Cheek."

Dynamic duo

Cheek-Willis acknowledged her relationship with assistant coach Joellen Wright goes way past just professional. Wright served as interim head coach in 2013 when she was fighting cancer and has been around the program in some capacity for 22 years.

They spend time together both on and off the volleyball court. But she said Wright was invaluable in 2014 when Cheek-Willis came back after the year off. She suffered from neuropathy in her hands and feet and the chemotherapy also affected her memory.

"I didn't know it until a year later, but I figured how how much Jo carried me that year," Cheek-Willis said. "There were things that I just didn't remember. I figured out later I had chemo brain."

Wright isn't sure what life will be like without her friend next to her on the bench.

"I don't know," Wright said. "It scares me. It's been 22 years since I went on my first bus ride and she told me a story."

Cheek-Willis has quite a story herself.

Sports on 10/24/2016