BVU Hall-of-Famer Ewalt Remembered for Connections
Merritt Ewalt coached five sports during his BVU career, and directed teams in men's basketball and men's golf to league championships.
Buena Vista University Hall of Fame Coach Merritt Ewalt died on Tuesday at his home in Storm Lake.
Ewalt, 90, had a hand in about every men’s sport on campus during his 26-year association with the Beavers. The Coralville native directed the men’s basketball program for 16 seasons and guided the Beavers to a trio of NAIA national tournaments. His 1962 team earned the Beavers their first league championship in 36 years, finishing the campaign with a 25-3 mark.
Ewalt also coached men’s track and field for 15 seasons, and his student-athletes set numerous school records and earned numerous all-conference accolades. The longtime BVU football assistant coach (16 years) directed the Beavers in men’s golf for five seasons and won the school’s first conference title in 1958. He also served as head wrestling coach for the Beavers in 1976 and 1977.
“If there were a game or two my dad might list among his highlights, I think a 1962 basketball playoff game against Parsons College could come to mind... My dad always said the atmosphere was something else during that game.”
Steve Ewalt, son of Merritt Ewalt
“My mom (Mareda) and dad really enjoyed BVU and the community of Storm Lake,” says Steve Ewalt, their son. “Some of their best memories involved having students from Buena Vista over to our home for a meal on Sunday night, or over a break like Thanksgiving if a student-athlete, or several of them, couldn’t get home.”
Steve says dozens of those players returned the favor to Merritt and Mareda years later, often stopping by to see the couple. Former Board of Trustees Chair Dr. Norman Nielsen stayed with the Ewalts on his visits to Storm Lake for board meetings throughout the past 14 years.
“I was recruited by Merritt to come to Buena Vista in 1959,” Nielsen says. “Merritt and Mareda had a great influence on my wife, Marian, and me, as they did for so many student-athletes throughout the decades. We were close as coach-and-player, but grew much closer as friends later in our lives.”
Mareda Ewalt, a longtime kindergarten and first-grade teacher in Storm Lake, died in April. She and Merritt, according to Steve, will be buried in Mareda’s hometown of West Branch following a private family service.
A celebration of life for both Merritt and Mareda Ewalt will take place at a later date in Storm Lake.
Merritt Ewalt was a Korean War veteran, having served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps following his graduation from Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls. Following his military service, Ewalt attended graduate school at the University of Iowa before embarking on a teaching and coaching career at Mount Vernon High School.
In 1957, he made the trip to Storm Lake to join the ranks of a young coaching staff that, in short order, would feature John Naughton and Jay Beekmann, a trio that became synonymous with Beavers athletics.
“If there were a game or two my dad might list among his highlights, I think a 1962 basketball playoff game against Parsons College could come to mind,” Steve Ewalt says. “The game was played at the Armory on the Iowa State University campus and there were 3,800 fans in attendance. The Beavers won (86-75) and advanced to the national tournament. My dad always said the atmosphere was something else during that game.”
Another favorite tale involved a night in which Merritt Ewalt was locked out of a gymnasium in which his team was playing.
“Luther College had a fire or some sort of damage to its gymnasium on campus, so one year they had to play in a high school gym in Decorah,” Steve says. “My dad was always pretty vocal during games and he was upset about something and, as legend would have it, he walked to the end of the bench and pushed a door open beyond the baseline and stepped outside.”
The episode likely happened during halftime.
“Well, the door shut behind him and was locked,” Steve continues. “It forced my dad to have to walk around the school and come back in through the front entrance. They tried to charge him admission for a game in which he was coaching.”
Merritt Ewalt, a state champion pole vaulter at University High School in Iowa City, competed collegiately in track and field, and football. He was also an Eagle Scout, a proficient pheasant hunter, and a golfer who, on occasion, could shoot his age. He and Mareda, who attended St. Mark Lutheran Church in Storm Lake, raised two sons: Steve, of Storm Lake, and Darrell, who died in 2016. They are survived by Steve and his wife Wendy, daughter-in-law, Vicky, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
The Ewalts are also survived by hundreds of former students who proudly wore the Navy & Gold of the Beavers.