Life Comes Full-Circle
2023

Darrell Laschen (l) and Parker Vivoda (r) are old friends who started as teacher/coach and student/athlete,
respectively, and now co-coach the Granton wrestling team.
Submitted photo

In today’s world, a person might be hard pressed to find many successful relationships that span 55 years, let alone a coach-athlete relationship that still is thriving and strong.

In Central Wisconsin, though, one would have to look no further than in the Granton School District to find one such relationship, where Darrell Laschen and Parker Vivoda—whose long friendship began as wrestling coach and student athlete back in Loyal in 1967—are coaching middle and high school wrestling side by side all these years later.

Darrell Laschen started his career in education and coaching in Peshtigo in 1962—where he started the wrestling program—then moved to Middleton High School where he taught English and coached wrestling. He determined that he preferred small town living, and Laschen accepted a job in Loyal, where he taught Physical Education and coached wrestling, among other sports.  

As a young teacher, Laschen, a man with charisma and humor, charmed kids into not only loving Phys. Ed., but also for going out for the sports he coached. Parker Vivoda was one of those students. 

Vivoda had lived in Loyal, raised by his grandmother, since he was six years old. By the time Laschen came to Loyal, Vivoda was in seventh grade and, in Laschen’s words, already “a little wild”. But Laschen made gym class a lot of fun, making up crazy games and competitions, and he convinced Vivoda to come out for wrestling and, eventually, baseball. One of the things that Vivoda most admired—and still does—is how Laschen gravitated towards wanting to help kids, and how he took interest in kids at all levels, abilities and backgrounds. 

Over time, Coach Laschen took Vivoda under his wing, and it is fair to say, ultimately changed the course of his life. “Lash,” as he is called, always had the goal of helping his students and his athletes to become a better version of themselves; Vivoda often challenged that goal with some of his behaviors and undisciplined choices. Vivoda often found himself in trouble, at school and beyond.

Still, the two connected and their friendship stuck. Knowing Vivoda lived away from his father, after school Lash would take him hunting or fishing, sometimes had him over for dinner. When Vivoda was in high school, during his study halls he became Lash’s student aide, helping with classes of elementary students, planting the seed for Vivoda’s eventual interest in becoming a teacher and coach. The school was aware of the bond that the two had, and Laschen notes that one of the most difficult times in his career was when he was asked by the administration to pull then senior Vivoda from his English class to break the news that Vivoda’s father, who drove truck for a living, had been killed in an accident.   

Vivoda admits he was not much of a wrestler at first, but by the time he was a sophomore, he had grown into the sport. He was a two-time Cloverbelt Conference Champion wrestling heavyweight, and he wrestled freestyle for the Wisconsin National Team. Vivoda became a multi-sport athlete, playing football, wrestling, playing baseball, and throwing shotput and disc in track.

Laschen was instrumental in guiding Vivoda into a college wrestling program at Ripon College, where he also played football. While Vivoda was having success as a collegiate wrestler—becoming a three time NCAA Division III national qualifier—Laschen was busy continuing to build his team and his own coaching accomplishments.

Lash had quite a career at Loyal. He taught and coached there for 30 years until he retired. Under Laschen’s guidance, the Loyal wrestling team was often the most successful team sport at the school. Laschen claimed 25 Cloverbelt Conference championships, 14 state regional championships and three state sectional championships, as well as more than 60 individual state qualifiers. Ultimately, Lash was inducted into the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame in 2001.  

Lash also started a fast-pitch softball team in 1978 and took the state title that same year. Laschen’s teams went on to win state championships in 1979 and 1980, and later, he was inducted into the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2009.

For some time, Lash and Vivoda lived parallel lives. 

After graduating from Ripon, Vivoda took a job as wrestling coach at Glenwood City High School where he led his team to conference championship in 1979 after just two seasons of coaching there. In January of 1981, Vivoda was offered a job as Phys. Ed. teacher and wrestling coach at Middleton High School, following in the footsteps of Laschen, who held those same positions early in his career.   

For many years, Laschen and Vivoda were both busy building and maintaining their wrestling programs at Loyal and Middleton, respectively. They would communicate intermittently and would see each other at the State Wrestling meet, at Badger State Games, and at bi-state tournaments. They remained connected, attending each other’s weddings and some family events, and also attending funerals for some of each other’s family members.   

Eventually, Lash, still living in Loyal, retired. Besides continuing to coach wrestling, first at Abbotsford-Colby and then later at Stratford, he also became very active in senior softball, travelling frequently for tournaments. When Vivoda retired after a 30-year career at Middleton—where he built his own legacy and coached his wrestlers to multiple conference, regional, and sectional championships and had numerous state qualifiers and placeholders—he moved to Las Vegas, where for several years Lash would travel to play softball. He would either stay at Vivoda’s home, or Vivoda would come and stay where the tournament was held.   

Eventually Vivoda left Vegas to move back to Wisconsin, relocating in the Wisconsin Rapids area, where he and Lash would meet up to go fishing occasionally.  

One day, Laschen called Vivoda with a potential opportunity: coaching wrestling at Granton. For the past two years, the two have worked to build a program for middle school and high school students there and have enjoyed some success, especially with Granton sophomore Wyatt Karl, who recently took a second place at the Cloverbelt Conference Tournament.

These recent experiences with wrestling and coaching have brought Laschen and Vivoda back full circle, back to what links them: using sports as a way to help young people develop their potential, and as a means of personal connection, both on and off the mat. 

Pam Anderson contributed to this article. 

Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

February 15, 2023

Transcribed by Dolores M. Kenyon, February 15, 2023.

Web page by James W. Sternitzky PhD, February 16, 2023. 

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