Like any group of high school students, members of the 1998 state soccer championship team from Hailey's Wood River High School took different paths after graduation.
Senior defender Justin Nelson became a U.S. Army captain who spent a memorable 10-month tour in Iraq as an infantry platoon leader for the 82nd Airborne Division. He is proud to have helped organize the first Democratic election in a Muslim society during his tour.
Mike Spaulding, a sophomore striker for the state championship team, was probably the fastest player on the squad and a legitimate scoring threat. Now, his passion is rock climbing and bouldering. For the last three years he has worked on the trail crew at Burley's City of Rocks.
Both have fond memories of being a part of that team, and both continue to have respect for what coach Brian Daluiso did to motivate them.
Nelson joins the military
Nelson was part of Wood River's tough defensive backline, with Alex McLaughlin and Jacob Risner, which endured Weiser's onslaught during the 1998 state championship game.
He said, "We had to stop the offense and take the ball back up the field. We did a good job of keeping it on the other side of the field, and Charlie (goalkeeper Askew) also did a good job of making sure nothing bad happened if it got behind us."
"We played a good long ball game, and could out-run and outlast everyone we competed with," Nelson added. "Many of us played indoor soccer throughout the winter. What also helped us succeed was playing year-round, and having a little more elevation and a bigger field to play on."
Attending the University of Idaho in Moscow in the ROTC program, Nelson graduated with a sociology degree in 2003 and began his required four-year hitch with the U.S. Army with training at Fort Benning, Ga. His tour of Iraq lasted from Dec. 2004 through March 2005.
"We battled insurgents and defeated them in large neighborhood called Haifa, outside of Baghdad. We turned control of the neighborhood over to the local population," he said. "We also organized the first Democratic elections there, which was a huge accomplishment.
"We were really effective, got a lot of stuff accomplished and had a very good time."
Nelson came back and went to Ranger School. His responsibilities include training new troops in the 82nd Airborne for infantry tactics. He is stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C. and lives in Fayetteville, a bachelor with two weimaraner hunting dogs.
For someone whose job focuses on leadership, Nelson said he appreciated what coach Daluiso did for the 1998 state championship team.
He said, "Coach Daluiso did a good job with leadership. He did what we did. He would run two miles with us instead of being an armchair quarterback. It definitely contributed to our respect for him as a coach."
Spaulding battles injury
Compared to Nelson, Mike Spaulding has lived a less structured life since high school and has faced daunting physical challenges. But he has found a passion in climbing and continues to live it fully.
Spaulding started climbing as a teenager, but really got into it after his senior year at Wood River.
College just didn't work for Spaulding. He went to Boise State University for one semester and came back to live and work in the Wood River Valley. For three years he was a manager and prep cook at Bob Dog's. He worked at Chandler's Restaurant, briefly in ski school on the mountain and for five years as a driver for Allen & Co.'s convention.
His life changed during his first summer working on the City of Rocks trail crew.
On Sept. 11, 2006, Spaulding took a steep fall, smacked hard into a rock and broke his ankle. For three months the broken ankle was paralyzed. He damaged the nerves and ligaments and needed two surgeries, one eight days after the accident, the second in Nov. 2007.
"I destroyed my ankle and have been recovering the last two years," said Spaulding. "It still gives me pain but it's getting better. I realize I'll never be able to run again. It's a life lesson, one that has bettered me and kept me more aware of things going on in my body."
Spaulding, 26, was encouraged this past summer, his third at City of Rocks, by being able to spend five months at the national federal reserve—living out of a tent. His responsibilities on the trail crew allowed him to climb every day.
He has become stronger and made progress in his bouldering, moving up several levels. This winter he plans to climb in Mexico. He enjoys the lifestyle. "It fits me," he said. "It's important to find a career eventually. For the time being I'm exploring my passion."
Spaulding, who scored 21 goals his senior year and finished eighth on the all-time Wood River scoring list with 28, has fond memories of his three years on the Hailey varsity.
His first year, the 1998 state championship season, Spaulding started the majority of the time and played up front with fellow sophomore Jason Southward—giving Wood River a very young but very fast and accomplished front line.
What sticks the most in his mind about the 1998 state tournament was the first game, a 4-0 victory over Lewiston that ended with Spaulding's header on a fine cross from Jess Kiesel. It was later voted "Goal of the Year," by the coaches.
Spaulding said, "That game, I remember everybody on our team yelling the whole game."
"Coach was a big stickler at our offense making runs directly to the end line, opening up and spreading the field, getting the ball as far down and close to the end line as we could, and then using the open spot," he said. "We tried never to force it, always playing to the open man and open spot."
The championship game, fourth Wolverine game in three days, called upon the endurance demanded by coaches Daluiso and Craig Roth.
Spaulding said, "I definitely remember being winded and tired in that last game, but not nearly as much as I had been winded during our daily doubles and practices. There was just a lot of running and getting yelled at in practices—he didn't want us lying down on the ground, ever.
"He (Daluiso) seemed to know what needed to happen so our endurance skills would hold out when we needed them at the end of our games. He pushed us to get to that other side, so when the game occurred we were ready for it. Always, it was 12 sprints at the end of every practice, sprint down, jog back, sprint down.
"I think I always looked forward to the games themselves, since they were so much more enjoyable than the practices.
"Actually, my best memory of Daluiso was I believe during my senior year. The sprinklers went off during practice and every person except two took off for their bags so the bags wouldn't get wet. He yelled at us profusely for doing that. He wanted us to finish practice before we went anywhere."
