CHADRON, Neb. – One of western Nebraska's best-known athletes, coaches and referees, Rodney Jay Ehler of Scottsbluff, died Friday, July 18, leaving behind many cherished memories.  His funeral is at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 23 at the Zion Evangelical Church in Scottsbluff.

Ehler graduated from Chadron State College in 1970 after playing both basketball and baseball for the Eagles. He was inducted into the CSC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988. 

He was a member of the Eagles' basketball team in 1966-67 that had a 22-6 record and won a game in Kansas City while representing Nebraska at the NAIA National Tournament. 

He starred as both a hitter and a pitcher for the CSC baseball team. His accomplishments included setting school records for highest single-season batting average (.475), lowest earned run average for a season (1.52) and most pitching victories in a season (6).

Ehler also was an excellent golfer. During the early years of Chadron State's Don Beebe Golf Classic, he was a member of the winning team in the Championship Flight four times in a six-year period. 

Ehler spent his entire career as a teacher and coaching boys' and girls' basketball and golf at Scottsbluff High. When he wasn't coaching he officiated basketball, including the finals of the state tournament. 

Upon learning of Ehler's passing, another Scottsbluff native and Chadron State athlete and graduate, Bud Murray, wrote a tribute to the player he had coached in Legion baseball and stayed close to the past 60-plus years.  

"I remember when he pitched for the Midgets and Legion teams that I coached, every time when the game got tough, he would pull the bill of his cap down, bow his neck and finish the game. I suspect he handled Parkinson's Disease very much the same way."

Later the baseball coach at William S. Hart High School in Newhall, Calif., for 22 years and voted the state's High School Baseball Coach of the Year his final year there, Murray added, "I have coached hundreds of athletes; many reached the major leagues. While they may have been physically better, none were a tough as Rod Ehler." 

All three of Ehler's children, Jay, Brock and Brooks, also earned degrees at Chadron State.  He is also survived by his wife, Glenda.