David Wessel was a three-year letterman in football under Coach Wally Schwank at Coe. In his senior year he was named first team All-Midwest Conference center on Coe's Conference championship team. A football knee injury cut short his basketball playing at Coe during his sophomore year. But it turned out that basketball was to be at the heart of his highly successful coaching career.
After a year of coaching and teaching at West Branch, Iowa, Dave was named assistant coach in football and basketball at Davenport West High School. From 1967 to the present Dave has been the head basketball coach at Davenport West, piling up records that are the envy of coaches throughout the state.
Eight times he has taken his basketball teams to the low State Tourna-ment. In 1971 and 1994 West captured the State High School champion-ship. The 1994 team went 24-0 and was the only undefeated basketball team in Davenport history.
In compiling over 300 wins in his high school coaching career Dave has garnered many enviable honors. Eight times he was conference Coach of the Year. Four times he was District Coach of the Year, and twice he was the lowa State Four-A Coach. On the academic side, Dave has been the faculty chairman of social studies at West High School.
A long and noteworthy career as a high school coach has been the hallmark of dozens of Coe alumni who were outstanding athletes as undergraduates. Dave Wessel's 35 years as a highly recognized coach places him among Coe's very best. Thus, it is an honor to add his name to the roster of outstanding athletes and coaches that are recorded in the Kohawk Athletic Hall of Fame.
