An educator who committed his life to children — as a highly recognized teacher, coach and a legal advocate for kids’ best interests — has died.
Chuck Grimes succumbed to cancer Thursday at his Columbus home at the age of 71, after more than two weeks in hospice care.
Grimes spent 43 years in education, retiring in June 2011. He served mostly as a sixth-grade language arts teacher in Columbus at Southside, which has been a junior high and most recently an elementary school.
He earned the Edna V. Folger Award in 2003 as the outstanding teacher for Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., presented by the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce.
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Grimes also coached at the elementary, middle school and high school levels in golf, basketball, cross country and baseball — best known for his work in golf, leading Columbus North to a pair of state runner-up finishes in nearly two decades running the program.
Andy Johnson played professional golf on three continents, but he never forgot his high school coach — Grimes — or the experience he had playing on those Columbus North teams.
“In my whole golf career, he was probably one of the biggest mentors in my life,” said Johnson, the 1990 state medalist. “Especially when it came to the team, he instilled that we were an individual sport, but that we were to play as a team.”
Johnson’s freshman year, in 1987, North was state runner-up for the second time in six years. But that year was especially painful since the Bull Dogs had the same score as the winner, but lost on the fifth-score tiebreaker.
But Grimes and his North team were gracious in defeat.
Role model
“Everything that coach wanted to do was top-notch. And if we were going to win, we were going to win the right way. And if we were going to lose, we were going to do it the right way,” Johnson said. “We were going to be class acts on the golf course, no matter whether we were winning or losing. I tried to basically take those lessons with me through college golf and through professional golf. I couldn’t hold coach in a higher regard.”
Neither could the Bull Dogs’ current boys golf coach, Doug Bieker.
Grimes, who retired from coaching golf in 1993, returned as an assistant for Bieker for a couple years in the mid-2000s.
When North won its state championship in 2014, Bieker made sure Grimes got a ring.
“He was certainly one of the greatest coaches in the state of Indiana as far as golf and certainly at Columbus North,” Bieker said. “His record speaks for itself. When I first took over, I had certainly heard of Chuck and have always tried to hold the program to the high standard that he started. He played a big part in our success, even when I was coaching. He related well to the kids, still. He’ll be sorely missed for sure. He was a great man and a great coach.”
Grimes, even in recent years, still would call Bieker and talk about the team.
During preseason practice last spring, after assistant coach John Carmichael died, Bieker and assistant J.K. Keach were going to be away for about a week. In retirement, Grimes stepped in and ran practice.
“He is who I’ve always looked up to as a golf coach and certainly have tried to run my program and would make him proud that I was running his program,” Bieker said. “He had high standards and expected a lot out of the kids. Obviously, the kids cared a lot about him. That speaks volumes for what Mr. Grimes did. I’m blessed to have been a part of it and to have come after Mr. Grimes. A lot of our success has been because of him.”
Chuck Wilt, retired director of the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department, said Grimes worked one summer in maintenance at the city’s Par 3 Golf Course.
“He was really dedicated to his golf team and developing young kids in golf,” Wilt said. “He utilized our city facilities and just was a great person to work with on that.”
Serving with distinction
In 1989, Grimes won the Jack Cramer Ideals of Athletic Competition Award, presented by the parks and recreation department, to athletes, coaches or organizers who demonstrate dedication, preparation, determination, maximum exertion, fair play and sportsmanship. The award is named in memory of Cramer, an outstanding local athlete who exemplified those traits.
Grimes was inducted into Indiana High School Golf Hall of Fame in 1995.
Besides golf, Grimes coached basketball at Southside Elementary and cross-country at Northside Middle School. He also spent time as an assistant varsity baseball coach at East and assistant junior varsity baseball coach at North. And, he coached freshman football at East and seventh-grade football at Central Middle School.
Grimes also served 15 years as director of the BCSC Elementary Basketball League, organizing the season-ending basketball and cheerleading tournaments, through 2012.
Grimes graduated from Columbus High School in 1964, where he was sports editor for the school’s Triangle yearbook. He originally went to Indiana University, then transferred to Indiana State, where he graduated with a degree in elementary education.
When he wasn’t teaching or coaching, Grimes covered sporting events for The Republic for the better part of 40 years. He also wrote a few books.
Former Republic publisher Bud Herron recalled Grimes as a consummate writer. But the pair got to know each other better the past few years working together in representing the legal interests of children for Columbus-based Advocates for Children, an organization that interacts with families facing crisis.
Grimes was sworn in as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in November 2012. In April, he performed with two others during the annual Crooners for CASA fundraiser, which generated more than $50,000 for Advocates for Children.
“I just got to love the guy,” Herron said. “His heart was huge. I sat there in the office and listened to him work for kids on the phone. The only thing that really would get in his craw and bother him was he would get so angry with people our age who would retire and do nothing to improve the world. I don’t know anybody who didn’t like Chuck.”
Funeral arrangements by Barkes, Weaver & Glick Funeral Home in Columbus are pending.
