He was known primarily as a basketball player during his days at Highmore High School and Southern State College in his native state of South Dakota. While in Grad school at South Dakota State, he was on the Jack rabbits track and cross country coaching staff. After SDSU he coached track and cross country at Willow Lake and Eureka high schools in South Dakota. He was honored as the states track coach of the year in 1972, after only four years in the profession. But, it is for his 31 years as the head Cross Country and Track coach at Tipton, Iowa High School, that we honor Dave Vogelgesang today.
South Dakota’s loss was Iowa’s gain as Dave made the move to Tipton in July of 1974 to begin a career that would last until 2005 and be envied by most and equaled or surpassed by very few. It didn’t take long to lay the ground work; once Vog got his system in place and his student athletes bought into it, the Tipton Tiger track and cross country programs were off and running. Pun intended. The Tigers won the 1975 cross country state title with Brett Eggert winning the individual crown as well. In 1979 Tipton won the WAMAC conference track title for the first time in 26 years. Dave felt that this conference title is what really “put the wind in our sails”. The community pride soared. The Tigers won the 4×8 at the 1981 state meet, put in an all-weather track in 1982 then won the 1983, 1984 and 1985 state team titles.
In all, while coaching cross country and track and field and serving as Athletic Director at Tipton:
Boys Track and Field teams won 4 team state titles
Boys Track and Field athletes won 12 state individual/relay titles.
Boys and/or Girls Cross Country teams won 6 team titles and 4 individual titles.
He was nominated for National High School Coach of the Year twice and was a finalist in 2006.
He was IATC 2A State Coach of the Year 3 times and won 13 IATC Region Coach of the Year Honors.
Testimony after testimony from former Tipton athletes tells how Coach Vogelgesang impacted their life during their days together in high school and how his impact continues to influence them today. Dave was asked what his greatest accomplishment was in 37 years of coaching. He said, very sincerely, “I really think my greatest accomplishment in coaching is totally about what the athletes accomplished in their 1-2-3 or 4 years of track or cross country. The memories I have are forever. I am so proud of the great families they now have and the amazing success they are enjoying in their careers. The state titles, medals and trophies were great but I am confident our athletes would tell you that lessons learned from hard work and commitment to excellence contributed much more to their personal success than all of the material awards”. There are no reason to believe that his assumption is not right.