California football legend Harry Welch drops cancer bombshell

Legendary first-year coach at Santa Margarita tells team he has prostate cancer, plans to fight his battle publicly. Surgery scheduled for bye week.

By
Aug 25, 2010, 11:50am
Harry Welch has had a history of success in coaching football, but the bombshell he dropped on his new team at Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) shows that the master has at least one more big battle in front of him.

Welch told his team Monday that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, which will need immediate attention. Ever the coach, Welch's surgery is scheduled for Oct. 4, the Monday of his team's bye week. Although there is still much in the air, such as whether his moderately aggressive form of cancer has spread to his lymph nodes or bone marrow, he anticipates being back on the field within 10 days and in time for his team's Trinity League opener against Orange Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) on Oct. 15.

Welch, 65, is in his first season at Santa Margarita. He won three consecutive Southern Section championships with St. Margaret's (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.). During the 2008 season, the Tartans won the CIF Small School Bowl championship. He has a 222-49-2 record overall. He also coached Canyon (Canyon Country, Calif.) to five section titles, and in his last season at Canyon he guided the Cowboys to the first Division I Bowl Championship with an upset of De La Salle (Concord, Calif.). He is the only man to win two bowl championships with different teams.

Yet this battle, which Welch plans to face publicly, will be his most important – and not just because his life is at stake.

"If I can use my position in the community as a sports figure to help other people live fuller, longer lives, I'll feel better about this than winning a state championship," Welch said Wednesday.

"I've lived most of my life being a teacher, and if I can use this as a significant learning opportunity, it will mean a lot to me. As I get closer to the end, if I can continue to reach out and have a positive impact – this has a chance to have the most positive impact I've ever had in my life."

In the two days since Welch's condition became public, he has received calls and e-mails from throughout the U.S. – and beyond – from well-wishers who have provided insight, counsel and an admission to their own fears but conceded they will finally get checked, something that every man who reaches age 50 should do annually.

"This openness can be good and the fear factor for others can be diminished," Welch said. "Regardless of what happens to me, I'm hoping I can reach out to people and help others live longer lives with their loved ones."

Welch said Dr. Jeffrey Yoshida told him that immediate surgery would give him a 90 percent chance of beating the disease, which Welch fully expects. Santa Margarita opens the season on Sept. 3 against Diamond Ranch (Pomona, Calif.) at Saddleback College.

"I love the comment of one my players," Welch said. "One of the things I told our players was that impotence and incontinence were potential side effects, and they weren't sure of the words so I tried to explain it to them. One of the boys texted his mom and said, 'Coach Welch has cancer but he's really worried about side effects, that one of the side effects is incompetence.'"