West Branch football coach Butch Pedersen answered the phone with a sigh when asked if he would answer a few questions.
“I can give you a limited amount because I’m trying to make sure that this stays for the team,” Pedersen told the Des Moines Register on Wednesday. “I don’t want this to be a distraction for the team at all, even though I know it is a little bit.”
The distraction that Pedersen refers to is his recent diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, a blood cancer.
Any cancer diagnosis itself is a difficult challenge to overcome. But Pedersen, who didn’t even know he was dealing with blood cancer, now must face his toughest opponent at the height of football season.
Pedersen says it started with a routine checkup. His doctor saw that he was anemic and suggested the 71-year-old coach take iron supplements. When a month passed without a change in his levels, the same doctor instructed Pedersen to get a biopsy to see if there was a problem.
There was.
A few weeks ago, Pedersen was diagnosed with cancer. In the weeks since, he’s started chemotherapy treatments and will eventually have to undergo a bone marrow transplant.
For one of the winningest coaches in Iowa high school football, this might be Pedersen’s biggest challenge yet.
More:A look at Iowa high school football's quarterfinal playoff games, kickoff times for Friday
Football first, even with chemotherapy treatments
“Dad has never put himself first,” said Lance Pedersen, Butch’s son and Mount Vernon head coach. “Now that has to change because for him to take on this beast, he’s going to have to put himself first. But he doesn’t want to take away from what these kids have done and the success they’ve had this year.”
It makes sense that Pedersen still turns to football, though, even with his diagnosis.
Pedersen has spent his entire 39-year career at West Branch and has compiled a 337-83 overall record through the Bears game against Columbus Catholic last Friday. He's recorded the tenth-most wins all-time among Iowa high school football coaches and has the fourth-most among active coaches.
He's the only active coach to have picked up 300 wins with a single program.
The field at the Little Rose Bowl – West Branch’s football stadium – is named after Pedersen.
So, in short, football was and is Pedersen’s life. And if he can still safely make it out to practices and games, he isn’t going to give up coaching quite yet.
“This week, I’m going to practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and then I’ll be in the press box on Friday,” Pedersen said. “I’m trying to stay as involved as I can be. And I will delegate some things to my assistants, so I do have some time to take care of myself too.”
Pedersen praises his assistants for their ability to handle this transition, but it probably helps that most of them played for Pedersen when they were in high school. They know his program and they know what he wants.
Taking a step back hasn’t been easy on Pedersen. But he understands that he needs to put his health and his family first, even if he would count his coaches and players as extended relatives.
“My coaches do a tremendous job,” Pedersen said. “We do it together and we’re a family. We have fun together, and then we go out and we work hard together because we want the kids to be as good as they can possibly be.”
More:How to watch, listen to this week's Iowa high school football playoff games live on TV, stream or radio
A community rallies around their coach
Pedersen didn’t want to share his diagnosis at first. Like mentioned above, he didn’t want his cancer to be a distraction.
But, within the small community of West Branch – just over 2,500 citizens as of the 2020 census – news started to travel. That’s when Pedersen decided to come forward with his diagnosis, at least to his assistant coaches and players.
“To tell the kids was very hard,” Pedersen said. “But I felt like they needed to hear it from me, rather than hear it someplace else. We discussed it as a family because that’s kind of what we do in this program.
“I’ve really stressed a family atmosphere from day one. We need to do things together, and we need to be open and honest with each other. So, I needed to do that.”
West Branch activities director Jake Stenberg says there was a bit of shock from the players and the community when they found out Pedersen had cancer.
See, in this small town, football is a way of life. Grandparents, parents and children all played for Pedersen. On Friday nights, families come together at the Little Rose Bowl and watch the high school football team.
And with what he has done in nearly four decades at West Branch, it was hard for people to understand how a figure like Pedersen could have cancer.
“There’s kind of this, you know, he’s untouchable,” Stenberg said. “Or that nothing bad could ever happen to coach Pedersen, so to find out he has cancer was scary for a lot of them. It was something that took a bit to digest.”
That shock, that fear, that worry…it quickly turned to inspiration.
“As if they needed any more motivation, now they have somebody that they’re playing for and somebody that they’re fighting along with,” Stenberg said.
But that support, it doesn’t just end with the football team.
Stenberg says that each game, West Branch auctions off a suite in the press box for fans to sit in. He says the booster club makes the most money in the playoffs, because more people want that coveted box for the bigger games.
Instead, it was a unanimous decision to offer Pedersen and his family the box for games. Since chemotherapy leaves patients immunocompromised, it’s the perfect spot for Pedersen to still be involved during games without risking his health, and his family can still come and support him without worrying about picking up a sickness from sitting in the bleachers.
It didn’t end there though.
After the school announced the decision to not auction off the suite, the booster club received multiple donations from the community.
More:How faith, plant-based diet helped Asa Newsom become one of Iowa high school football's top recruits
Focus on Friday
Continuing to go out to practices and games could pose a risk to Pedersen.
But football also gives him something to look forward to as he goes through treatment.
“When he got the diagnosis, it’s something that’s scary,” Stenberg said. “But he went from talking with me about it kind of doom and gloom to ‘You know what, I’m gonna beat this thing.
“’And I’m gonna do exactly what I preached to my team, which is (that) it doesn’t matter the opponent, you can always win.’”
That’s Pedersen’s focus right now.
Beating cancer is a priority, but he doesn’t want all the attention that has come his way since his diagnosis became public. He wants people to talk about West Branch football.
The Bears head to the Class 1A quarterfinals on Friday with a perfect 10-0 record. West Branch has outscored opponents 470-80 and has posted four shutouts while making a deep run in the playoffs.
Pedersen’s team will face an MFL MarMac program with a 9-1 record – one win was a forfeit – but hasn’t lost since dropping its season opener by just 3 points.
West Branch also boasts a veteran group of players featuring quarterback Tye Hughes, who has passed for 1,303 yards and 12 touchdowns, and running back Andy Henson, who has 1,354 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns on the ground, in addition to leading the Bears in tackles.
More:Our Iowa high school football playoff predictions for all 28 state quarterfinal games
Those are the things that Pedersen wants people in West Branch – and beyond – to focus on. He might have cancer, but he cares about his players. He knows the work they’ve put in to get to this point of the season, and that’s where he wants the spotlight to stay.
“Football is his life,” Lance Pedersen said. “This is what he loves to do, and his team loves him back. He’s been able to touch a lot of lives in so many positive ways throughout his coaching career.
“He wants to be there for the kids and the kids want him to be there for them. It’s something that will definitely help keep him going.”
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at [email protected] or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.