There were many signs that Don Melby would be retiring as the head football coach at Pike Valley High School since the Panthers’ season concluded on November 17 in a tough 36-24 loss to Hanover in the 8-Man DII State Semis. That was confirmed early this week in a story by the Salina Journal. Melby, a Scandia native, and part of the Flying Swedes’ three state title teams from 1970-72, has spent the past 39 years on the sideline of the field that now bears his name. 37 of those have been as a head coach and two as an assistant. In that time, the Panthers went 216-143. Included in that was making the state semis four times, including both of the last two seasons. Pike Valley went 21-3 in the last two years and started 11-0 this season before the aforementioned loss to Hanover. All three of those losses in the past two years have been to eventual state champions, twice to Hanover and also in 2016 to 8-Man DI champ Osborne. Scandia and Courtland combined in 1979 to form Pike Valley, the first year Melby started teaching there. He has seen every single Pike Valley High School football game as a coach. KD Country 94 and Z 96.3 “The Lake” sports would like to wish Coach Melby the best in retirement. Friday morning on the Sports Ticket, Melby joined Sports Director Dusty Deines to discuss his long career. That interview can be found below.