Chadron State College graduate Hal Messersmith, who went on to become head sand volleyball coach at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, died last Monday after a 2-1/2 year battle with cancer.  He would have been 54 today.  Services were last Saturday in Birmingham.

Messersmith, a native of Ogallala, overcame a brown recluse spider bite his freshman year at CSC to become one of the baseball program’s most outstanding hitters. He played 3 seasons for the Eagle and also played football for two seasons.

Messersmith had been assistant volleyball coach and director of  operations  the past 6 years at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, under his wife Kerry,  the head volleyball coach. They made husband-and-wife coaching history two years ago when he was named the school’s first-ever sand volleyball head coach.

The couple met at Chadron State and received their bachelor’s degrees from the college in 1986. They returned for two years in the mid-1990s  when Kerry, a native of Casper, took over the CSC program.  The Eagles were 23-12 in 1994 and 23-17 in 1995 under her leadership.

She spent five years as head coach at Georgia Southern University, with Hal as her assistant, before going to UAB where the couple has had four 20-win seasons and two NCAA Tournament appearances.

Hal Messersmith coached UAB in the nation’s first NCAA-sanctioned collegiate sand volleyball match against Florida State on March 3, 2012. The Blazers lost 5-0, but went on to finish the season 6-4 and posted a 10-8 mark this spring.

He also coached baseball, basketball, and football periodically from the mid-1980’s to 2001, including coaching American Legion baseball in Chadron, posting 17 winning seasons and graduating 95% of his student athletes.

As a student-athlete himself, Messersmith played baseball at CSC for 3 seasons, and is 7th on the CSC career batting list with a .348 average, 101 hits in 290 at bats

He was the only Eagle to make the NAIA District 11…which included all 4-year schools in Nebraska except Creighton and UNL…All-Star team in 1981 when he was junior and hit .391 with a school-record 13 doubles and team-high 32 RBIs.

He  joined the CSC football team in the fall of 1980 as the backup quarterback, but replaced the injured Scott Wickard for the season finale against Black Hills State and led the Eagles to a 28-24 victory.  He was the game’s leading rusher with 99 yards on 24 carries, was 9-13 passing for 124  yards, and threw a 2-point conversion.

Messersmith was expected to see lots of playing time the following, but suffered a shoulder injury in the second game and did not play that sport again.

Survivors include his wife Kerry, daughter Meghan and son-in-law Steve Gephardt, daughter Brynnley, grandchildren Evyn and Kaiden Gephardt, parents Mel and Donna Messersmith of Ogallala and two sisters.