RITZVILLE – Jason Hilzer has been coaching football, wrestling and baseball at Lind-Ritzville/Sprague for nearly a quarter of a century, assisting and leading the way in battles on the gridiron, wrestling mat and the diamond.

But during the 2021-22 school year, Hilzer was fighting another battle; the Bronco coach had been diagnosed with leukemia earlier that year.

“That really made me feel like I’d overcome a lot,” Hilzer said. “I think a lot of the kids that do know what I went through really respect me for getting back.”

When Hilzer had kidney stones in 2021, he had bloodwork done that revealed his white blood cell count had been going down for a while. He said he wasn’t too worried about that, but after his kidney stones had passed, his kidneys weren’t recovering at the expected rate. More tests were run after his toes began hurting, which eventually led to Hilzer being diagnosed with leukemia on July 9, 2021.

Hilzer began treatment later that month in Coeur d’Alene, staying in the hospital for a 10-day treatment before returning to Ritzville. Experiencing some difficulty breathing after returning home, Hilzer had to be taken back to Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene.

“They thought for sure that I had COVID at the time because that’s when it was still pretty big,” Hilzer said. “They tested me five, six or seven times – all negative.”

What had happened was his lungs had hemorrhaged, discovered during a bronchoscopy.

Hilzer continued with his leukemia treatment after recovering from the lung hemorrhage, and after he began feeling pain in his arm, was admitted to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane where he stayed for nearly a month.

“My whole arm was completely full of blood clots,” Hilzer said. 

Continuing with maintenance chemotherapy every four weeks in Coeur d’Alene, with sessions lasting four days for a total of five months, Hilzer was eventually matched to be able to have a bone marrow transplant done.

“You have to match with 10 out of 10 proteins with your blood in order to get a bone marrow transplant,” Hilzer said. “

Hilzer went to Seattle in February 2022, having the transplant done in April that same year and staying in Seattle until July. 

“They made me wait there, so I had to stay in an apartment over there, it was right across the street a few blocks away from the Seattle Cancer Care,” Hilzer said. 

Then came the outpour of assistance from the community – a GoFundMe Page was set up for Hilzer to assist with the cost of staying in Seattle during his recovery from the bone marrow transplant. Nearly $16,000 was raised on the page, both through crowdfunding and the selling of t-shirts that read “Hilzer Strong.” The school’s district office organized a potluck to help raise money as well.

“Originally I wasn’t going to ask for any help, but then it got so much that I just couldn’t do it by myself,” Hilzer said. “... I walked in there when that thing was going on, but I couldn’t stay long because my immune system was pretty bad – it was just amazing how many people had supported me.”

After returning home at the end of July 2022, Hilzer returned to both work and coaching in August. 

“I would go out and coach my linebackers or running backs, and then I’d have to sit down because my feet would hurt from not being able to feet for very long, but then it got better,” Hilzer said. 

Hilzer coached games from the booth during the 2022 football season but was back on the mats in time for wrestling season, where assistant coaches would demonstrate moves while he was still recovering. By the start of this past school year, Hilzer was back to coaching full-time.

“When things get taken away from you just like that, you don’t really know how much you miss that thing until you’re able to come back,” Hilzer said. “I missed those kids so much, and I just wanted to be around them. I wanted to be coaching them and everything.”

Hilzer began coaching at LRS in 1996, coming back to coach wrestling during his brother’s senior year of high school. After a move to California, Hilzer, who played football and baseball as well as wrestled with the Broncos in high school, returned to Ritzville and once again began coaching wrestling in 2006, later joining the baseball and football coaching staffs in 2010. Coaching is a way to give back to the community that raised him, he said. 

“I always loved sports, and it was my way to give back to my community that I grew up in and it was something that I loved doing,” he said. “I loved the sports, but I couldn’t compete in them anymore, so that’s just the way it was.”

The most rewarding aspect of coaching is seeing the athletes grow as they go through high school, Hilzer said.

“Seeing how far a kid comes from when they come in as a freshman, to when they leave,” Hilzer said. “The advancements of each time, every year they come back – how much more of a leader they become – not necessarily as far as how good they are, but you start seeing how much the kids change. I like the leadership aspect of the kids, and their goals.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

    Lind-Ritzville/Sprague wrestling Head Coach Jason Hilzer, left, high-fives senior Gabe Smith after Smith won the 2B 195-pound weight class at the 2024 Mat Classic in Tacoma in February.