NORTH ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. (KMOV/Gray News) – With the start of high school basketball around the corner, one Missouri team is thankful to have their head coach back on the sidelines.
Dan Rolfes is the head girls’ basketball coach for Incarnate Word Academy’s Red Knights. The team has a 131-game win streak that will continue into this winter, but they are most thankful to have Rolfes back on the sidelines, KMOV reports.
“I’m super grateful to be back, but honestly, it’s felt like it’s been six years,” Rolfes said.
The coach suffered a heart attack while leaving the Red Knights’ state semi final game in March. That night, his heart stopped beating, and he says doctors gave him a 1% chance to live.
“We got about 20 feet outside the parking lot, and then, I collapsed and had a heart attack in the car,” Rolfes said. “My wife started CPR, and once I got to the hospital, they worked on me for about an hour and a half and said they shocked me 27 times. I’m just glad they didn’t give up.”
Rolfes’ road to recovery has been long, but most importantly, it’s been successful.
“For the most part, I feel good,” he said.
He reunited with his team in May before having an important surgery.
“I had a pacemaker and defibrillator put in,” Rolfes said. “It was kind of tough because I felt like I was getting a lot better. Then, you have a surgery, and it kind of knocks you out for another six weeks or so.”
After a long summer of rehab, Rolfes is back on the court and expects to be on the sidelines for another season with the Red Knights.
“It was a long process, and I feel good now. I’ve gotten my weight back and my strength back, but it was not a fun six months, I can tell you that,” he said.
Rolfes and his players are thankful for his recovery and that he is back coaching the team he loves.
“Every day is a blessing, and we’re so thankful for him to be here. We’re just glad he can be here coaching us because we wouldn’t want anybody else coaching us,” said Incarnate Word senior Nevaeh Caffey.
“Besides my family, this is something I’ve strived for and kind of the carrot dangling in front of you to work harder, to keep pushing to get myself back here to where I can coach. This is my passion. This is what I want to do,” Rolfes said.
Rolfes and the Red Knights begin the season Tuesday vs. Father Tolton Catholic High.
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