Small-town Nebraskans share memories of 'Coach Walz' as former teacher accepts VP nomination

Dozens of people gathered at the Central Park in Alliance to celebrate a former local high school teacher making it to one of the biggest stages in American politics.

That same night, Tim Walz accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president in Chicago.

At the Alliance rally, attendees held signs that read "Congratulations Coach Walz" and speakers shared their memories of him as both a teacher and coach.

Walz taught geography and coached football and basketball in Alliance during the early 1990s before moving to Minnesota.

One of his former students, Jenny Lanik, said Walz had a sporty Mazda every teenage boy at Alliance High School had their eyes on. Her date to homecoming got to drive it to the dance.

“My date had mentioned, you know, taking me to homecoming in his car," she said. "And essentially, Mr. Walz threw him the keys and said, Here you go. Take her.”

Other former students shared their memories of geography Jeopardy, and Coach Walz running wind sprints with the rest of the football team.

Later in the evening, the crowd in Alliance headed over to a local pizzeria to watch the native Nebraskan address the nation at the Democratic National Convention.

But in the parts of Nebraska Walz is from, the vice-presidential nominee’s political party is far from the majority.

Walz was born in West Point, Nebraska and soon moved to Valentine, deep in the heart of the Sandhills.

After his father was diagnosed with lung cancer, the Walz family moved to Butte, Nebraska, to be closer to his relatives. Walz graduated from Butte High School in 1982.

Driving along the northern tier of Nebraska, there isn’t much outward support for the ticket Walz shares with Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris, even in Butte, where his mother and uncle still live.

Butte is located in Boyd County, a Republican stronghold in one of the most conservative parts of the country.

In 2020, President Joe Biden received less than 12% of the votes in Boyd County.

At the Firehouse Bakery and Café in Butte, owner Barbara Nicolaus said she doesn’t expect Walz to change that in 2024.

“It's an awesome thought to think that someone from small Nebraska is in the running, but whether that'll change a vote? Everybody's pretty much set," she said. "You're Republican, you're a Republican. You're Democrat, you're a Democrat."

Walz alluded to lessons learned growing up in Butte in his DNC speech.

“Growing up in a small town like that, you learn how to take care of each other," Walz said. "That family down the road, they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do, but they’re your neighbors and you look out for them, and they look out for you.”Walz went to college at Chadron State in the northwest corner of Nebraska before going on to teach in Alliance - both places where former president Donald Trump won more than 70% of the vote in 2020.

But both towns recently had mayors who are registered Democrats. Miles Bannan is one of them.

Bannan was the mayor of Chadron from 2018-2020 and currently serves on the city council.

He attended Chadron State College around 20 years after Walz graduated.

“To hear Tim Walz say that he went to Chadron State College blew my socks clean off," he said. "I had no idea. And that's really inspirational to me.”

Bannan doesn’t expect Walz’s time in Chadron to change the minds of voters in 2024, but he hopes it will make Democrats seem more relatable to a younger generation of small-town voters.

“The value of that is in the future," he said. "You know, that's not votes right now, that's all these college kids at Chadron State feeling good about their education and going forward and doing things."

In Alliance, former mayor and city councilman Earl Jones worked with Tim Walz in the public school system.

Jones said he has followed Walz’ political career and wasn’t surprised when he was selected as the vice-presidential nominee.

“He was so enthusiastic about everything, whatever he was doing, so that's the thing that stuck out," he said.

While in Alliance, Walz was also arrested for drunk driving and cited for driving 41 mph over the speed limit.

He offered to resign his coaching and teaching positions at Alliance but ended up staying the rest of the year.

Jones says Walz’s response showed his integrity.

“He really felt like he'd failed people, and it's not a reaction that you see very often," Jones said. "You know, most people make excuses or are hide from it or try not to tell anybody.”

In 1996, Walz and his wife moved to Minnesota, where he continued coaching and teaching before running for Congress in 2006.