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C-M’s Waller finally on bench after health scare

6 min read
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Stoic when facing adversity and calculated with every decision, Lou Waller III walks and talks like a man born to coach.

With direct instructions and an unbridled enthusiasm, Waller, 50, has the demeanor of a longtime coach. Each word and each decision are thorough, and like all great motivators, he knows exactly what to say to players at the right time.

The energetic scene at Canon-McMillan High School Monday night was a dream come true for him and one of his players. As he authoritatively yelled instructions in only his third game as the Big Macs’ girls basketball head coach, all felt right for Waller.

After he and his players celebrated a key Section 4-AAA win over rival Peters Township, Waller finally felt a long-awaited sense of normalcy.

The memory of lying in a hospital bed with a life-threatening illness just weeks prior can have that effect.

“That first game back we breathed a collective sigh of relief,” said Emily Lohrer, an assistant coach who filled in for Waller during his 10-game absence. “You could tell right that the energy we were missing was back.”

Waller is a man on the go. He is the president of the Waller Corporation in Washington and serves as director of several organizations and advisory boards across the area.

He’s also passionate about basketball, playing at Trinity High School and being an assistant coach at Waynesburg University under Rudy Marisa. He has also spent time as a high school assistant and coached AAU basketball, where he was the head coach for his children’s teams over the years.

When the position of head varsity basketball coach was opened at Canon-McMillan, where his daughter, Taylor, is a sophomore, Waller did not hesitate to apply. It didn’t take long for Waller to be hired.

Waller had waited years to be a high school head coach, but his future became cloudy last month. Waller was at work Dec. 3 when he felt intense stomach and chest pains. It was one day before the opening of the basketball season. As the hours passed, his symptoms worsened.

When Waller’s wife, Anne, finally talked him into not attending practice, the couple drove to the school to drop off Taylor while Lou would pass off a practice plan to his assistant coaches.

“When he was in the car, he was just crazy; like he was going to be sick,” Anne Waller said. “He was scaring me with the chest pains he had and the way he was acting. I had to take him to the hospital. It was scary. He was sick, we weren’t getting answers and I felt helpless.”

Lou spent two days at Canonsburg General Hospital with few answers and no definitive diagnosis. With frustration mounting, the Wallers decided to go to Washington Hospital, where within two hours Lou was in surgery.

The diagnosis was scar tissue from a 40-year-old surgery had blocked Waller’s small intestine and it was life-threatening. A surgeon successfully removed the scar tissue and Lou was hospitalized for six more days with a four-to-six week recovery.

That meant no working and no coaching.

“I don’t remember anything,” Lou said. “I lost memory for two days. It’s scary. It’s one thing when you feel bad for a couple days, but this happened so quickly. There was no warning sign that there was a problem. It was very unusual.”

For two weeks, Anne watched as Lou lost 20 pounds during recovery. That energy he was known for was drained and he often shuffled around the house slightly bent over. To visitors, the scene was shocking.

To Anne, each day brought a greater sense of relief. Slowly, Lou’s energy returned, but his desire to coach Canon-McMillan never wavered.

One week after surgery, Waller drove with his son to the high school for the Big Macs’ section game against West Allegheny. They snuck through a back door and Waller sat in the corner, talking with people in the stands while trying to catch up on all he had missed.

“It wasn’t a good idea,” Waller said with a laugh. “It was way too early. About a week later, I went to another game and sat in the stands. I watched film on every opponent we were going to play. I had already missed so much and I needed to catch up.”

Waller missed the first 10 games of the season, and in his absence Lohrer guided the Big Macs to a 6-4 record. For Taylor, not thinking about her father during every practice and game was difficult.

“Before he had surgery, it was nerveracking,” Taylor said. “All I could think about was him and what he’d be doing right then while coaching. I still worried and wanted him to be there with us, but I tried to play my best for him.”

Waller isn’t shy admitting he’s stubborn. That trait is what made Anne so nervous during his recovery. He wanted to check himself out of the hospital after one day to coach the Big Macs’ first game of the season and attend a business meeting.

Her concerns were amplified when Lou told her he was returning to coach Jan. 4 at Mt. Lebanon. The doctors warned him that he could not be as energetic during games; doing so would risk opening his incision.

“I was concerned and he knew I didn’t like it,” Anne said. “I told him it wasn’t worth it. I thought he was crazy by going to those games just to watch.”

In his first game back on the bench, Waller’s Big Macs defeated the Blue Devils. Next came a nine-point loss to Bethel Park, when Taylor dislocated her finger, and then, he coached his first game at home against Peters Township – the fifth-ranked team in the state.

As the Big Macs pulled off the upset, Waller looked like himself.

The win came just over a month after his surgery and the news from doctors that his medical condition could return. It could take one year or 20 days, but Waller is staying positive. Any concerns he might have are shielded behind the joy of coaching his daughter.

“It was very important for me,” Waller said. “I’ve wanted to do this and we were prepared to do this. I was very anxious. That’s why I didn’t listen to the doctor and I’m back now. Who wants to miss more than half the games in their first season as head coach? I couldn’t do that.”

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