DIETRICH, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — On Sunday night, Acey Shaw, former Blue Devils women’s basketball coach, passed away.
Coach Shaw was a pillar in the Dietrich community and loved by many around the state.
He served as the Blue Devils’ coach for 16 years. During that time, he won four consecutive State championships from 2011 to 2014 and took home three state runner-up trophies in 2009, 2015, and 2016.
He also won the Northside Conference Coach of the Year title on 12 occasions, and All-State Coach of the Year four times, and touched many lives, including outside the basketball court.
“I think the legacy he leaves is never give up,” said Stefanie Shaw, the current superintendent for Dietrich. “He taught the kids, especially after he got sick, because he never gave up. Even in his last days, he didn’t give up. And he really taught them that it wasn’t about winning basketball games.”
Acey Shaw served both as a principal and superintendent during his tenure.
“He was kind to everyone,” she said. “People thought of him as his brother. And I think that’s the biggest compliment to him. Because everyone is not kind, but Acey was kind all the time.”
One of his former players, who won three state titles with Coach Shaw, says the last two greatly impacted her life.
“I look back at the next two that we won, and they were even more impactful to me, just because he coached us from his wheelchair, and he could barely speak, and he couldn’t talk, and just he persevered through all of the hard things to make sure that we were completely capable of whatever it is that we needed to do,” Charley Bingham said. “That was amazing. And just knowing that even when he was struggling, he believed in us more than we probably even believed in ourselves.”
Bingham also coached alongside him and is now the Blue Devils’ women’s basketball coach.
“It’s pretty cool to take things that I learned from him to just implement that into the program that we have now. We’re trying to keep that legacy going. He built a strong foundation, and we’re just trying to keep that going,” Bingham said.
The lessons Coach Shaw left for his team and the community will never be forgotten.
“After he got sick, he taught us a lot about patience, and working hard, and not giving up when things got tough, and just to see the way the community rallied around him and supported him throughout his time here and his time coaching just meant a lot to us to watch, and I know meant a lot to him and his family too,” Bingham said.
Shaw’s funeral will be held on Saturday at the Dietrich School from noon to 1 p.m. A viewing will be held on Friday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Dietrich from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. as well as at the school on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
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