ST. LOUIS — Imagine working till you're almost 80, imagine coaching for over five decades and imagine doing it now without a limb. Everything Terry Michler does is kind of surprising.
After all, he's an old-school coach with modern ideas.
After Terry Michler's professional playing career was over, he took over at Christian Brothers College High School. That was 53 years ago.
Twenty Final Fours, nine state titles and over 1,000 wins.
Micher is the winningest high school soccer coach in American history.
"The key thing is the relationships, the interaction every day, with the kids, cutting up with them, getting on them, analyzing, correcting, you know, all that stuff. That's what it's all about for me, and I stay on top of the game," Michler said.
Years ago, Michler flew to Holland and studied the game.
He brought back that attacking-minded, crisp passing-style game to CBC.
"Anybody who's played at CBC knows how to play the sport properly. Now, where does that come from? The coach continually getting better, continually finding out ways to improve," soccer Hall of Famer Bill McDermott said.
Improving is what Terry Michler is trying to do every day now.
On July 4, 2023, he fell in the shower and the intense pain in his left leg would not go away.
His doctor gave him a simple question.
"Life or death. Simple," Michler said. "They said I was septic and if they didn't take the left, the infection would spread into the organs and if they wouldn't, I'd be gone pretty quick."
Pretty quickly this past summer, Michler began taking steps with his prosthetic leg, something he wants to do on a field one day. His athletic background was evident during physical therapy.
"He's very dedicated, and always talked about it from the first time he got here, about getting back soccer, coaching soccer, somehow, that was always one of his biggest goals," physical therapist Dan Brocksmith said.
But for now, he's picked up every afternoon at One McKnight Place by former player Kevin Whalen.
And Whalen takes him to CBC for practice, where the coach holds court.
"What was it like the first time when you saw him in that wheelchair coming on the field?" Frank Cusumano asked one of Michler's players.
"It was like, shoot, this actually happened. Like it was, we couldn't really imagine what he would have gone through and but to think that he was able to come back, and if I like that, it just gave us all a bunch of hope that we can, we can fight for him too," CBC captain Ryan Rook said.
His first game back was against Ladue.
"I think what saved me is my approach, I've taken a one-day-at-a-time approach. I try not to look back and I try not to look too far ahead. I just look at each day, what it brings me, what I can take from it, what I contribute to it. And sure, along the way, there's good days and bad days, I've been up and down," Michler said. "But what always brings me back to normal, I like to be in the middle. I don't like to be too up on the high and too loud on the low. Like to find that middle ground and know that if it's bad today, it's going to get better. If it's good today, it's going to not it's not going to stay good. So I'm okay with that, you know, I've come to grips with it."
"When the leg came off, I knew it wasn't coming back. Wasn't gonna grow back. I was gonna have to learn to deal with it. It's different, it's really different," he said. "But as I've said this before, thank God I'm 77, not 27. I have all those good years behind me with good memories. I'm at the tail end of my life, no doubt because you know, and I got no regrets."
CBC has a practice shirt that they wear.
"Courage. Be strong. Be brave. Be fearless."
A 77-year-old man, missing a leg and still doing what he does best.