Schuckman: Cardinals put faith in family and rally around toughness displayed by coach’s mom

SHELBINA, Mo. — Adam Gunterman needed a moment.

In the wake of the South Shelby football team’s 6-0 victory over Monroe City in last Friday’s Class 2 District 7 championship game, Gunterman was headed to fulfill some postgame interview obligations when the Cardinals’ Owen Stueve stopped the head coach.

Stueve wanted the district championship trophy so the team could take a picture with Gunterman’s mother, Mindy.

“Right there, I got choked up,” Gunterman said. “I had no idea that was happening.”

Neither did his mother.

“That was something the boys decided to do entirely on their own,” Gunterman said.

They know what kind of source of strength and toughness Mindy Gunterman has been for her son, their family and anyone in her sphere.

In the summer of 2023, she lost her left leg two inches above the knee in a boating accident, a harrowing moment during which her life was on the line.

“We’re pretty big in our faith in Christ, and I’ll tell you right now, that’s what she leaned on more than anything,” Gunterman said. “She should have died multiple times. My dad actually made a tourniquet out of the anchor rope and that’s what saved her life.

“There were a lot of things that happened — in order — that without happening she would have passed. It was a pretty wild thing that happened. It’s definitely had an impact on us.”

Surgeries followed, as did rehabilitation and then the pursuit of walking on her own. She spent months in a wheelchair before graduating to using a walker, all while fighting to find and use the right prosthetic limb to where she is now walking with the use of a cane.

The journey isn’t over. She wants to walk on her own with no aids.

Don’t doubt her. Look how far she has come in 18 months.

“We talk about toughness a lot,” Gunterman said. “She’s what I think about when I think about toughness.”

It’s on display every Friday night for the Cardinals to see.

Gunterman’s parents, Gary and Mindy, who still live in his hometown of Pleasant Hill, Ill., make it to every game. His brother, Matt, and his fiancee, who also live in Pleasant Hill, are there as often as possible.

Above all else, family matters.

The Cardinals embrace that.

“Every coach talks about their team being a family,” Gunterman said. “But you have to kind of walk the walk and not just talk the talk. I think our kids do it. I think that was a great example of the character of the young men in our school. That’s pretty special.”

Their gesture of including Mindy Gunterman in their celebration meant no one could fight back the tears.

“She was pretty choked up,” Gunterman said. “So was I.”

Those tears are unforgettable.

“That’s a pretty cool moment for me, one that’s going to be a highlight of the rest of my coaching career.” Gunterman said.