Columbus softball season was dedicated to Tim Milder

This is the first of a three-part series.

COLUMBUS JUNCTION - March 30, 2019 started off to be a day Emma Milder had been looking forward to for a long time.

Milder, 16, a sophomore at Columbus Community High School, was going to her boyfriend's sister's baby shower that afternoon, then back to her boyfriend's house to watch a few movies.

Prom was just a week away and spring was in the air, a time for love and renewal.

Best of all, that meant the softball season was just around the corner, a time Emma and her father, Columbus softball coach Tim Milder, cherished.

Instead, it ended up being a living nightmare for Emma Milder, a day that turned her world inside out and upside down, a day that forever changed her life, her family's and the lives of those around her.

On March 30th, Tim Milder had gone up to work on the softball field, something he loved to do. He was getting things spruced up for the upcoming 2019 season.

Tim Milder never made it home that day. Milder, 55, died of a heart attack in the storage closet behind the home dugout at the field. His wife, Colleen, and Emma found him late that night.

The news hit the community like a tidal wave, leaving devastation everywhere in its wake.

Devastation cannot help but change things, change thoughts, change feelings, change one's outlook on life.

It changes one's outlook on sports.

So this season was not about wins and losses for the Columbus softball team. No, it was about Tim Milder, honoring his memory, playing the game the way he wanted it to be played, doing things the right way, making him proud.

Columbus did that and then some.

This season was for Tim Milder.

'It's been OK,” said Emma Milder, who pitched and played outfield for the Wildcats. 'Obviously it's been really hard just not having him, but it has pushed me a little more to do it for him.”

Doing a little more encompassed many things for the teenager.

'It's working well as a team together,” Emma Milder said. 'It's been OK. It could be better. Through this season I just pushed my self through. I knew I would have some breakdowns and it wouldn't be as easy. But I knew he was over me, watching me.”

Tim Milder affected many in the Columbus program and beyond.

'He was, what we call around here, a ‘Wildcat for life,' He was the epitome of it.” said Columbus coach Katie Coil, who stepped in as head coach after spending the previous four seasons as Tim Milder's assistant. 'He embodied all sports. A lot of people come and go. ‘Yeah, I was a Wildcat.' But Tim truly lived it. Just to see him support Emma and her friends.”

Tim Milder wasn't just in it for the sport he coached. He loved Wildcat athletics.

'He would come on Friday nights and watch football,” Coil said. 'He would go to every basketball game, every volleyball match, every track meet. He even came to some soccer matches after my husband explained the game to him. He loved Columbus athletics. That's who he was. He was a good family man, a great friend and mentor. He was an all-around great guy.”

March 30th started fine and ended in the worst way.

Emma Milder had a happy event to attend. She saw her father's truck parked at the field on her way to the baby shower. She had a sinking feeling that something was seriously wrong as that day wore on. She saw dad's truck again on the way to her boyfriend's that afternoon, so she stopped in at the field to talk to her father.

'I was at my boyfriend's sister's baby shower,” Emma Milder said. 'We left and I saw his truck here. I thought it was kind of late, but I figured he was working on the field, trying to get it ready for the season. He was doing home plate. I actually came over here around three to see how he was doing. He said he was about to leave. I went on to the baby shower and we left. We drove by here and I saw his truck and I thought he ran out of gas. He left me on empty when he went to Texas a couple days before that, so I thought he probably just ran out of gas again. He probably just walked home because we live close to the school. I just carried on.”

But the foreboding become worse.

Later that night, Emma's worst fears became reality.

Please read tomorrow's Journal for the second of the three-part series.