WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Support from Iowans, friends and former students and colleagues of Timothy Sheaff, a longtime Dowling Catholic High School high school speech and debate teacher, poured in this week after Sheaff passed away at the age of 54 on Wednesday.
People not only in Iowa, but across the U.S. as well knew Sheaff for his booming voice, love for teaching students and kind personality.
Sheaff emceed nationals for many years, but his career started decades ago as a student at Dowling, where he fell in love with the arts.
Then in the 1990s, he began coaching at Dowling, where many people grew close to Sheaff, like Scott Wunn.
"Tim was a brother to me," Wunn told Local 5. "We lost not just an iconic figure in the past week, we as a community have lost someone that truly cared about youth, and truly cared about student growth and learning."
Sheaff and Wunn never coached together because Sheaff was at Dowling while Wunn coached speech and debate at Ankeny High School.
They crossed paths many time throughout their respective careers, including working at nationals.
Steven Schappaugh was another longtime friend of Sheaff's who worked with him at the national stage.
Schappaugh attended North High School in the late '90s, and first met Sheaff as a student competing in speech and debate.
Then in 2005, Sheaff hired Schappaugh — at Sheaff's alma matter of Dowling Catholic — where they worked at nationals together from 2005 to 2007.
"There's a richness that I'm going to miss, but I know that I have been so blessed and fortunate to know him for so long," Schappaugh said. "Because I am in a much better place than I would have been had I never met him."
In 2019, Sheaff was inducted into the National Speech and Debate Association hall of fame, and then just last October IHSSA also inducted Sheaff into their hall of fame.
IHSSA also released out a statement earlier this week saying that Sheaff's friendship and mentorship will be deeply missed.