Tim Bergan is one of those coaches you remember not only for the success he saw his teams achieve on the field, but also for the many relationships he was able to develop over the course of a 30-plus career in education.

And among those relationships are the many friendships he maintained with fellow coaches, many of whom started out as adversaries before becoming peers.

The majority of them, though, stem from the special bond he builds with his former players.

Kirk Rowland is one such player.

Then again, the relationship between Bergan and his former center/defensive tackle, goes a long way back.

“I HAVE TO say I first realized how hard Kirk was willing to work was back when he was my five-year-old neighbor,” Bergan noted while sitting in the Times Herald sports cubicle Sunday afternoon. “He would run across the street during haying season and help us stack bales of hay.

“It’s the same kind of hard work he displayed when he played for me over four years before he graduated in 2008.

“So he played on four very good Ellicottville teams, three that went to Ralph Wilson Stadium and the last, which won the ‘D’ Bowl title his senior year in 2007,” Bergan said. “In our three games at the Ralph, we beat Maple Grove in one of them and lost to Randolph in the other two.

“Kirk was a big part of our success those four years.”

Following his graduation from ECS, Rowland attended Ohio Tech in Cleveland to get a degree in Diesel Mechanics.

Odd that he would choose that field of study because over the past few summers he’s been a member of the Southern Tier Diesel semi-pro football team.

SADLY, Rowland’s football-playing days are over.

“Before this past season began for the Diesel team, Kirk said that he was experiencing soreness in his left leg,” Bergan said. “Still, he played through it.

“Even after the season ended, he was still expressing the difficulty he was having with the leg.

So early in December, he went to Buffalo to have an MRI done and, in the week between the MRI and when he was supposed to go back for the reading, he suffered a broken leg.

Further tests, performed at Roswell Cancer Research Center, revealed the bad news.

It was indeed cancer and despite several radiation treatments, Rowland was back at Roswell this week where doctors performed a procedure to remove his left leg.

“THIS IS NOT an easy story to share with anybody right now,” Bergan said as placed a shiny 2007 coin on the desk in front of me. “Every year, I give my seniors a coin just like this one.

“Kirk called me up at Christmas time one morning. He was out working in the barn when he called. That alone tells you something about this young man’s character.

“He wanted to tell me how much he appreciated what I’d done for him throughout his younger years,” Bergan related. “He texted me a picture of the coin I’d given him his senior year. in the text, he said, ‘I’m not sure what’s going to happen to me after this surgery Coach. But thanks to you, I will never be broke.’ He said he keeps looking at the coin, that it helps him keep his faith that everything will go well.”

That’s when Bergan had to stop and collect his thoughts.

“When you hear something like that from a former student and players, it kind of takes your thoughts to a far-off place,” Bergan said. “It makes you realize the far-reaching and special effects you have on the kids you teach and coach.”

And it’s one of the reasons why Bergan is spearheading a fundraiser for Rowland.

“ELLICOTTVILLE is a special kind of community,” he said. “When something like this happens to one of our own, we help them.”

And help has come in many forms as Bergan plans for the fundraiser which will be held on Sunday, May 3, from noon until 7 p.m. at Holiday Valley’s Yodeler’s Lodge.

Tickets for the Rowland benefit cost $50 each and will be tossed into a barrel for a drawing which will award 34 money prized, ranging from $100 (20 of them) up to $2,500 (one winner).

“Everybody I know has stepped up to help in some way,” Bergan said. “When I stopped by RPJ Ready Print to pick up the tickets for the benefit, the company’s owner, Richard Jankowski handed me the box and said, “I know how much you do for these kids. No charge.”

Nick Pitillo, who played football at Ellicottville in the mid-1980s, is donating a good share of the food for the event. He is the current owner of Osteria Restaurant in Buffalo.

“One of Kirk’s childhood heroes was (former Buffalo Bills quarterback) Jim Kelly,” Bergan said. “He went to Kelly’s camp when he was young and I worked the Kelly camps when they were held at St. Bonaventure.

“I’ve heard that Jim is sending to autographed footballs … one for Kirk and the other for us to raffle off.

“Yes, Kirk is a big Bills fan,” Bergan added. “When he was undergoing his treatments at Roswell, he said (Buffalo linebacker) Kiko Alonso would stop by often and visit the cancer patients.

“Kirk took it pretty hard when the Bills traded him recently.”

DURING HIS playing days at Ellicottville, Rowland stood 6-3 and weighed in at 190 pounds.

“He was one of those players I like to call silently dangerous,” Bergan said. “I’d like to think he’s the kind of person who can tackle this obstacle in his life.

“I know this much. When we spoke just last week, he admitted to me that he was scared. I’m just trying to be there for him. It’s like I’ve always said about coaching, You don’t do it for the wins. You do it because you’re able to help a young person learn to live life to its fullest.”

To donate to the Rowland Benefit, make check out to Benefit for Rowland, and send to Tim Bergan, C/O Ellicottville Central School, Rt. 219, 14731, or send to Five Star Bank, 54 Washington Street, Ellicottville 14731.

Yours truly has 10 tickets for the benefit. Call me at (716) 307-3445 to get yours today.

(Jim Melaro, an Olean Times Herald sports writer, can be reached at jimmelaro@yahoo.com)