Toni Dahlquist

It's with great honour that we can announce Toni Dahlquist as the 1st female inducted into the Cheddar Hall of Fame. During her 3 seasons in Scotland as the "First Lady" of the Claymores Head Coach she supported the team with an unquestionable zeal and enthusiasm, and was always a gregarious personality around the fans. We always figured the team would have been more ready to play if Gene had just let her do the pre-game speech once in a while ...

The life of a Claymores fan is certainly a rollercoaster ride, and Toni rode it with us all the way - enjoying the good times but suffering the losses with us all. We would always see her on the road, and it was great to see her enjoy the wins away from Scotland we finally managed in 2003.

Toni & Gene

The modern coaching lifestyle can be a nomadic existence a coach rarely stays in one place for any substantial amount of time, and the Dahlquists were no exception. Gene had college coaching jobs at Idaho State (1968-70), Utah (1971-73), Oregon (1974-76), Boise State (1977-82), Iowa State (1983-86), Illinois (1988-91), Texas (1992-97) and then UNLV (2000). All this time Toni and Gene were raising a family of four. By 2001, the children had all grown up, so when NFL Europe came calling on the recommendation of close coaching friend Jim Criner - they had no hesitation in agreeing to come to Scotland and coach the Claymores succeeding Criner.

Although Gene would improve his won-loss record each season he was in Scotland, going from 4-6 in 2001 to 6-4 in 2003 - the World Bowl would prove elusive. 2003 was especially frustrating as the Claymores looked to have the best team in the league, but ultimately lost out on tiebreakers. Thankfully this spared us making good on a bet we had made earlier in the season with her - that we would sing one of her favourite songs, Jimmy Buffet's "Cheeseburgers in Paradise" for her if the Claymores made the World Bowl. Phew!

Welcome to the Hall of Fame Toni!

Toni in Berlin 2003. At times it can be a lonely existence for the coach's wife.

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