When the Churchill County Greenwave hoisted the state championship trophy on Saturday, more than a few longtime Fallon folks felt the presence of Coach Tony Klenakis, a man whose name is woven into the very beginnings of Greenwave football excellence.
Klenakis, who passed away on Oct. 24 at age 85, was tough, demanding, and famously uncompromising. But he was equally known for his loyalty, his mentorship, and his relentless drive to make his players better men, not just better athletes. As Fallon celebrates another title, the legacy of the coach who led the team to three consecutive state championships in 1976, ’77, and ’78 lingers.
Doug “Big Daddy” Montgomery, who played all three championship seasons for Coach K, said Klenakis created far more than winning teams. “Coach made us into a team that worked as a team,” Montgomery said. “He talked to us before each game with such passion to get out there and be all we could be. He cared about you as a person, your life at home, your grades, and your future. He was a good man.”
Montgomery said those lessons never left him. “He taught us to work hard for everything.”
Running back Matt Bonde, also a three-year player, described Klenakis as a master technician and motivator. “Coach knew how to bring out the best in every player,” Bonde said. “He prepared us for our opponent better than anyone. You practiced until you got it right. There was always a game plan, and everyone knew their responsibility. He had a huge influence on all of us.”
Quarterback Sonny Zamora, who suited up in ’77 and ’78, remembers a coach who built an entire culture of excellence, not just a team. “He was a winner on the field and off it,” Zamora said. “He formed one of the best coaching staffs Fallon ever had, Jack Beach, Bobby Dudley, Richard Hucke, and sometimes George Hucke and Burt Serrano. It trickled down to the freshmen with Coach Gary Imelli. He set the tone for the whole program.”
Chris Klenakis, Tony’s oldest son, still teaches the same lessons his father taught as Vanderbilt's offensive line coach. “We’re going to outwork you, out-tough you and play 60 minutes. That’s my dad. It wasn’t about Xs and Os, it was fundamentals, toughness, and doing things right.”
Though many knew him as Coach K, others, like longtime Fallon horseman Joe Dahl, knew him in the world of horse racing. And there, too, Klenakis was a winner.
Dahl remembers being at Golden Gate Fields when a man approached him and said, “Joe Dahl, I’m Tony Klenakis.”
“I know who you are,” Dahl recalled. “And he’d already been there for quite a while; he was the top winning trainer at the track that year. That was Tony. Whatever he put his mind to, he learned it, lived it, and he was a winner.”
Dahl wasn’t surprised by the success, even though he laughed, admitting Tony “wasn’t really good with horses when he started. But he moved to the track, lived with those horses, and made himself good,” Dahl said. “Winning mattered to him. Not for ego, but because he believed if you were going to do something, you should do it right.”
Summers meant hauling the family and the horse trailer to Boise and racing at Les Bois. Later, he trained on the California and Arizona circuits, eventually building Klenakis Racing Stables in Phoenix, where he stayed until retiring in 2019.
“He could be gruff,” Dahl said. “But if it was for the boys, the players, he softened. He wanted to improve them. He made himself pleasant for them. That’s who he really was.”
Born July 1, 1940, in Springfield, Massachusetts, Tony was the middle child in a large Greek family. He excelled in football, baseball, and hockey, earning All-Star honors in Western Massachusetts before heading west to Trinidad Junior College.
At the University of Nevada, Reno, Tony played both football and baseball, and met the love of his life, Norma Sheley. He earned his degree in 1961, married Norma, and never stopped coaching, competing, or striving.
After early years at Wooster High School, the Klenakis family, Norma and young sons Chris and Tony, moved to Fallon in 1966. Here he taught history, PE, and health; coached football; launched the wrestling program; and built what would become one of the most storied chapters in Greenwave athletics. He coached hard and fair. And he never required anything from his players that he wasn’t willing to do himself.
Klenakis is survived by his wife of 62 years, Norma; son Chris (Louise); daughter-in-law Kim; grandchildren Nikos, Lucy, Matthew, Mark, and Elizabeth; his brother John; extended family; and the many players who still call him coach.
Those players say the championship trophies mattered but the real legacy lives in the men they became. As Fallon celebrates a new state title, it’s worth remembering the man who lit the first long fuse of Greenwave excellence nearly 50 years ago.
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