David Shillinglaw was an all-city and all-conference pitcher for Madison West High School in his senior season. He began his MATC athletic career in the fall of 1978 and competed for the MATC Golf team for two seasons. The golf team won back-to-back conference titles in those two seasons.
In 1981, he joined the MATC baseball team. In his first season, Shillinglaw hit .250 and pitched in 13 innings. During his second season, Shillinglaw made great improvement and excelled, leading the team in at bats with 69 and hits with 30. His impressive .435 batting average was second on the team in 1982 and currently ranks him eighth all-time in MATC baseball history. During that season he was named WJCAA all-state and received the team’s most improved award.
After a successful MATC on-the-field athletic career, Dave became an MATC assistant baseball coach working with assistant coach Lyle Hanson and head coach, Fred Willliams, during the 1984 MATC baseball season. In 1985, he became the third head coach in MATC Baseball history. During the next three seasons, Shillinglaw guided his teams to three winning seasons and a combined 79-47 overall record. His teams grabbed three consecutive WTCC conference and WJCAA state titles. He was named WJCAA Coach-of-the-Year in all three seasons. Two of his players, Bob Sobczyk and Mitch McDowell, became the first players in MATC Baseball history to be drafted. The were both drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft.
David Shillinglaw left his mark as both a player and coach at MATC. Following the 1987 season he left the program as the winningest coach in the program’s history. From MATC he went on to serve as Pitching Coach at UW-Stout from 1987-1990. During his time at UW-Stout the team made two NAIA World Series Appearances and won the WSUC Championship, both for the first time in school history. Dave graduated from UW-Stout Magna Cum Laude in Marketing in May of 1989. The following year he received a Masters degree in Education.
Since then he has continued to stay involved in the sport of baseball serving as infield coach for the Madison Muskies, pitching coach for the Bowling Green Breeze, manager for the Syracuse Chiefs, and part-time scout for the Kansas City Royals.
Dave currently lives in Papillion, Nebraska with his wife JoAnn and his three-year old daughter Sydney Rae. Dave is a teacher at Bellevue West High School and is involved in his other sporting love, golf. Besides playing golf (he is the 18th ranked amateur golfer in the state of Nebraska) he also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Nebraska Golf Association and is the tournament founder and chairman of the Metro Omaha Golf Championship, which has donated over $10,000 to charitable causes since it’s inception in 1998.
“As a player and as a coach Dave was always willing to do whatever it took to win games,” said MATC baseball coordinator, Lyle Hanson. “With his drive he pushed the MATC Baseball program to new heights. He definitely was a lighting rod.”
