Ron Rose’s titles at Illinois Wesleyan University include Head Men’s Basketball Coach and Director of NIL Compliance. While accurate, they do not cover everything.
Add “ordained minister” to the mix.
The Titans’ 18th-year head coach earned that distinction recently to serve as officiant for the wedding of his son, Ryan, and Ryan’s longtime girlfriend, Kayla Drach.
The couple began dating nine years ago, when Ryan was at Bloomington High School and Kayla at Normal Community. They went through college together at the University of Iowa.
When they asked Ron Rose to perform the ceremony, he gladly accepted. In the midst of what promises to be a special season for his team, the wedding Nov. 24 at IWU’s Evelyn Chapel was “incredibly special,” Rose said.
“It certainly was an honor and not expected,” he said. “The plan was to have the wedding in May, but there are so many decisions now involving a wedding. Ultimately, they decided to do it simpler and shorter.
“Both Ryan and Kayla are pretty reserved and Ryan said, ‘I really would like you to do it, Dad. I don’t want a stranger up there, someone I don’t know well. It would be really special if you did it.’ I can’t think of a much higher honor than to get to do that.”
Ryan, a 26-year-old software engineer at State Farm in Bloomington, confirmed a May wedding was the original plan. Then, he and Kayla considered eloping.
“That didn’t really seem fair to everybody in the family,” he said.
After learning the Evelyn Chapel would be available Nov. 24, the decision was made three weeks prior to that date to have the wedding there … and have Ron Rose lead the ceremony.
“He’s not just my personal hero and someone who has guided me through life, but he’s known Kayla for nine years,” Ryan said. “Not only for me was it super special, but she loved it.
“We kept it a small wedding, so it just seemed right to have him up there. He did a fantastic job.”
To perform the ceremony, Rose needed to get certified/ordained. He quickly did some online research and chose an option.
“I went with AMM … the American Marriage Ministries certification,” he said. “It took me all of maybe 10 minutes. Fortunately, there was no test involved.”
So what do we call him? Reverend Ron?
“Yeah, that’s what I’m having my players call me, the Rev,” Rose said, laughing.
An irony in all this is construction on Evelyn Chapel was completed in the mid-1980s prior to Rose’s junior year as a student and basketball player at Illinois Wesleyan.
For his final two years, his work study job was to serve as a tour guide for the chapel.
“Because it was a brand new building on campus, the university anticipated people wanting to come in and see it,” Rose said. “Ten hours a week, I would go to the chapel and sit in front and wait for people to come in.
“In two years … I’m not sure Wesleyan would like to hear this … I gave one tour. I got paid to study essentially.”
The lone tour was for a fellow student, lasting about a half hour. There were 50 to 60 people on hand Nov. 24 to see Ryan and Kayla exchange vows and witness Reverend Ron’s debut.
The ceremony was mostly family. It came after Rose’s Titans won Nov. 22 and 23 at a tournament in St. Louis.
The head coach arrived home between 9 and 10 p.m. Nov. 23. The wedding was at 2 p.m. the next day.
“We got to the chapel a little early and did our rehearsal then,” Rose said. “It was like a game day. It was just a quick walkthrough before the game started. They didn’t want a long, drawn out wedding. We kept the ceremony fairly short and to the point.”
Rose was given a time frame – “Apparently, they thought I could get long-winded,” he said – but was allowed to go “off script” for some personal comments.
He wrote much of the script and his comments on a bus ride to a Nov. 16 game at Wisconsin-Stout. He shared his personal comments with his wife, Tina, prior to the wedding day.
He was ready, except for this …
“I tend to be a sentimental guy and I kind of get choked up easily at times,” Rose said. “The running joke was, ‘Is Dad going to be able to keep his composure? When is he going to cry up there?’ My wife is more in control of those emotions. So Ryan walked her down the aisle and she’s crying as she’s walking toward me.
“Then Kayla’s mom was walked down the aisle by Kayla’s grandpa and they’re both tearing up. They’re really testing me to keep my composure. But I was able to tell some stories and make it a little more personal than somebody who didn’t know them so well.”
Ryan joked that family members were “taking bets” on how long it would take for his father to cry.
“He hung in there like a champ,” Ryan said. “There was only one time I caught him taking a sip of his water, trying to compose himself. He kept it together and he nailed it. I could not have asked for a better wedding.”
As a precaution, Rose recruited allies in case his attempts at humor fell short. His son Brady’s girlfriend and a friend of Rose’s daughter, Aubrey, were given instructions somewhere between the walkthrough and main event.
“I told them, ‘Hey, when I tell a joke, if it’s flat you have to laugh,’” Rose said. “I said, ‘I want you to make sure everyone knows it’s a joke.’”
That’s good coaching.
No surprise there. Rose has a 328-158 record at IWU following Wednesday night’s victory at the University of Chicago. The Titans are 6-0 and were ranked No. 4 nationally in last week’s D3Hoops.com poll.
The coach will tell you the real wedding heroes, in addition to Ryan and his bride, were their mothers.
They did the heavy lifting in pulling together a wedding and reception (at Biaggi’s in Bloomington) in three weeks.
“We always joked when the kids were little and it was one of their birthdays, my wife would do all the work and then I would roll in and have all the fun,” Rose said. “It was kind of like that.
“My mom and dad were there. Tina’s mom and dad were there, Kayla’s grandparents were there. To have everybody there together … all my kids. As your kids get older, the times you can get everybody together, you just cherish. I’m kind of getting choked up now thinking about it.”
That happens when you’re called “Dad.”
It’s the best title of all.
