George Thole, the legendary Stillwater football coach who led the team to four state titles, died Wednesday at age 86.

Thole coached the Ponies from 1971 to 1999, guiding them to 18 football state tournament appearances, winning state championships in 1975, ’82, ’84 and ’95. They were state runners-up in 1977 and ’89. He also led Stillwater to 13 conference titles and 12 section titles.

Thole compiled a career coaching record of 285-69-2, an .803 winning percentage. The majority of those victories and all of the losses came during his tenure at Stillwater, where he won 257 games. He began his coaching career in 1965 at Casselton, N.D. (about 25 miles west of Fargo), and led Central Cass High School to 28 consecutive victories over three unbeaten seasons.

He was inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Minnesota State High School League Hall of Fame in 2013.

“When I started out, I never dreamed I would be this successful,” Thole told the Star Tribune after he retired from coaching in November 1999.

Thole was born in Petaluma, Calif., in 1939 and graduated in 1961 from North Dakota State, where was a two-year starter as a guard on the football team. He was also named to the NDSU Hall of Fame.

After retiring, Thole remained in Stillwater and was active in the community. He was a member of the Stillwater school board from 2000 to ’03 and wrote a weekly sports column for the Stillwater Gazette. Thole and his longtime offensive coordinator Jerry Foley wrote “From Veer to Eternity — Coaching a Football Dynasty,” which outlined coaching philosophy, fundamentals and their use of the veer offense.

Staff writer Joel Rippel contributed to this report.