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George Welch Jr. would tell you that the Denver Broncos were the greatest football team around.

He loved Disney World, not only for the park but because it was close to his daughter, a student at the University of Central Florida.

He was famous for his practical jokes to make someone smile.

And he loved working with Lely High School freshmen, helping them with their schedules.

That is how his colleagues are choosing to remember the popular guidance counselor, 62, who died Sunday after a battle with cancer.

“I always thought of George as a grown man with a mischievous side,” said Lely High School Principal Ken Fairbanks. “He was a private person, but he was always happy. He loved students and he loved sports.”

Fairbanks said Welch, who worked for the district for 21 years, was a “rock” for East Naples and Lely High School.

“He would do whatever you needed,” he said.

Welch was a 1964 graduate of Naples High School. He served in the U.S. Air Force for seven years before returning to Naples. He received his teaching degree from the University of South Florida. He left Naples again, to get his master’s degree at the University of California at Santa Barbara before returning to Collier County to work in the school system.

East Naples Middle School Principal Tammy Caraker, who was an assistant principal at Lely High School until her promotion this spring, said Welch was always the guidance counselor who wanted to work with freshmen.

“Every year, I would ask him if he wanted to move up with the freshman class and he would always say no. He loved working with the freshmen,” she said.

Caraker said Welch taught her so much about working with kids.

“He knew his students,” she said. “He had a special way about him. He was just George. You knew he truly cared about you.”

Lely Guidance Chair Margaret Reale said school will not be “as much fun” without Welch.

Caraker agreed.

“He would leave you a sticker or a note, something to make you smile,” she said.

Welch is the fifth member of the Lely High School family lost this year. In January, math teacher Larry Wilkinson died of a heart attack after collapsing in his classroom. Former Lely High football player Ereck Plancher died after collapsing at the end of an offseason workout in Orlando in March. Then, athletics fixture Ron Haar Sr., whose three children graduated from the school, passed away last month at 60. One week later, former Trojans football coach Merv Ward passed away at his home.

Fairbanks said the school would have some sort of recognition of Welch’s contribution to the school, although the details have not been worked out.

“It has been a difficult year for the Lely High School family,” he said.

Welch is survived by his mother, Norma M. Welch; his wife, Pauline; his four children, George Welch III, Kari Bastys, Kim Brandon and Kristen Welch; eight grandchildren; one great grandchild; and his sister, Suzanne Keen.

A celebration of Welch’s life will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at the North Naples Baptist Church, 1811 Oakes Blvd.