He grew up on the family farm in north central Missouri, learning the value of hard work, and it was the kind of work that Kelly Odneal could have done.
That is, if he hadn’t loved sports so much – or, as a teen, fell under the guidance of the man who became his mentor, Prairie Home High School basketball coach Bill Hevley.
“When I was 15 or 16, I got inspired to go to college and be a coach,” Odneal said. “He was tough. But he was really intelligent on the fundamentals and ball-handling. This was the “Pistol” Pete Maravich era (of Louisiana State & NBA fame) and, while Helvey was a big guy, he was a guard in college, so he could pass and dribble behind his back.”
Odneal came to see what coaching was all about – that it was teaching, not dictating. And so he eventually applied those lessons over a three-decade career, becoming the winningest high school softball coach in Missouri history. And it’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct him with the Class of 2017, as part of the annual Baseball Luncheon presented by the Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Company, set for 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 25 at University Plaza Convention Center in Springfield. (For tickets & details, see below.)
{Check out the baseball luncheon flyer}
Odneal compiled a 515-92 softball record from 1975 to 2007 – mostly at Westran High School (485-89) but also at Jamestown High School. Overall, his softball teams made 15 trips to the state semifinals, with Westran winning three state championships (1987, 1996 and 1999) and also placing second eight times, third three times and fourth once. Westran also won 19 district championships and 21 Lewis and Clark Conference titles.
In baseball, Odneal’s teams were a combined 338-123 at Sturgeon and Westran high schools. Two Sturgeon teams (1980, 1982) won state championships, with three Westran teams (1986, 1989, 1990) reaching the state semifinals and placing second in 1986 and 1990, and fourth in 1989. He won eight district titles and earned two quarterfinal berths in baseball.
The key to his success? Odneal had three: he kept challenging himself to be a better coach, understood that each player was different and required a unique approach and, best of all, his wife and children supported him through those long school years.
“(Winning) made me want to work harder,” said Odneal, a 1970 graduate of Prairie Home High School and a 1975 graduate of the University of Missouri. “Even after 30 years, on the last pitch I coached, I was trying to figure out how to do it right.”
Odneal played baseball in his youth and, though Prairie Home didn’t field a baseball team, he stayed competitive in basketball and also in summer baseball circuits such as the Ban Johnson League, where he set the league’s career strikeout record. At Mizzou, he was a baseball walk-on his sophomore year.
Mostly, Odneal took what he learned from Helvey and applied it in his first coaching stop at Jamestown from 1975 to 1978, where he was the only coach in the school system. The superintendent, Gilbert Gaddis, encouraged him to work at another school and steered him to Sturgeon, where Odneal worked from 1978 to 1983 coaching only boys sports.
Success at Sturgeon put him on the map. The basketball team had won only 17 games in the prior two seasons, but Odneal’s final three teams won a combined 61 games, and he guided the baseball team to its pair of state titles.
Along the way, he developed his coaching style and gravitated to coaching only softball and baseball.
“Teaching kids to love the game, that’s hard,” Odneal said. “You don’t realize some kids don’t care about getting good grades. Some kids don’t care about winning in a sport. You had to work at it and realize how that boy or girl clicked.”
That’s why Odneal encourages young coaches to attend clinics, read periodicals and learn all they can in order to help their student-athletes.
For him, the challenge of it all was what kept Odneal turning out to the ballpark. Even better, while Westran may have been a small school in other’s eyes, it was the big-time.
In fact, his wife, Kay, and their children – Travis, Jeremy and Lindsay – made it that way. His family and the community’s support were why Odneal turned down jobs at bigger high schools.
“My wife, she’s the Hall of Famer,” Odneal said. “There’s more to life than being a big-wig. Being able to raise your children in a safe environment and a Christian home really warmed you. We had opportunities to leave. But it was a perfect situation. Sometimes you have to be smart enough to realize you should count the blessings you do have.”
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THURSDAY, MAY 25 BASEBALL CELEBRATION
VIRDON STATUE UNVEILING
When: 8:30 a.m. continental breakfast, 9 a.m. unveiling
Where: Legends Walkway of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, 3861 E. Stan Musial Drive in southeast Springfield (about one mile east of the U.S. 60-65 interchange)
What: Unveiling of larger-than-life statue of West Plains grad and Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder making a game-saving catch in Game 1 of the 1960 World Series
BASEBALL LUNCHEON PRESENTED BY OZARKS COCA-COLA/DR PEPPER BOTTLING COMPANY
When: 11 a.m. Thursday, May 25
Where: University Plaza Hotel & Convention Center in downtown Springfield
President’s Award: Hiland Dairy’s Mark Speight
Inductees: Mark Bailey (Glendale High School/Missouri State/Houston Astros), the late John Donaldson (Glasgow HS, Negro Leagues), former Westran and Sturgeon coach Kelly Odneal, sports writer Rob Rains (Kickapoo/St. Louis media), baseball coach Mark Stratton (Glendale High School/Drury University).
Diamond 9 Awards: Doug Bennett (Hillcrest High School/University of Arkansas), Dan Bishop (Springfield Central High School/Baltimore Orioles/New York Yankees), Jack Funderburk (Southwest Baptist University), Chelsea King Goodin (Strafford High School/Drury University), Kellie Becher Kessler (Missouri State University), , Danny Powers (Carl Junction High School/University of Central Missouri/Minnesota Twins), Kyle Rapinchuk (Branson High School/College of the Ozarks), Stefanie Standley (Lamar High School/University of Missouri) and Michael Vincent (Hollister High School/John Brown University/Phillips University/Cincinnati Reds).
Tickets: Call 417-889-3100. Sponsorship tables are $400 and include recognition in the printed program and an autographed print. An individual ticket is $40, and a head table ticket is $100. Numerous other sponsorships, including congratulatory ads, also are available.
