Inductees

For some coaches, barking orders gets results. For Brad Wittenborn, that was never his style in coaching soccer and basketball at Notre Dame High School in Cape Girardeau.

“My philosophy was to treat the athletes with respect and concentrate on what they could do,” Wittenborn said. “I wouldn’t take them out right away if they made a mistake. I’d let them do something positive first.”

Such a strategy led to enormous success as Wittenborn, a math, science and physics teacher, transitioned well to the athletic arena. He led Notre Dame boys basketball to a pair of state championships and then raised the statewide profile of Notre Dame boys soccer.

For his work, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct Wittenborn with the Class of 2016.

In soccer alone, Wittenborn was 368-154-24 from 1991 to 2012, with Notre Dame winning state championships in 2002, 2006 and 2007. The program also earned a pair of third-place finishes.

Not that Wittenborn welcomes the credit. Instead, he points to others in the community who were involved in youth and middle school sports, where they groomed future basketball and soccer standouts.

“I am blessed to be a part of the Notre Dame family, where Christian values and a strong work ethic are at the core of all we do,” Wittenborn said.

Wittenborn played youth sports himself, but he held after-school jobs while in high school, and so he didn’t compete for an organized team until his senior year. Still, he was named Chester (Illinois) High School’s Athlete of the Year in 1973, and then graduated from Southeast Missouri State five years later.

When he arrived at Notre Dame not long after, he was asked to coach the freshmen and JV basketball teams. Wittenborn took the extra step of attending clinics and learning to coach. Then, in 1985, he started a six-year run as Notre Dame’s varsity basketball coach. His 1986 and 1987 teams won state championships with 26-6 and 31-2 records, with the 1987 team coming within only a few points of being undefeated.

Those teams featured Ronnie Ressel at point guard and Danny Dohogne at the post. Ressel’s 358 assists remain a state single-season record. Dohogne went on to become Southeast Missouri State’s career leader in field-goal percentage (.843).

“I tried to be a student of the game and learn from others,” Wittenborn said. “In southeast Missouri, you also have the Lennies McFerrens, Ronnie Cooksons and Carroll Cooksons for role models.”

When Notre Dame began fielding a soccer team in 1991, Wittenborn became coach. By then, he had developed a feel for coaching through basketball but also through rec and church leagues as his sons, Scott and Danny, played basketball, baseball and soccer.

Even better, the youth program developed varsity-ready players.

“That’s the big part of the success I had,” Wittenborn said. “The feeder grade schools and in the community, people were doing a lot of great things for youth sports.”

The 2002 team was the first team outside of the St. Louis or Kansas City metro areas to win a state soccer title. That team featured Tyler Cuba and Adam Pransanovich, a third-place medalists twice in the state 100 meters. The 2006 and 2007 teams featured Jack Weidemeyer, Ty Williams and 6-foot-8 Ryan Williams, who played basketball at Lafayette in the D-I Patriot League.

Wittenborn’s teams also were assisted by Jeff Worley.

“If you had a blueprint of how an assistant should be … he was just important,” Wittenborn said. “Part of our success was our ability to recognize when a kid was getting agitated, so we could take him out and get him refocused.”

Wittenborn has had a tremendous influence on Notre Dame High School in roles as technology coordinator, guidance counselor and assistant principal. He continues to teach dual credit physics and serves on the advisory board for placement physics at Southeast Missouri State. He has been honored by the Cape Area Chamber of Commerce and the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau as Educator of the Year, plus was a finalist in 2007 for the National Coach of the Year in Soccer. He also has been inducted in the Notre Dame and Missouri High School Soccer Coaches Association halls of fame.

Wittenborn also credits his wife, Michele, for her support.

“As a head coach, you get too much of the credit when things go well,” Wittenborn said. “But without the community, without the grade school programs, none of this would have been possible.”