Inductees

One of the true coaching legends of coaching in the St. Louis area, Bailey compiled a tremendous record of 824 wins and 198 losses in a great career that spanned 42 seasons. Along the way, Bailey managed to touch the lives of countless young men, helping them to become good men as well as good basketball players. On and off the court, Jodie Bailey was a great teacher and a mentor to all.

Bailey had a chance to work his magic at three different PHL schools, Vashon, O’Fallon Tech and Northwest. Wherever Bailey went, winning was sure to follow. And it did.

The essence of Bailey’s Hall of Fame coaching career was the teaching and the preaching of the basic fundamentals of basketball. He was a brilliant coaching mind who brought out the best in his athletes by making sure they knew how to play the game the right way in order to capitialize fully on their athletic gifts.

“He was the kind of person that kept things simple,” said former O’Fallon Tech guard Ron Williams. “He was a basketball traditionalist and fundamentalist. He was a great mentor who was very insightful. You always learned something when you were around him.”

Some of the greatest players in the history of the Public High League learned under Bailey’s direction. From Jo Jo White, Stanley Woods, Ron Williams, Vince Smith, Hercle Ivy, Rueben Shelton to Robert Ursery, the list goes on and on.

Bailey’s formula for his coaching success was simple.

“To be a successful basketball coach, you have to to have three things,” he always said. “You have to have a well-conditioned team. You have to be fundamentally sound in every phase of the game. You also have to be team-oriented because there is no “I” in team.”

Bailey enjoyed a remarkable amount of success with Vashon, where he was a standout athlete in the early 1930’s. The Wolverines dominated the all-black “Ill-Mo League” throughout much of the 1940’s. Under Bailey, the Wolverines won Ill-Mo League titles in 1943, ’45, ’47 and ’48. He also guided the Wolverines to the Missouri Negro Interscholastic Athletic Association state championship in 1944, ’47, ’48 and ’49. Vashon also finished third in the National High School Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. on two different occasions.

During that time period, black schools were not allowed to compete against white schools, so not many people were aware of Bailey’s early greatness in cultivating the talents of such players as Wendell “Blinky” Hill, Elston Howard, Earl Beeks, Bob Beeks, James Long, Phil “Speed” Scott and Albert “Skinny Morton.”

“Jodie was as good as they came,” said Earl Beeks. “He knew the game and his players would jump through hoops for him.”

When school intergration took place, Bailey and his Vashon team broke through in 1963 when he led the Wolverines to a regional championship and berth in the state quarterfinals. He moved on to O’Fallon Tech, where he led the Hornets to their only state championship in 1968, thus becoming the first all-black PHL team to win a state championship in the state of Missouri.

After O’Fallon Tech won the state title, the school dropped its sports program, meaning Bailey was out of a coaching job. He found one quickly the following season when he turned up at Northwest High School. He immediately won a regional title in 1969. He remained at Northwest until 1983, winning seven regional championships along the way.

Bailey was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.