It’s the stuff of storybooks. As a teenager, he played high school football at Columbia Hickman. In his 60s, he became a National Football League scout, assisting in the Kansas City Chiefs’ turnaround. And, in between, Randy Ball lived a dream as a football coach and enjoyed incredible success in colleges. Put it this… Read more »
News
Category: Coaches
Dr. Mildred Barnes
Serving as Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Central Missouri State University (now University of Central Missouri) from 1971 to 1980, Dr. Barnes’s teams posted a 156-63 record. That 71.2% mark came against Division I and Division II schools. Against DI schools, her record was 95-33 and against Big Ten institutions, she was a perfect 8-0.… Read more »
Gary Barnett
The plan after four years of playing football at the University of Missouri seemed straightforward enough: Go to law school and then into the real world. However, Gary Barnett stopped himself. After earning a letter on the 1968 team and graduating, he still felt the pull of the sport: The times growing up in the… Read more »
Gene Bartow
Bartow, a Browning, Mo., native coached 36 years at six universities after coaching two high schools in Missouri for six years. Bartow began his coaching at the prep level in Missouri, coaching Shelbina and St. Charles High School basketball squads to a 145–39 win-loss mark in six seasons. His 1957 St. Charles team won the… Read more »
Fred Pohlman, Jr.
Polhman’s coaching career began in Vandalia, Missouri in 1956, where he coached baseball, basketball and track. From Vandalia, he moved to coaching at various high schools in Kansas City, Missouri and in 1967, he was hired to start the Penn Valley Community College basketball program. Thirty-two years later, Pohlman has established an impressive record with… Read more »
Stephanie Bates
Life in small-town Missouri always fit Stephanie Bates like a warm jacket. Growing up in Salem, a community of 4,400 at the time, she developed her love for sports in large part due to her experiences watching her older brother and a host of cousins participate in athletics and from the encouragement of her sports-minded… Read more »
Bob Beatty
It didn’t take long for Bob Beatty to figure out his path in life. Growing up in Butler, Mo., Beatty knew at a young age that he wanted to be a coach. Specifically, a football coach. Watching his uncle, Bob Miller, coach football, basketball and track & field at Butler High School made an impression… Read more »
Harold “Hilly” Beck
Hilly grew up in Nebraska and was an excellent basketball and football player. Upon graduating from high school, Beck then attended Hastings College, where he he played football and basketball. He was the all-time leading scorer in basketball with 1,776 points. Beck served Baptist Bible College as an assistant basketball coach from 1983-1987. He took… Read more »
Howard Bell
He might have played pro baseball if not for a car wreck in his early 20s, and who knows where his journey would have taken him. Fortunately, the baseball gods had a great plan for Howard Bell as a high school baseball coach. “He was a kid magnet,” said Mark Stratton, the longtime Glendale High… Read more »
Erle Bennett
Talk about being a testament to sticking it out, to putting in the hard work and believing. Back in 1989, newly hired assistant football coach Erle Bennett rolled into the rural community of Centralia at a time of low participation numbers and little success. And his previous stop had been a similar challenge. But …… Read more »
Gene Bess
To some, maybe it raised eyebrows. A successful high school basketball coach leaving to become an assistant at the junior college in Poplar Bluff? And after just leading the Oran boys to within a whisker of the Class M state championship? In March 1969, it made perfect sense to Gene Bess. “I’d been in high… Read more »
Jim Bidewell
He had grown up playing several sports in Poplar Bluff, where his dad owned a sporting goods store and doubled as a Big 8 Conference basketball referee. However, becoming a coach was not exactly on Jim Bidewell’s radar, even in college. “I was a junior at Arkansas State, engaged to my high school sweetheart, mopping… Read more »
Fred Biesemeyer
Fred E. Biesemeyer was born in Franklin, Howard County, Missouri in 1923. In his youth, Biesemeyer played baseball and was known for his exceptional skills at bat. Before his coaching career, he served in World War II, achieving the rank of lieutenant. He was also a Korean War veteran. Later in life, he coached basketball… Read more »
Dick Birmingham
Dick Birmingham is an internationally known coach and clinician. He is the president of Dick Birmingham Sports, a company specializing in baseball instruction at all levels. He was the head baseball coach at Hillcrest High School in Springfield, Missouri for 25 years and served as the Hillcrest American Legion baseball head coach for 18 years.… Read more »
Bryan Blitz
The whole plan was never to coach soccer, just to take a detour to a Midwest mid-major in order to earn an MBA after losing out on three New York City advertising jobs to folks holding MBAs. Bryan Blitz tells this story proudly. As he should. Because back in 1990, after serving two years as… Read more »
Jess Bolen
An outstanding high school player in the 1950’s, Jess took the helm of the Capahas, semi-pro baseball team in 1967. In his 44 years of coaching, Jess Ray Bolen, Sr. has amassed an incredible 1,384 wins against only 372 losses. His teams have won 17 state/regional tournaments and have gone to the National Baseball Congress… Read more »