Inductees

When Brad Gaines enrolled at what was then Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, he had a game plan.

“I truly didn’t try,” he said. “Hoping (my mom) would let me drop out. I really didn’t want to go to school. I wanted to work at Ford Motor Company, where my older brother worked and made good money.”

His mother had other ideas.

“She looked me in the eye and said, “You need to become a teacher and a coach,’” he said. “My response was that they don’t make any money. She told me life is not about money, it’s about happiness. She was right, and I never looked back. I became a math teacher and coach and I’ve never regretted it.”

In the five decades since, Gaines has built a nearly unmatched career coaching football and basketball, compiling a record of 685-328 across the two sports and was a mainstay in the postseason. For those years of service and success, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Gaines into the Class of 2025.

“I am very fortunate to have had the opportunities to coach so many talented and hard-working athletes,” Gaines said. “I truly have been blessed with all of the coaches I worked with as a head coach and as an assistant coach as well. The relationships I have made with all of the great coaches I have coached against is uncountable.”

Gaines coached for 53 years combined at Orrick, Oak Grove and Raymore-Peculiar high schools and may be one of the few to be inducted to both the Missouri Football Coaches Association and the Missouri Basketball Association halls of fame.

In football, his teams were 205-91. He led Orrick, his hometown school, to three conference titles, two semifinal appearances and a Class 1 state championship in 1975, when his team beat Greenfield 18-0 and finished 11-1.

“Honestly, I took over mid-year at Orrick teaching social studies and coaching track on an interim basis. If I did a good job teaching and being the head coach of our track team, I would get hired on as the head football and track coach and an assistant in boys’ basketball,” he said.

While at Orrick, he coached his younger brother, Kevin.

“It was that opportunity that helped me form one of my most important coaching philosophies: I coached all kids like they were my own,” he said.

At Oak Grove, his 1986 and 1990 football teams were state runners-up.

In basketball, Gaines was 480-237, including 405-157 at Oak Grove, where his teams earned two Final Fours and won the 1992 Class 3 state championship with a 31-0 season. His teams made five state quarterfinal appearances, won seven district titles and 13 conference championships.

After leaving Oak Grove, Gaines was an assistant at Avila University before coaching Raymore-Peculiar girls basketball. He still serves as an assistant football and track coach there.

“Old coaches die hard,” he said. “I love athletics. I love the relationships you build with kids and some parents. I love coaching camaraderie, sitting down talking philosophy, talking about the good times and all the great people around you. I love competition.”

Gaines grew up playing four sports.

“I was and am a firm believer in kids and coaches being diverse in what they do,” he said. “When I was at Oak Grove, I constantly told kids that you may have a favorite sport and your best friend may have a different favorite. For us to be successful, we need you to scratch each other’s back and play the second and third sports for each other.”

Gaines lists his parents, siblings, family and colleagues as keys to success. Gaines and his former wife, the late Jackie Ross Riddle are parents to son Casey Gaines and daughter Katy Greer. Gaines has six grandkids Gunner and Joelle Gaines; and Conner, Ross, Tucker and Maddy Greer.

“I would have never got a job at Oak Grove if it wasn’t for my sidekick and still best friend and colleague today, Randy McClain,” he said. “We were a coaching tandem, and I owe him so much I can’t even list it all.

“And I always have to say that being a coach takes a special family and my parents, brothers and sisters, and now my own kids and grandkids probably are the ones I need to apologize to the most because they got cheated the most. The time I spent doing my job took me away from them. Those are my greatest regrets.”