Inductees

Ask sports folks in Springfield about the most impactful baseball coaches of the city’s high school programs, and the short list includes the name of Don Provance.

In fact, in the spring of 1992, just weeks before he would call it a career, the local newspaper published a feature on Provance on the sports page. Several glowing comments came from those who coached or played against him, with one calling Provance one of the “founding fathers” of Springfield high school baseball.

“I hate to see him go, because he’s always been a gentleman and a sportsman,” then-Hillcrest coach Dave Davis said then. “He’s won two state championships, and I think he has had a positive effect on an awful lot of kids’ lives.”

Which is one of many reasons why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame certainly proudly inducted Provance posthumously with the Class of 2019.

After all, Provance coached Glendale High School’s Baseball Program for 29 seasons from 1964 to 1992, compiling a 340-228-1 record. Along the way, he led the Falcons to two state championships (1976, 1978) as well as 11 district titles and seven conference championships. In 1991, he not only was inducted into the Missouri Baseball Coaches Association but Glendale named its ball field in his honor.

Overall, his work at the south Springfield school helped Glendale become serious rivals against the city’s then-premier program, Hillcrest High School Baseball (MSHOF 2014), and also elevated the game across the area. Provance passed away in 2018.

“He never had the extra things,” said former Missouri State University baseball coach Bill Rowe (MSHOF Legend 2016), referring to indoor batting cages, a plush home field and so forth. “He really had to do a lot of the pioneering. You had to make do with what you had.”

He also had the perfect approach for baseball – a sense of humor, patience and internal drive.

“The most humble and competitive guy I was ever around,” was the way Mark Stratton (MSHOF 2017) described him. Stratton, who assisted Provance before leading Glendale from 1992 to 2005, noted two favorite stories that said a lot about Provance – one about his humor, the other his kind-heartedness.

“He liked to say, ‘Boys, if I wanted you to throw the ball at my feet, I’d wear my glove as a shoe,’’” Stratton said with a laugh, before turning serious. “But he always talked to kids. He didn’t cut kids by posting up a list (in the locker room). He would talk to them on the field.”

Provance was a 1946 graduate of Aurora High School and had played on the Aurora Redbirds, an independent town team in the 1950s, from what Rowe recalled.  Rowe, like many teens back then, would walk from their farms on Sundays to watch the Provance brothers – Don, Ray, Roy and Bill Maynard.

However, Provance’s path to a baseball coaching career went first through the football program at Missouri State University, where he was a four-year letterman and an all-conference receiver. He later was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Provance then served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War before beginning his career, first guiding Lockwood High School (1954-1958) and then Parkview High School (1958-1963).

At Glendale, a lack of resources forced Provance’s creativeness. For instance, he used a railroad tie – and railroad spikes – to drag the infield.

But from that program came tons of talent, including big-leaguers Steve Rogers (MSHOF 2014) and Mark Bailey (MSHOF 2017).

Provance also pushed all the right buttons – and found some luck — in 1976 when the Falcons won the Class 2 state title, beating Jennings 7-5 and finishing 21-5. Before the game, his wife Patti, had found a four-leaf clover. Glendale won another state title in 1978 as the Falcons beat Fox High School 6-3 and finished 19-4.

“He didn’t over-coach,” said Doug Provance, one of his sons and a member of the two state title teams. “He didn’t wear you out with details. If you were in a slump, he’d leave you alone.”

Along the way, he always had the support of his wife, Patti. They married in 1956 and raised six boys – Don Jr., David, Doug, Dwight, and Dennis.

“Don, he had a wonderful thing. He was called to coach baseball and enjoyed doing it and tried to raise a family on a not that big of a salary,” Rowe said. “He put tons and tons of blood, sweat and tears into his teams, and his influence is still being felt.”