Inductees

It all started with a degree requirement. Ron Lykins and the wheelchair basketball community would never be the same.

Lykins, the University of Missouri head coach, retired from international coaching in 2021 after spending nine years as the head coach of the United States Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team. He finished his career with Team USA as the winningest coach in the United States (98-9, 12 gold medals, five silver medals), and that came after leading the U.S. men to a successful title defense at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. He also led the American women to back-to-back gold medals in 2004 and 2008. He is the only coach in Paralympic history to lead teams to four gold medals and to lead both men and women’s teams to gold.

The University of Missouri head coach since 2009, Lykins has led the Tigers to six Top 5 finishes at the National Intercollegiate Wheelchair Basketball Tournament, including a third-place finish in 2014.

For his contributions to the sport of wheelchair basketball and his excellence as the head coach at Mizzou, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Ron Lykins as a member of the Class of 2022.

After completing his undergraduate degree at Kentucky, Lykins decided to stay in Lexington and pursue his Master’s. That’s when the degree requirements led him to wheelchair basketball.

“My graduate assistantship was to work with the team,” Lykins said. “During this time, I caught the coaching bug and decided I wanted to be a wheelchair basketball coach.”

From Kentucky, Lykins moved on to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he became the head coach.

“What started out as a college degree requirement turned into my passion, career and ultimately my life’s work,” Lykins said.

For Lykins, coaching is much like teaching.

“A coach is first and foremost a teacher,” he said. “The coach must be able to teach their philosophy and theory about their sport so the team can understand them. A coach must be present, see what needs to be done, make corrections when needed and guide players to be the best they can be. A teacher is constantly looking for ways to improve themselves so they can improve their players.”

Winning is the greatest thrill in sports, but it’s full of all kinds of other emotions, from excitement to relief. Lykins knows this all too well.

“I felt different emotions every time we won,” Lykins said. “I felt elation for my players, staff and myself knowing we met our goal of winning gold. I felt relieved that the journey was over, and we won. I also felt sad because the journey was now over and my time with the team was about to end. Mostly I felt complete satisfaction knowing the goal that we planned, worked hard and sacrificed so much for was realized.”

While winning is always a great feeling, winning for your country is on a different level.

“Outside of military service, there is no greater honor than to represent your country in international competition,” Lykins said. “I’m very proud of the accomplishments the teams I coached achieved. Winning gold medals at the Paralympic Games is by far the highlight of my coaching career.”

Lykins talks a lot about “the journey”. That journey, he says, has often been the best part of his coaching career.

“Every season is a lifetime,” Lykins said. “Each team is unique, and it is not the same the following year. Players graduate and returning players improve and have a new role the following year. Every year teams are like a puzzle. My job is to determine how the remaining players and new players fit together to become the best team they can.”

Being inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is not just an honor for a career well-spent, for Lykins it’s a form of validation for both him and the sport of wheelchair basketball.

“It’s overwhelming and difficult to put into words,” he said. “It is very humbling to see your name included with some of the greatest athletes, coaches, and teams in the history of Missouri sport. This has made me reflect on how fortunate I have been to work with so many great players and coaches.

“I’m honored and appreciative to see that what I have accomplished is being recognized as a sporting achievement and not as a human-interest story. I am very grateful for this award and always will be. It is an honor to be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.”