Just Another List

On numerous occasions, I have been asked by high school basketball followers, 'who are some of the best coaches you coached against during your career?'  I came up with the following list of twelve. Here we go:

My first varsity coaching job was at Mason City. We were in the 'Tomahawk Conference.' A most worthy opponent was always the extremely well-coached Mt. Pulaski  'Hilltoppers' of Ed Butkovich.

The best defensive coach was Dawdy Hawkins, who coached Pekin high school in the 1960's. Dawdy was an in-your-face coach-personality. He was tough and employed intimidation. His sound man-to-man defensive principles were flawless.  Long time Rock Island coach Duncan Reid was an assistant to Hawkins for about nine years at Pekin before going to R.I as head coach. Duncan's approach was much like Dawdy's.

Sherrill Hanks coached at Alton high school (mid-fifties) when I was a basketball player at East St. Louis high. Later he moved to Quincy high school where I matched wits while coaching Edwardsville in the '70's. Hanks was a 'keep-it-simple' coach. He built excellent programs through a grade school/junior high school feeder system. Coach Hanks perhaps epitomized 'coaching class.'

Vergil Fletcher was another re-load type coach with a simplistic post-up offensive approach. Fletcher's teams could be a difficult preparation because Vergil was always 'swimming against' the current defensive philosophy. Let me explain. When many high school teams were playing zones, Fletcher was playing a man-to-man defense and when the consensus was man-to-man, Vergil was using his 'ball press' (zone) defense. Bob Bone was an outstanding player for Fletcher and later became successful with a similar coaching approach at Collinsville. Another coach similar to the Fletcher 'keep-it-simple-stupid' philosophy was long time Galesburg 'Silver Streaks ' coach John Thiel.

I battled Quincy Coach Jerry Leggett while at Jacksonville. Legget was the best 'offensive' coach that I ever went against. Except for a fast break chance, Leggett's Quincy teams ran a 'special set-play' every time down the floor; they executed the plays with precision. Jerry enjoyed his own antics immensely. A third Quincy coach that developed strong basketball programs at Nokomis and Lincoln before going to Quincy was Loren Wallace. Neil Alexander played for Wallace at Nokomis and today continues to execute a successful game-tempo-controlling ball press.

Chuck Buescher was the poster coach for 'student-of-the-game.' He studied the game and coached with high level intensity. Rich Herrin was similar to Buescher's style but with a 'warm Southern Illinois gentleman flare.'

I never coached against Gene Pingatore, Westchester St. Joseph high school, who recently passed Peoria Manual coach Dick Van Syoc as the all-time winning coach. Van Syoc was a strong teacher of 'individual skills.'  He took a matter-of-fact business approach that was successful in the affluent community of Washington and equally successful in the inner-city of Peoria.

Developing and writing down such list is simple folly.  It may serve as fun reading for the 'fanatic' and perhaps it is a catalyst for debate. I enjoyed my coaching fraternity relationships. I took one approach as I prepared my teams; the same approach I expected of my players...the sign that hung in my Jacksonville locker room for twenty-one years said it best: 'RESPECT ALL FEAR NONE.'

Okay, I'm going to take Bob Bone off my list!...Bone is married to my niece and we are frequently together at family gatherings... It is unfair to my niece to puff up Bob's ego; after all she must live with him!