COACH DADDY
Basketball coach + teacher + janitor + bus driver + administrator = Daddy
Daddy taught five classes of history, coached girls and boys basketball teams, swept out the locker-rooms, drove the away-team bus, and — oh yeah — he was a school administrator. In fact, for years into my adulthood I thought that being a coach was a prerequisite to being a school principal.
My earliest memories are sitting with Mama and my sisters on the bleacher behind the bench and cheering for our Quay, Oklahoma, teams. Mama had made us little tiny matching cheer-leading outfits; I think the skirts were about six or eight inches long. I learned a lot about sports, and about life, sitting on that bleacher. And that will be more stories for other days.
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Daddy was also a basketball and football official for leagues at the high school, junior college, and college levels. He had been a four-year, four-letter man at his college in Enid, Oklahoma. I remember a newspaper photo of him officiating the Oklahoma state girls high school basketball tournament. And I remember watching him umpire a college football game over in Missouri somewhere; Columbia, I think.
Daddy also had a beautiful singing voice. He once came out on the auditorium stage in the Quay basketball gym, at an assembly. Most people thought he was going to make an announcement or give a speech. Instead, he sang a Christmas song in his beautiful tenor voice. It surprised everyone, and he was the hit of the event!
Daddy was also a good dancer. He and Mama made a beautiful couple at the high school dances and proms. The pictures of them together come to me now — even with all the years and miles between. So many stories are flooding my memory tonight — they will live in my heart forever.
So, Happy Father’s Day, dear Daddy. And thank you.
