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Glendale's first head boys basketball coach Jack Roberts will be inducted into the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame in September. It'll be his fourth hall of fame induction (Drury, Missouri Sports, and MBCA). Coach Roberts never had a losing season in 21 years at Glendale and changed the mascot at Camdenton High to the Lakers from the Tigers. He played college basketball at Drury and high school basketball at Buffalo. He was also the head tennis coach at Glendale when the boys team won state in 1982. Jack won 601 games as a varsity and junior varsity basketball coach from 1948 to 1984. During World War II, he served in the Army earning Good Conduct Badges, a Distinguished Unit Badge, five Battle Stars, and left as a private first class.
In the April 28th News-Leader, an article details the athletic facility improvements Springfield Catholic will be making to its east Springfield high school campus. Nearly $13 million will be spent on a new main gym, secondary gym, and locker rooms. Also, the article states (very clearly, if you read between the lines) that Catholic will step up its recruiting in the area to get the best athletic talent possible. They want to be on the same level as the Catholic private schools in St. Louis, Kansas City, and southeast Missouri. Due to Catholic High School being right in Glendale's back door, I think this makes improvements in the athletic facilities at Glendale even more imperative than ever before.
While the new field turf, bleachers/press box, and locker room have put us (Glendale) back in the game as far as football goes, we've fallen way behind in the basketball/volleyball/wrestling arena. Even Provance Field needs a new press box/concession stand. The current one might have been nice in the early-1990's, but that was twenty years ago. Anyway, I hope the basketball booster club can put a committee together to keep SPS informed of our needs, wants, and desires in this area. Yes, current student athletes won't get to use any new facilities that may be constructed in the future. However, we need to make sure this is done right...when it's done! That means many years of planning. Former Glendale head coach Mike Keltner will be inducted into the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame on April 27th, 2013 at Noon.
Coach Keltner was head mentor at Glendale for fifteen seasons between March 7th, 1984 and July 1st, 1999. During that span, his teams were state ranked for twelve of his fifteen seasons, won eight Ozark conference championships, captured the 1994 Bass Pro Shops Tournament Of Champions title, went to the Final Four twice (1986 & 1990), won six district tournament championships, had a 42-game home winning streak between 1988 and 1991, and (finally) his last team in 1998-99 became the first boys team from southwest Missouri to ever be nationally/regionally ranked! They also set new school records for overall record (27-3), best start in program history (15-0), and first undefeated conference championship (10-0). Congrats, Coach K! Ozark Preps Illustrated has named the 'All-Time Ozarks Boys & Girls Basketball Teams' for their latest issue, which you can pickup for FREE at businesses around the area.
Former Glendale head coach Mike Keltner, his Dad, and former Glendale head coach Sean Williamson were among the people picked to select the teams. Glendale Falcons: Tom Shultz was named to the all-time second team and Tyler Rullman was named to the all-time third team. Rand Chappell was an honorable mention selection. Former Glendale assistant coach Don Carlson was named to the all-time second team. Glendale Lady Falcons: Tara Mitchem was named to the all-time first team and Janet Tendai was named to the all-time second team. Former Glendale Lady Falcons head coach Tina Robbins was named to the all-time second team. After reading yesterday's article about Glendale Basketball and our new head coach in the News-Leader, I think it's time to address some areas in which the program could improve.
#1 - KICKAPOO - Since the '93-'94 season, we've defeated Kickapoo only seven times, while losing to the Chiefs on thirty occasions. Yes, they've (more often than not) had more "talent," but some of the games have been pretty close (81-80, 52-50, 60-58, 52-49 (twice), 66-63, 49-44, 52-48, 60-55, 64-57, 75-68, 59-50). Well within Glendale's reach, but we came up short each time. I think a mindset developed at Glendale some years ago to treat the Kickapoo rivalry as "just another game," but it ISN'T just another game. It's THE GAME! I'd like to see Glendale regain the PRIDE we once had in beating Kickapoo! If school pride or just pain ego isn't enough for you, then let's take into consideration that since Kickapoo opened in 1971, we have never won an outright Ozark conference championship without beating Kickapoo at least once. Also, the Chiefs have ended Glendale's season NINE times since 1991, while we haven't defeated Kickapoo in post-season play since 1984! This problem is about our ability to accomplish team goals, not just about beating Kickapoo because they're our rival. #2 - Speaking of post-season play, as the News-Leader article referred to yesterday, Glendale's state tournament record is a rather lackluster 9-17 over 50 years. I can't account as to why, since players, coaches, music, pop culture have all changed many times over that span. But, clearly, there's a problem if you take into consideration that we've won .70% of our games overall. That's the best winning percentage among the five SPS public schools and one of the best in the entire state. (Only Troy-Buchanan and St. Francis Borgia could best us in that department). Yet those programs have had far more post-season success than we have had. So, I'll leave it open as to why this has been a problem for us. Perhaps, some of you have an opinion as to why. Some will say we need to play a tougher schedule. Well, out of the three toughest schedules in program history, only one of those three teams made it out of districts. So, I don't think that's the problem. We just need to be tougher...mentally and physically come post-season play. It's that simple. #3 - Retaining Players in the Program! In recent years, we've had any number of would-be star players leave the Glendale boys basketball program. In 2010, when Hillcrest won the Class 5 State Championship, two of the three players who scored for the Hornets in the title game, started their careers at Glendale. Now, it's none of my business as to why they kids left. Those were personal decisions for the families involved. However, I feel we need to have better communication between the high school program and the feeder schools (Pershing and Hickory Hills). More of a sense of this being a big family instead of only concerning ourselves with the senior players or whatnot. Nearly every Kickapoo game I go to, you can see dozens of kids running around their gym wearing "Future Chiefs" T-shirts. I'd like to see the same thing at Glendale. Invite the middle school kids for EVERY home game, not just on middle school night. We need kids wanting to grow up and become Glendale Falcons! I don't see that happening right now. #4 - Facilities As I brought up in my blog posting yesterday, Glendale's basketball facilities are way behind most other schools in the area. Now, our locker room, head coach's office, and team meeting room are among the best in the entire state at the high school level. But the actual playing facilities are near the bottom. Due to the cost of construction, nothing much can be done at this time until another bond issue is passed by the fine people of Greene County. However, that shouldn't prevent us from putting pressure on the powers that be about what our needs are. A renovated or brand new main gym with more seating capacity among other features that match the more modern gyms at Willard, Rogersville, Republic, Nixa, Ozark, Carthage, Waynesville, and Branson. In addition, we really need to have bleacher seating in the practice/auxiliary gym. That would allow us to host multiple events. Varsity/JV boys games at the same time as a girls frosh contest and vise versa. As well as more summer team camps and shootouts. I really liked the Rogersville tournament this past season that featured a varsity and junior varsity tournament running concurrently. We can't do that without better/improved facilities. Well, that'll do it. The four items above will likely keep us busy for the next quarter century! Brian McTague has been named the fifth head boys basketball coach in the 50-year history of Glendale Senior High School.
Coach McTague served as an assistant coach at Glendale between 1998 and 2005 for three different Falcon head coaches. Mike Keltner ('98-'99), Steve Hesser ('99-'04), and Sean Williamson ('04-'05). He comes to Glendale after one season as head coach at Branson, which he led to an COC Large Division Championship and 19-8 overall record. Before Branson, Coach McTague had a great run Clever that included two trips to the Misssouri Class 2 Final Four (3rd place in 2008 and fourth place in 2010). His overall head coaching record is 144-75. Coach McTague continues a recent trend of hiring Glendale head coaches who've competed against the Falcons in the past. Mike Keltner played and coached against Glendale while he was at Hillcrest. Steve Hesser, as head coach at Bartlesville(OK), coached against Glendale twice (winning once, losing once), and Sean Williamson played against Glendale when he was at Nixa High School. Coach McTague led his Branson Pirates in battle versus Glendale twice this past season...he went 1-1. Jack Roberts was Glendale's first coach from 1963 until 1984. He was followed by Mike Keltner from 1984 to 1999. Steve Hesser came to Glendale from Oklahoma in the summer of 1999 and remained as head coach until 2004. Sean Williamson took over in the spring of 2004 and was head coach until stepping down Feb. 28th of this year. |
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Glendale BasketballBoys Basketball Program at Glendale Senior High School in Springfield, Missouri. Opened in the fall of 1963. |