OCA banquet a big night for honorees... and the sports guys who covers them

It was a proud night for yours truly when I attended last Saturday’s Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame Banquet in Tulsa.

The banquet is annually the kickoff event for the All-State games and coaches’ clinics that take place over the following week.

While I have attended numerous previous games and clinics, I had never attended the banquet that honors incoming members of the hall of fame.

I had tremendous reason this year.

David Glover, Jeff Myers and the late Ray West were among the 10 inducted. The trio were originally scheduled to be a part of the 2020 class, but last year’s banquet, as we all know, was canceled due to COVID-19.

Rightfully, I received a good amount of grief from Glover at the banquet.

If you’ll recall, I wrote a couple of lengthy columns honoring Ray West when he passed away.

I was also the author of a story about Myers that chronicled his accomplishments and garnered quotes from former players, colleagues, a coach he’s played for and another he coached against.

Glover made note of that at the banquet and added “Oh, and then there’s David Glover, who lives in Kingfisher.”

That tells me one thing: Glover reads the Kingfisher Times & Free Press.

Yes, Myers got a long story and West garnered multiple lengthy columns.

Glover got one line.

I hope Glover was able to catch the end of my “Witnessing Basketball History” series that ran through parts of March in April.

In the fourth part of that series (April 21, 2021: Pages 1B, 3B and 8B), I ended with a personal note that listed some of the things the OSSAA allowed me to do and also what Glover and his wife, Cyndy, provided my daughter and nephew, who attended all three KHS games with me.

They treated my family like their family, which isn’t surprising.

I doubt anyone had more family on hand last week than Glover. His table at the banquet

His table at the banquet was filled with his daugh-ters, their husbands and the Glover grandchildren. Yet another table had even more Glover supporters.

Glover’s big on family. You can see it at the state basketball tournament.

You can see it in his office.

You can see it on his wife’s Facebook page. You can see it in every

You can see it in every aspect of his life.

For those who didn’t know, Glover has been a longtime battler of cancer. Cancer keeps taking

Cancer keeps taking punches. Glover keeps absorbing them but moving forward.

Fewer people may know that he’s suffered a pair of broken hips in recent years.

The most recent incident has him using a cane.

Still, Glover keeps moving forward.

One of the more touching moments last Saturday was seeing one of Glover’s grandsons walk by his side to make sure Glover was able to make it up the steps to receive his hall of fame plaque. (Note: I’m willing to bet the OCA staff before the banquet told Glover they’d come down the steps to present his plaque, but were met with a “hell no you won’t.” That’s just a guess.)

I love the fact Glover gave me grief prior to the banquet.

I hope to be getting it for years and years to come.

When Jeff Myers was hired at Kingfisher in the spring of 2004, I remember taking a picture of he and his family.

When he was hired, his oldest child, Maddie, seemed barely knee-high.

She’s now a college graduate, Riley is about to enter his second year of college, Emily will be a junior in high school and Abbie is nearly in high school. Time flies.

Time flies.

When announcing the hall of fame inductees, the emcee reads a “thank you” that each person pens for the ceremony.

In his portion, Myers obviously thanked his family, but one thing stood out to me.

He thanked his children “for being OK with me sometimes spending more time with other peoples’ children than my own.”

That’s often the life of a coach. A lot of their own family time is sacrificed and I think we overlook that in the grand scheme of things.

We see the time the coaches spend on the sidelines.

We know the time they’re at practices with our children.

What we may not see is all the hours spent watching game film or preparing a game plan or typing out notes to give to players or washing uniforms or mowing the field or mopping the court or....

The list goes on and on and on.

I swear about once a month I’ll see a pewter-colored single-cab Chevrolet pickup and begin to raise my hand to wave to Ray West.

It breaks my heart each time when reality sets in.

I’m so glad Ray’s family is getting to experience this summer of him being honored.

In June it was the OBCA Hall of Fame. Now the OCA.

His daughters, his son and wife were all there Saturday night to accept the honor in Ray’s memory.

What saddens me is that Ray isn’t able to, himself, experience it.

He would have been humbled. He would have felt unworthy. He would have said it was all because of the great kids he coached.

But he’s definitely worthy. We all know it.

Speaking of Myers, three of his most decorated players ever were on hand at the hall of fame banquet.

One is Derek Patterson, but that was no surprise, since he’s currently on the KHS staff and, himself, an OCA member.

The other two were Curtis Lofton and Landon Nault.

Lofton was a part of Myers’ first team, his senior year of 2004.

He was not only All-State, but a Parade All-American who earned numerous other honors before becoming an All-American at OU and playing for three teams in the NFL.

Nault was also All-State, was a national finalist for the High School Heisman Award and went on to a stellar collegiate career.

It was great to see Lofton and Nault there as their former coach was honored. It says a lot about how

It says a lot about how they feel about him as a coach and a man.

One person who really impressed me by showing up to the banquet was Daniel Craig, Kingfisher’s new superintendent.

Craig was hired in May.

He hasn’t been through a school year - therefore a single sports season - yet he made the drive up to Tulsa to see Myers go into the hall of fame.

Then he made the drive back home.

Nobody would have batted an eye if he wasn’t there. It wasn’t expected of him.

But his presence certainly made a positive impression.

Not a lot of news gets by me, but this one did.

Among those also being honored at the banquet were the OCA male and female athletes of the year for 2020 and 2021.

I knew Riley Myers earned the 2020 honor.

What I didn’t know is that Bijan Cortes hauled in the accomplishment for 2021.

That added to my “pride” on the night as I also got to see those two recognized in front of the banquet crowd.

I can’t imagine the pride it brought to their own families also in attendance.