Editorial

Champions of the links

Tuesday, June 3, 2003

Attend a triumphant high school sporting event and you're almost sure to hear the words of Queen's vintage song, "We Are The Champions."

Although written more than a quarter of a century ago, the song-- which salutes super success -- applies exceedingly well to the accomplishments of Coach Ron Coleman and his title-winning golf teams at McCook High School.

Since taking the reins as coach of the Bison golfers in the 1979-80 season, the man known as "RC" has led MHS to six Class B state championships and two runner-up finishes. In addition, he has coached three individual Class B state champions -- Tyler Lawson in 2003, Ryan Vlasin in 1996 and Jason Loop in 1990-- and four runners-up for the Class B individual title: his son, Justin Coleman, twice, as well as Brandon Crick (this year), and Kevin Michaelis.

Quite a feat for an athlete who didn't even take up the game of golf until he graduated from college. "I was serving as a grad assistant at Southeast Oklahoma State in Durant. One of the coaches said that since my college playing days were over, I needed a sport other than football and fast-pitch softball to keep my interest," RC said. So -- in his early 20s -- Coleman started batting the golf ball around.

A high school athletic star at David City Aquinas and a college football player at Nebraska and Southeast Oklahoma, Coleman steadily improved, and reached championship status in his own right after moving to McCook to teach health and physical education. The first year here, RC coached football and track, then replaced track with golf the following season.

Since then, both the teams and Coleman have steadily improved. A major ingredient of the success has been the Heritage Hills Golf Course, Coleman said. "An errant tee shot is a lot more severe here than it is at other courses," the coach said, "so my players and I learn to manage our games to stay out of trouble." Also, Coleman said the undulations on the green are of great help to golfers in developing their games. "You learn to read putts from all sides," he said, adding that, "on both the greens and approach shots, players must learn to adjust to downhill, uphill and sidehill lies."

But, as important as the course has been to golf development, there's an even more basic reason for the Bison's state supremacy. "It starts with the fundamentals: a sound grip, a sound set-up, where to position the ball and alignment." Coach Coleman said. "Even if we're at state, if the players fall into a slump, we go back to the basics to solve the problem."

And one other thing. "We play against the course, not against other players. We have found we have enough to worry about keeping the ball in play. If we do that, there's no reason to concern ourselves with how the golfers from other teams are doing."

Spoken like a champion, which Coach Coleman is and has been throughout his sports career. Still as passionate about sports as he was in his high school and college days, RC served on the staff of the Bison's undefeated state champion football team last fall, and will share head coaching duties in basketball with Steve Nicholson next season.

Oh, coincidentally, the song, "We Are The Champions," was released in October of 1977, just months before RC's fateful arrival in McCook.

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