Nebraska High School Basketball scoring Legend Bill Holliday is gone.

Sunday, January 20, 2023

The highest scoring basketball player in the history of Nebraska high school basketball passed into that big arena in the sky today. Bill Holliday, who scored an unimaginable 2,748 points during a three year basketball career at tiny Wilsonville, Nebraska, passed away this afternoon after a long bout with complications that seemed to arise during Covid outbreak a few years back.

Holliday, who later coached Aurora high school to a State Class B basketball championship in 1976, was a one of a kind superior athlete, the type that comes along once in anyone’s lifetime.

Bill Holliday’s career scoring record of 2,748 points has stood the test of time for 63 years and running and will never be broken in my opinion despite the absence of the three-point shot back in Bill’s day.

I will pull no punches here. My heart is broken. Bill Holliday has always been my all-time Nebraska high school sports Hero, along with the late Larry Vlasin.

Funny thing, I never thought I would have the honor of meeting, let alone becoming friends with the great Bill Holliday.

* * * * *

I began doing the PA for GI Northwest basketball back in 2014, which was my first PA hoops gig. Bill Holliday had some grandchildren going to Northwest at the time because one magic night during the Central Conference Basketball Tournament, I looked to my right, and there was Bill, in his wheelchair, with his sons Geoff, Gregg and beautiful wife Kathy on either side.

My heart raced as I wondered if it might be appropriate to introduce the greatest player in the history of Nebraska high school basketball to a packed Rosencrants gy at Northwest?

I had only one problem. Northwest’s basketball team was playing Aurora in the semifinals. Bill lived in Aurora and it was my first year at Northwest.

Would I lose my job if I went ahead with the introduction? In my mind, there was no other way to meet my Hero, so I went for it.

The crowd gave Coach Holliday a standing ovation. I succeeded but was too shy to approach the man.

The next year Bill was back at Northwest for another game. I introduced him again to

A huge round of applause, but again I was too afraid to approach the man. He looked so serious, almost unapproachable, at those games, and there may have been a reason why.

Most everyone knows Mr. Holliday was wheelchair bound after suffering a horrible hunting accident that saw him fall from a tree stand, a fall left him paralyzed for life. Bill was also alone at the time and was lucky to be discovered by one of his sons before the unthinkable could take place.

Something, maybe that fall, perhaps something else, seemed to make Bill Holliday a very private man. I mentioned Bill’s name frequently when talking about Nebraska high school sports heroes, and the results were always the same.

“Where did Bill Holliday ever end up, Is he still living”, they would say.

The “is he still living” remarks hurt my feelings a bit and began to put the wheels of my mind in motion.

Mr. Holliday returned one more time in 2016 when I was announcing a Northwest basketball game. When I was checking the scoreboard at the scorer’s table, I looked up and saw that the great Bill Holliday had wheeled his chair up to meet me and said we should get together and talk high school sports sometime.

I could not believe my eyes. It was one of the greatest days of my life and his invitation once again began to put my thoughts in motion.

* * * * *

Early in March 2016, I mustered up the courage to ask Mr. Holliday if he would be interested in doing an interview. He accepted, invited me to his home, and I could not get there quick enough.

I was fortunate to be doing an online show for the Grand Island Independent at the time. The show, entitled In The Hoop, usually ran no more than 10 to 15 minutes.

The Bill Holliday Interview was different. It was a Classic.

My Hero, Bill Holliday, answered every single question, talked about his entire life and even described his hunting accident, in detail, as I listened. The interview took an hour and 20 minutes, all the while with his lovely wife Kathy by his side.

I recall calling my daughter Erin Martinez, who was the Online Director for The Independent at the time, telling her that the interview ran long and we may have to edit some things. Erin said “Dad, we are airing the entire interview.”

The rest is history. The ultimate item on my bucket list had been fulfilled and I was not only able to call Mr. Holliday my lifetime Hero, but a friend as well.

* * * * *

There will never be another Bill Holliday. The man who scored an incredible 2,748 points during his mostly THREE game career at Wilsonville, despite missing most of the month of December during his Senior season with the mumps, will never be equalled in my mind

The man averaged 33.4 points a game his sophomore season, 31.8 during a junior year that saw him set a state single season scoring record of 890 points, and 27.9 points his senior year. It’s no small wonder Bill was a three time All-State selection

It was not until a few years ago that I also discovered Bill Holliday was a 1000 thousand yard rusher for Wilsonville during his senior All-State football season. He did it all, but most of all, Mr. Holliday was a deeply religious man, a man of God, frequently posting biblical passages on Facebook.

There were several occasions the past few years that I didn’t think he would make it, battling with seemingly unconquerable health problems, but each time Bill would call on his prayer warriors and on every single instance, he would beat the odds. Every time.

Today, the odds were too tough to overcome….or were they?

Knowing my Hero, there may have been a way he could have beaten the odds again, but simply realized his work was completed here.

Bill Holliday touched countless, countless lives through his actions and teachings, especially mine in the short time I knew him. His teaching experiences stretched from Stamford to Thedford to Hebron to Aurora to Loomis, touching lives and souls everywhere along the way.

Along with his beautiful wife Kathy, sons Geoff, Gregg and their families, the entire state of Nebraska will mourn the loss of the highest scorer in Nebraska high school basketball history and one of the greatest coaches and men this state has ever seen.

I will always love you Coach Holliday, and thank you for granting me the opportunity to meet my lifetime Hero.

And by the way, if they allow interviews up there, save me one more for me, would you?