Gary Shirley Remembered By His Assistant Coach

Gary Shirley, former coach and teacher at South Central High School, died last week and I got in touch with Rick Simmons, who was his assistant coach and friend. Here are a few memories about Shirley that Simmons sent on to me.

Gary was a live life to the fullest type of person. Oh, don't get me wrong. He was not going to be jumping out of airplanes or climbing Mt. Everest, but he simply enjoyed life and it showed. He was my mentor, teacher and friend! As much as I may have learned from him as a coach, it was not nearly as much as I learned from him as a man! Not only was he a great coach, but he was also an outstanding teacher. He had a gift of expression, personality, and knowledge that made him a true educator. He could be quite entertaining, but also, very disciplined in his teaching. Kinda unusual to have an English teacher who is also a basketball coach. You are definitely not going to find a combination like that very often. He was as much at ease quoting a line from a sonnet as he was barking out what offense to run. In fact, he was forever correcting the grammar of our players during practice and games. A trait, that I also picked up from him.

I can remember many times bouncing up and down the highways on bus trips or scouting. We would usually spend a little time talking about basketball, but much of the other time would be spent talking about our families or something that may be going on in school or in the world. Gary was a devoted husband and father. He loved his wife and family and was always proud to share a story or success that one of them may have accomplished. I was fortunate enough to have all of his children in class and also around the basketball floor and baseball diamond. All three of Gary's sons, Ryan, Willie, and Jason played basketball for their dad. Gary's daughter Anne was also a cheerleader. So Gary was able to share that with them as well. Marla, Gary's wife, was in attendance at almost every game he coached. And if you want to talk about a proud grandpa, you would not find anyone who was more proud than Gary. As he would say, "those little ones", are pretty special!

Gary was a member of the Kinmundy Christian Church where he served in many capacities. He served as a Bible school teacher, church elder, and along with others would bring communion to shut-ins of the congregation who were unable to attend the service. He was a man of strong faith and he was not afraid to share his faith with others.

He most recently had been working on the city counsel so as you can see, even in retirement, Gary was still out involved in the community.

There are so many stories that I wouldn't know where to begin, but here are a couple that I found particularly humorous.

We were playing in the St. Elmo Holiday Tournament and Gary was giving his two cents worth to one of the officials. The official said something back to him and Coach went off after him. I, doing my assistant duties, immediately jumped in between him and the official and would not let Gary take another step on the floor. A foul or a dead ball situation occurred and and Gary was still trying to get out on the floor to which I was not going to let that happen. He makes numerous attempts to get around me with no success. Finally, he leans over in my ear and says he was fine, but he had inadvertently spit his gum out on the floor while yelling at the official and would I please let him go get it. Sure enough about three feet out on the floor is the wad of chewing gum. Then, we both looked at each other and started to laugh!

Another time we were playing in a particular close game and Gary was not seeing eye to eye with one of the officials. He had been warned a couple of times already and I was fearful that he might get a technical. The official was going down the far sideline and Gary had had enough. He screamed a rather profound statement across the court. Our little sophomore guard who was sitting next to him on the bench turned and looked at him and I turned about the same time. I was trying to keep from grinning, but couldn't help myself. Our player was not sure what to do! Gary looked at me and said what did I say. I repeated what he had said and he goes you heard that. I said yes and probably everyone, but the official did. His only comment was well I hope Marla (his wife) didn't hear it or he would be in big trouble when he got home. The player and I couldn't handle it any longer so we burst out laughing and Coach had to chuckle as well.

The other story was when we were competing in a fresh/soph conference basketball tournament at Sandoval years ago. I was coaching and Gary was sitting on the bench with us. I had been working the officials hard and had been warned to calm down. The game was close and something happened in which Coach did not agree with. He jumps to his feet and in the process a pen he had in his shirt pocket goes flying out on the floor. I step out on the floor to retrieve it and am immediately assessed a technical foul for being out of my box. I slowly pick it up and hand it back to Coach without saying a word. It is one of the few times I have every seen Gary totally speechless. He was so distraught that I have to chuckle every time I think about the look on his face. It was priceless.

He will be missed, but never forgotten!