Today's post is written by Assistant Coach Marcus Moeller:
Even in the short history of this 24 year old, there are several moments that are forever etched in the corridors of my brain. A few examples would be:
April 5, 1993--that was the day that Chris Weber called that infamous timeout (forgetting they had already used all of their timeouts) against my beloved Tar Heels to lock up the National Championship for Dean Smith and Co. I was only 8, but I can still picture the room where I sat and the furniture that quickly became my jungle gym as I paraded around in celebration.
September 11, 2001--the attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the devastation that followed was astonishing. I remember continually watching the coverage throughout the day at school. I had always hoped that school would turn into a television-a-thon...but I never had envisioned it being under these gruesome circumstances.
November 12, 2002--Suzie Ditzfield Field in Sedalia, MO was my sanctuary that cold blustery evening. My high school soccer team had advanced to the Quarterfinal of the MSHSAA state tournament. It was our school's first trip that deep in the state playoffs. After a couple fortuitist bounces, we came away 4-2 winners and were headed to the school's first ever Final Four appearance. (we lost 4 days later 2-1 in OT to the eventual state champs). We were fortunate enough to follow it up by returning to the Final Four my senior year.
May 17, 2004--The day I graduated high school. However, this was no ordinary graduation day. I was also playing in the Missouri State High School Golf tournament. It started with a 10 am tee time, continued with a less than stellar opening day on the links and then culminated with a rat race back to Joplin. I was fortunate enough to arrive 4 minutes before I was supposed to walk and recieve a rather important piece of paper.
August 6, 2004--The day my sister got married. The thing that will always stick out in my mind about this day is that I was honored to walk my sister down the aisle and hand her off...in fact my exact words were, "Drew, she's all yours" (i said with a grin)
Likewise, December 21, 2009 is a day that I don't expect to forget anytime soon. Yesterday we played a home contest against Southwestern College (KS). The festivities included a tribute to the late Charlie Williams before the game and an alumni social following the game.
Charlie Williams was a legend of the game of basketball in this area (including a short stint as an Assistant Coach in our program). After serving over 25 years at a local christian college as the Athletic Director and Men's and Women's basketball coach, he served as the boy's basketball coach at a local high school for another 4 years. Coach Williams won over 700 games combined at all levels and is a member of the Missouri Basketball Hall of Fame. However, anyone who knew Coach Williams, understood that his impact went far beyond his astonishing record. He was a man that cared deeply about the lives of the young men and women that played for him. He truly cared more about his players as people than he did as basketball players. Charlie Williams was simply a great person, and he will be dearly missed.
Coach Williams rarely missed one of our games. One time Coach Mitts explained that she hates how we are on defense in the second half because she feels like they are all the way on the other end of the floor and they can't hear her as well. To that Coach Williams replied, "It's okay Maryann, i'll coach them!" Sure enough, Coach Wiliams sat on the first row (in the same seat every game) and coached up our girls in the second half. In rememberance of Coach Williams, we placed a placque on the seat back of his chair and our team placed flowers in a vase that sat next to Coach Williams' seat. His wife and 2 sons were in attendance as we honored the late Coach.
At halftime of the game we honored several alumni that came back for the game. After the game the
y stuck around and we had an extended ammount of time to talk. It was GREAT to see some faces from the past and to get caught up on all the success they are having. As you can imagine the stories starting flying around. Jean Hurt (a member of the first team Coach Mitts had here at Southern) even made her way to the lockeroom before the game...she even challenged any of our current players to a 3-point contest! (typical Jean). Some of the players that returned really paved the way for everything going on in our prgram now, it was such a great evening to see them! Overall, the evening was one that I (and several others in attendance) will never forget.
Until next time...It's a GREAT day to be LION!
Marcus Moeller
Assistant Coach
