Editorial: Worthy coach

It would be great to see former LHS football coach Bill Freeman among this years Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductees.

Allow us to do a little lobbying for a former Lawrence High School football coach who is more than qualified for admission into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.

Bill Freeman, who served as LHS football coach from 1974 to 1989, is one of 25 nominees this year for induction into the Hall of Fame now based in Wichita.

We agree with Ron Commons who was an assistant for Freeman during his entire 16-year career at LHS. “I think it’s a very deserving honor, probably one long overdue.”

Freeman started coaching at LHS six years after the departure of Al Woolard, who was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. Woolard had built a football dynasty during 19 seasons at LHS, and Freeman helped renew that tradition and pass it on to his successor, Dick Purdy. During Freeman’s tenure, LHS won five state championships in 11 years. His final four years as coach began a string during which LHS played in 10 consecutive state championship games. His record over his 16 years as coach was 134 wins and 38 losses; in his last six years as LHS coach, his teams won 65 games and lost just six.

There are those who believe the strong LHS football tradition was a key factor in the community’s hesitance to approve a second high school for Lawrence. Voters just didn’t want to give up the city’s football dominance.

Freeman’s overall coaching career spanned 36 years, including a state champion team in Leroy and two state championships in Osawatomie as well as stints in Baxter Springs, Parker Rural and Nickerson.

Perhaps the most meaningful praise for any coach comes from his or her former players. In an interview with the Journal-World, Kris Weidling, who was part of the 1986 LHS championship team, recalled Freeman’s talent for getting the most out of his players. When the 1986 team was ranked 18th in the USAToday national poll, Weidling recalled that Freeman commented, “We are not No. 18 in the country in talent, I’d put us there in heart.”

Inspiring that kind of effort is the hallmark of a good coach in any sport. Freeman, 83, now lives in Burlington and isn’t in the best of health. It would be wonderful to see him as a member of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame class of 2014.