General | 2/14/2019 10:30:09 AM

Each week, the MIAA’s featured writer David Boyce covers an intriguing story in the conference for a series called Boyce’s Beat: Featured Stories of the MIAA.

This week David Boyce profiles the MIAA path of former Missouri Western men’s basketball coach Tom Smith. Smith talks with Boyce about his philosophy of giving players a second chance and what it means to have the court at MWSU named after him. Former assistants and coaching friends reflect back with Boyce on Smith’s career and impact as well.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A little over a week ago, former Missouri Western men’s basketball coach Tom Smith received a call while on vacation in Mexico from an old coaching adversary who is also a friend.

Tappmeyer, who coached at Northwest Missouri State many of the same seasons during Smith’s 25 years at Missouri Western (1988-2013), called to congratulate Smith on one of the highest honors a basketball coach can receive.
 

On Saturday, during halftime of the Missouri Western home finale against Central Missouri, the basketball court at MSWU Fieldhouse will officially be called Tom Smith Court.

“It is a well-deserved honor,” Tappmeyer said. “I know it means a lot to him.

“I follow him on Facebook. He still stays in touch with so many of the guys he coached. It is really neat. I think a lot of them are going to make it.”

More than the sparkling record of 448-279 Smith compiled at Missouri Western was the role he played in so many young men’s lives.

Smith grew up in Gary, Indiana. It is a city that produced the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson. But there was also a lot of poverty in the African American community. That stuck with Smith through his coaching years. He wanted to make a difference.

During his time at Missouri Western, he brought in a number of junior college players, many of whom were black, needing a second or third chance to get a college degree.

Smith heard the jokes that every year Missouri Western had a different team. Smith, though, stayed true to his core. He won games and he gave young men a chance to have a better life by earning a college degree.

“He talked about coming to Missouri Western and grabbing that golden ticket, which was a degree,” said University of Central Missouri assistant women’s basketball coach Mike Nicholson, who spent 14 seasons as Smith’s assistant at Missouri Western.

“Maybe he didn’t have a 100 percent success story, but so many of them, guys who didn’t have fathers in their lives, you now see them on social media and they are fathers. Hopefully, they learned that at Missouri Western. A lot of them got degrees and are successful around the country. It is rewarding to see.”

Nicholson and Central Missouri head women’s basketball coach Dave Slifer are thrilled they get the see the ceremony, which will be at halftime of the men’s game. The women’s game between Central Missouri and Missouri Western is at 2 p.m. and men’s game follows at 4 p.m.

Before taking the job at Central Missouri, Slifer coached the women’s basketball team at Missouri Western and learned a few things about the MIAA and Division II basketball from Smith.

“It was the way he carried himself,” Slifer said of Smith. “He got 10 junior college players to play together and sacrifice for each

other. That is not always the easiest thing to do. It was an amazing thing to watch. They shared the ball so well.”

Having the ceremony in a game against Central Missouri is absolutely fitting. It goes beyond the friendship and coaching relationship Smith has with Nicholson and Slifer.

Smith started his head coaching career at Central Missouri in 1975 and stayed there to 1980, before chasing the Division I dream and coaching at his alma mater, Valparaiso from 1980-88.

“Central Missouri meant the world to me,” Smith said.

Obviously, Smith has even deeper feelings for Missouri Western and the city of St. Joseph. In many ways, the school gave him a second chance. Smith recalls a conversation he had at Municipal Auditorium in the spring of 1988 with William Jewell basketball coach Larry Holley.

The two coaches were walking underground from Municipal to the Marriott. Smith realized it was time for him to leave Valparaiso. Holley mentioned to Smith about the opening at Missouri Western.

“Larry told me what he thought, and I really jumped at it and was excited to come,” Smith said. “St. Joe is a great basketball town. I know we have the Chiefs now and everybody thinks about that, but this city is a basketball town.”

It is one of the reasons why getting the court named after him means so much to Smith. He has earned plenty of accolades since retiring. He is in the MIAA Hall of Fame, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Valparaiso Hall of Fame, and of course, the Missouri Western Hall of Fame.

“Having a court named after you is probably one of the biggest honors anyone can bestow on you,” Smith said. “I can’t tell you how much in the last two weeks when this was announced, it meant to me that some of my players have told me how much I have changed their lives.

“I am not a corny person. I have felt so blessed that these kids would come back and say I changed their lives and made a difference. I feel so blessed that I was able to touch some of those kids lives. Most of my kids never had a dad, never knew their dad. I became that person to them and that was really important to me.”

Obviously, Smith wanted players who could play defense and put the ball through the nets. After all, he was competing against teams in the MIAA that also had great veteran coaches with a wealth of experience like Tappmeyer, Missouri Southern’s Robert Corn, Washburn’s Bob Chipman, Pittsburg State’s Gene Iba and Central Missouri’s Kim Anderson.

“It was an amazing era to see all these guys off the court tell stories over a couple of beverages but then go to battle,” Nicholson said. “Every night there was a great basketball coach on the other side, Hall of Famers. It challenged you as a coach and as a player. Usually, the cream rises to the top. We did that more times than not.”

Smith definitely enjoyed those times.

“Tappmeyer and I would get into it,” Smith said. “Chipman and I would get into it, but the respect we had for each other was always there. I loved that part of it.”

Smith also loved coaching at the Division II level. It fit his profile.

It is a neat level,” he said. “It is a second-chance level. I was the pied piper of kids who needed a second chance.”