Moore Teacher Battles Cancer...Again.
Coale Reaches Milestone
500 Wins
Dedicating Life to Sports, Kids
House of Pain
Vet of the Month
Curtis Wright
March | CONTENTS 2020
08 by Roxanne Avery
Summer Fun on Horizon
Moore opens registration for annual summer day camp.
12 by Bill Moakley
PHOTOGRAPHY
20 by Kaylee Campbell True Strength
Moore teacher’s cancer fight inspires others.
Chip Minty
Hardship, good memories and honor define vet’s life.
Moore Norman Technology Center offers health care programs.
Mark Doescher
MANAGING EDITOR SENIOR EDITOR
16 by Sharla Bardin
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
A Good Life
Health Care Training
ISSUE 3 - VOLUME 3
26 by Steve Marshall
Another Run at State
Lindsay Cuomo Mark Doescher
CONTRIBUTORS
Roxanne Avery | Sharla Bardin Kaylee Campbell | Lindsay Cuomo Steve Marshall | Chip Minty Bill Moakley | Chris Plank
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PUBLISHER Randy Laffoon
Westmoore girls soccer team building on success.
28 by Chip Minty
House of Pain
Norman man dedicates life to sports, young people.
34by Chris Plank
500 Wins
Major milestone only part of Coale’s legacy.
44 by Lindsay Cuomo Train Smart
Norman Regional observes National Athletic Training month.
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COM M U N I T Y
BY:ROXANNE AVERY
Summer Fun on Horizon
Moore Opens Registration for Annual Summer Day Camp
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ant your kids to have the absolutely best summer ever? Make plans now to attend the Oasis Summer Day Camp, a program operated by the City of Moore. The day camp begins June 1 and ends August 7. “The camp is every Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.,” said Logan Crossland, recreational coordinator for the Moore Parks and Recreation Department. “The kids like this camp because they learn new things, play games, participate in arts and crafts and meet new friends.” The program is for kids from aged 5 to 12, and they go on field trips every Thursday to enjoy activities such as bowling at Hey Day, movies at the Warren Theatre, the Oklahoma City Zoo, Science Museum Oklahoma and the Moore Public Library. “Twice a week the kids go to The Station at Central Park Aquatic Center to go swimming,” Crossland said. “The absolutely love that.” 8 | March 2020
Daily activities include recreation such as basketball, soccer, Frisbee and fun science experiments. Kids are divided into age groups for some of the activities and they go together as a group on outings. Registration began in mid-February and continues through the spring. The cost varies for each week, depending on activities, but parents can also sign their children up for the entire summer. For information, call the Moore Parks & Recreation Department at 793-5090. Snacks and drinks are included in the camp fee but kids need to bring a sack lunch daily and a swimsuit, towel and/ or change of clothing on the days they go swimming. The City of Moore’s Oasis Summer Day Camp follows the guidelines set up by the American Camp Association. Drop off and pick up is at the Moore Community Center at 301 S. Howard Ave. – 19SM
Be Better, Together
COM M U N I T Y
A Good Life
BY: BILL MOAKLEY
PRESENTED BY
CENTURIONCG.NET
Hardship, Good Memories and Honor Define Vet’s Life
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urtis Wright has managed to ride an eighth-grade education through a good part of the United States and Europe. Not bad for a kid from Drumwright. “Life is what you make it,” Wright said recently from the lobby of the Norman Veterans Center. “You make it good or bad. I’ve made it pretty good.” Pretty good is an understatement. After finishing eighth grade, Wright left Drumwright for the first time for a 60-plus mile trip to Morris in Okmulgee County and a job with the Civil Conservation Corps. He was 15. “It paid a dollar a day and you sent half that home,” Wright recalled. “You went out and planted grass and trees. They educated the younger people and gave them something to do.” Wright also got a little boxing in at the CC camp, dropping a feared brawler from 12 | March 2020
Detroit in about that lasted less than two minutes. “I was 15 years old, and I had a pretty good left hook,” Wright said. “Some of the boys from my town told the captain, ‘we have an ole boy who can fight him.’ I hit him with a pretty good left hook and put him down.” After a short time in Illinois, working with a brother, Wright met his first wife and decided it was time for a change in lifestyle. He took a job on a farm for $40 a month and a furnished house. “Back then, you could get by on it,” he said. The farm job also came with a deferment from the war raging in Europe. When the property’s owner decided to purchase another adjacent property, Wright decided he’d move on to another career. That turned out to be military service.
“Pretty soon, in the mail, I got something that said draft notice,” Wright said. “Didn’t take long before a draft card hit me.” Wright would board the Rock Island Red train from an aunt and uncle’s house in Shawnee to Fort Mead, Md. for training, skip a ship across the ocean to Europe, cross the English Channel and head into France for a date with the Battle of the Bulge, a pivotal turning point in defeating the Germans. He solemnly recalled the horrors of war. “It was terrible,” he said in a hushed tone. “Have you ever seen a man crying to tell you to let his wife know he died loving her?” Wright and his fellow soldiers would march to the Rhine River, making it on Christmas Day with Patton’s 3rd Army. From there, he headed through Czechoslovakia as the Third Reich was being pushed back to Berlin. For his efforts in battle, Wright returned home with two Bronze Stars.
Wright would spend 40 years in the oil fields of Oklahoma and Texas, as well as some time in Nevada boring out 2,000foot holes for missiles in the famous Nevada Test Fields. He would work as a roughneck, driller and tool pusher, before retiring as a drilling superintendent from ONEOK. A few years ago, during a pow wow hosted in Michigan by the Potawatomi Tribe, of which his third wife was a member, Wright became an adopted member of the tribe, serving as the event’s only World War II veteran, and leading veterans marching into tribal ceremonies. From Drumwright, through Europe and into Michigan for a moment, 96 years has treated Wright rather well he believes. “Life is pretty interesting,” he concluded with a wry smile. “I don’t suppose I could have done it any better…I maybe could have made more money, but I probably couldn’t imagine any more enjoyment.”- 19SM
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COM M U N I T Y
BY: SHARLA BARDIN
Health Care Training
Moore Norman Technology Center Offers Health Care Programs
S
ammie Kimmel and Francine Johnson know professionally and personally how vocational education can change students’ lives.
workers,” Kimmel said, who works with short-term health programs for adults. “You have a guarantee lifetime of employment and that is huge.”
The two are registered nurses who oversee some of the health programs at Moore Norman Technology Center. They also got their start in the health care field through the CareerTech system, which provides programs for individuals seeking career and technology education.
Johnson said job availability and the opportunity to help people are other incentives to pursue the field.
“That really changed the direction of my life,” Kimmel said. “CareerTech has been amazing in my life.” Kimmel and Johnson also are hoping to inspire individuals to pursue careers in health care, especially since it’s a field with a growing demand for employees. A 2018 report found that the United States will need to hire 2.3 million new health care workers by 2025 to take care of the aging population, according to CNN. “There’s always a need for health care 16 | March 2020
“If you have a heart for compassion for others, it will be very rewarding to you for your entire life,” Johnson said. The two said that the health care profession offers a variety of jobs, and Moore Norman Technology Center provides courses that can accommodate different schedules for students, such as shortterm or long-term courses or online classes FlexTrack health classes are another opportunity, Johnson said. They feature a self-paced schedule that meets the learners’ needs. Short-term health classes the center offers include medical coding and billing as well as first aid and CPR. The program also offers training for certified
nurse aides and emergency medical technicians. Students can also study to become a medication administration technician, who can assist individuals in residential care or group homes with medication administration. Long-term programs include biomedical science, diagnostic medical sonography, physical therapy aide, practical nursing, surgical technology and veterinary assistance. Clinical labs at the center also give students hands-on opportunities to increase their skills, Kimmel said. Kimmel and Johnson said a rewarding aspect of their job is helping students discover the path that suits them in the health care field. They say the nursing profession attracted them when they were both children, watching nurses and doctors in their lives. Those experiences inspired them to pursue the profession. They also said they found encouraging
instructors and valuable training and courses through the CareerTech system that gave them a start in the profession and motivated them to enhance their skills and education. Both said they want to offer that same motivation for the students they serve. “Everyone really is here for the community and for students,” Kimmel said. “We’re all about changing people’s lives for the better and that’s really, really exciting.” Johnson said the center works to offer excellent customer service for the students and community it serves. “If we can make sure people that we serve meet their needs, then they will always be willing to come back to us,” Johnson said. “It’s very rewarding to help them to be successful.” For more information about health programs at the center, visit www.mntc.ed. – 19SM
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COM M U N I T Y
BY: KAYLEE CAMPBELL
True Strength
Moore Teacher’s Cancer Fight Inspires Others
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s you might imagine, it’s difficult to learn that you have cancer, let alone to experience that moment more than once. But for Emily Marshall, a first-grade teacher at Moore’s Central Elementary, that experience is one she is all too familiar with. “The first time I was super terrified,” Marshall said. “You hear the words breast cancer and you think, ‘I’m gonna die.’” But Marshall didn’t let herself think that way for long. Marshall was first diagnosed in 2008 at the age of 33. She is now in the midst of her eighth battle with triple negative breast cancer, which she explained is particularly aggressive and difficult to treat. Marshall tested negative for the BRCA gene, making her initial diagnosis at such a young age even more puzzling. “Nobody in my family has ever had cancer except myself,” Marshall said. “(The doctors) can’t figure out what’s going on.” During her first bout with the disease, 20 | March 2020
Marshall underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy, as well as a lumpectomy, but in 2012, the cancer returned. “At that time, I had a double mastectomy,” Marshall said. “I did chemo, but not radiation. In 2013, I had my reconstruction, and then I had another recurrence in 2015. I asked my oncologist, how in the world do you get breast cancer when you don’t have breasts!” Marshall’s cancer had returned and was growing from the chest wall, through stomach tissue that had been used to rebuild the breast. This time around they tried a left mastectomy along with radiation. When cancer hit Marshall in 2016 for the fourth time, she moved her treatment to the Integris Cancer Institute. Since that time, she’s had two recurrences in 2017, one in 2018 and now, the eighth in total. This time is different — the cancer has made its way to the lymph nodes, which causes concern that it might also appear in other areas of Marshall’s body. While Marshall explained that immunotherapy is being considered as a pos-
sible course of treatment for her, she is currently being treated with chemo pills and that they are allowing her to go on living her life during treatment. “I’ve been able to stay in the classroom with my kiddos, which is another prayer answered,” Marshall said. Sadly, yet not uncommon, Marshall’s health isn’t the only challenge on the Marshall family’s plate. The family is also facing financial troubles due to Marshall’s healthcare costs. In fact, the medical bills have piled so high that the family is in danger of losing their house, which they’ve owned and lived in for 18 years, Marshall said. Parents and school staff have pitched in, raising money here and there, where they can. They’ve hosted numerous events and fundraisers with community partners to help raise money for the family. One parent even went so far as to start a GoFundMe account to help cover healthcare costs.
“They really have been supportive through this. My boss has been phenomenal,” Marshall said. “Moore Public Schools is a wonderful place to be. Very family oriented, and they take care of you.” Marshall’s story made national news early this year when an ABC News team caught her reaction as she walked into a surprise school assembly, held in her honor. The event featured Marshall’s first graders serenading her with their rendition of Fight Song. And while the experience and response has been overwhelming, the thing that Marshall said she’s most happy about is that her story may be able to help others. “I’m glad they’re getting the story out there,” Marshall said. “It’s exciting for me because I feel like it’s going to help other people. Hopefully, they can see my story, and it’ll help them get through it.”– 19SM
S P O RT S
BY: STEVE MARSHALL
Another Run at State
PRESENTED BY
Westmoore Girls Soccer Team Building on Success
T
he Westmoore girls soccer team hopes to build on last year’s outstanding season and get closer to a possible state championship with a solid group returning from a team that went 14-2-1 last year. The Lady Jags had a great season last year, losing only to the eventual state champion Norman North girls in the quarterfinals 1-0 and to Jenks, a team that made it all the way to the semi-finals also by a score of 1-0. Head coach Robert Williams returns for his 13th season as the coach for the Lady Jags. “Some of the keys for this year’s team is we’ve got a lot of experienced, good players coming back,” Williams said. “Kylie Munson signed to play at Oklahoma State. She’ll be at the center back position this year. She’s a great defender and is a leader on a defense that gave up only eight goals all of last year and can put it away on some of the free-kick opportunities.” Williams also talked about some of the other girls he’s counting on to be leaders on this year’s team. “Jocelyn Glitzke is going to be a senior for us. She missed her freshman year after an injury and has gotten better each year since her return. She’s a girl that can control the center-mid and will be an important piece in controlling the midfield for us and setting up scoring opportunities,” Williams said. Celeste Ceballos was the scoring leader for the team last year but wasn’t completely 24 | March 2020
healthy at the end of last year. The team will count on her to be a major contributor this year after scoring eight goals to lead the team from the striker position. Another player to watch will be junior Jadynn Daggs, who added another seven goals from the striker position. The keeper position should be a battle as senior Mya Szymanski, who allowed only eight goals in 17 games, returns as well as Hannah Tillison, who was the starting keeper two years ago but missed last year due to injury. Maddison Hays will be a key piece for the Westmoore defense, but she won’t join the team until the end of basketball season. She’s a starter on the Lady Jags basketball team. Look for senior Channing Jones to return to the team after playing last year in the developmental league. Jones was a starter her freshman and sophomore year and will play at the striker or right back position The girls will go to Tulsa University for a pre-season camp and to Bishop Kelly for one of the big tournaments of the year. “We aren’t as deep as we were last year,” Williams said, “but we’ll be pretty solid in our 14-15 deep.” “We’ll have to be more consistent on the scoring end,” he said. “We have a very stingy defense, but we need to put more shots in the back of the net to be an elite team.” – 19SM
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COM M U N I T Y
BY: CHIP MINTY
House of Pain
Man Dedicates Life to Sports, Young People 28 | March 2020
T
ucked away at the end of a cul-desac in a quiet Norman neighborhood is an unassuming home owned by a man with a common name. But what goes on in that house is anything but normal. In fact, it’s extraordinary. For more than three decades, Bob White has been training athletes in a two-car garage he has converted into an Olympic-style weightlifting gym that’s become known as the “White House of Pain.” The 87-year-old calls it a professional training environment with an extensive list of no-nonsense rules posted on the wall along with scads of photos, clippings and articles from newspapers, magazines and other publications featuring protégés from his gym. Through his Team Metro program, White has trained hundreds of young people over the years, but his walls of fame are reserved for the very best, the Division 1 college athletes, and, yes, the Olympians who have trained in his garage. The mechanical engineer, who trained at the University of Oklahoma in the 1950s, designed and built this gym, using conventions of the age-old sport along with a few of his own innovations. He also has a digital camera and a high-resolution television to film and help hone the skills of young lifters working to perfect the technique, strength and balance that are required in competition. Scuffed and battered with heavy use, his gym is open, free of charge, but it’s not for just anybody. “Someone has to sponsor you in,” White said. “No one has the right to come in. We’re pretty selective. This is not a YMCA, a health club or a cross fit. This is a facility designed to make Olympic-caliber weightlifters.” White has been coaching young people for many years, whether in his gym or on the softball field or baseball diamond, he teaches them the joy of excellence and achievement. But there is much more to his story. He was a scholarship pitcher at OU, and he played semiprofessional baseball as a young man, and has never really lost the drive to play and compete. He worked as a volunteer coach, pitching batting practice for the Soon-
ers for many years, and White still has a mound and a backstop set up in his back yard, where – at 87 – he still strives to throw a 50-mph fastball. But some of his greatest accomplishments have come from his garage, where he still trains for national and international competition. The Oklahoma Weightlifting Hall of Fame member holds titles ranging from national champion in the master’s class to gold medalist in the Pan American Championships. He even has a couple fourth place finishes in the International Weightlifting Federation’s Masters World Games in 2013 and 2017. “My goal right now is to be world champion when I’m 90,” White said. White has recently dealt with heart issues and he has battled prostate cancer, but he doesn’t seem to be concerned. He not only has the drive to compete and the facility for training, he’s assembled a team of doctors and other care givers, such a physical therapist, a masseuse, a chiropractor and even a favorite minister to help his aging body reach his world championship goal. White says his resting heart rate is 64 and his cholesterol level is 157. “Some people would kill to have their cholesterol at 157, but I think it should be a little higher. My doctors tell me it’s fine where it is, so I’m not worried about it.” Long-time friend, former world record holder and two-time Olympian Shane Hamman said his money is on White. “There aren’t many people that are lifting when they’re 90, so if he can still do it when he’s 90, he probably will win, and that would be pretty cool,” Hamman said. Hamman met White in 1996 while working out at the U.S.A. Stars Gym in Norman. At that point, Hamman was already a world class lifter, bound for the Olympics in 2000 and in 2004. He holds the U.S. record for the snatch, the clean and jerk, and, until recently, he held the world record in the squat, which stood at 1,008 pounds. Hamman, of Tulsa, says he’s still considered the strongest man in America. Hamman said he remembers the day he met White. 19th STREET MAGAZINE | 29
“Bob walked up and asked if he could lift with me,” Hamman said. “He explained that he had just beaten cancer, and his doctor told him that he needed to be more active.” “He wasn’t intimidated” Hamman said. “We trained together for about a year and a half. I taught him a lot about lifting, and he taught me a lot about other stuff. It just started a lifelong time together. He’s a pretty remarkable story.” Former OU football player Riley Nolan shares Hamman’s admiration for White. Nolan, OU’s 2016 Scout Team Player of the Year, said he started training in White’s gym while playing high school football at Norman North. “I’ve known him for 14 or 15 years, and he’s happy to help the community, and he has a good heart. He’s a good dude.” Nolan said White worked with him and help him achieve his dream of making the Sooner’s football squad as a walkon, playing center on the practice team, snapping balls for Heisman Trophy winners Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. “He’s like a grandpa,” Nolan said. “If I ever needed him, I could call him any day.” Due to his weightlifting accomplishments, White has been featured in the media many times, including a story on ESPN. But he bristles at the idea that weightlifting is the sum of his identity. A tour of his home illustrates a full life, rich with experiences and interests he shared with his wife, Bonnie, who died in 2019 after 65 years of marriage. He used to drive a Lola T-592s at Okla30 | March 2020
homa’s Hallett Motor Racing Circuit and at other race venues across the country. He’s an artist who has sold paintings at galleries in Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma City and Denver, and he owns a 1976 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. It’s the extended wheelbase model, which he said is very rare, especially in the United States. Another thing he’s proud of is the three decades he spent coaching a women’s church-league softball team from McFarlin United Methodist Church in Norman. He said the team, known as the McFarlin Whites, was so accomplished that he’s campaigning for induction into the Oklahoma Softball Hall of Fame. “We were good,” said Kristin Meier, who played on the team for about 15 years. “He was extremely dedicated to the team.” He would show up to practice early to drag the field before the players arrived, and drills were intense, she said. The team would play double headers on Thursday nights and traveled to tournaments. “It was a wonderful experience. He was gruff at first,” Meier said. “He’s so intense about everything he does, but he loved his players, and there were so many things he said to us that I still remember. He taught us that it was fun to be excellent.” Former OU football player Nolan doesn’t lift as much as he used to, but he still drops by the gym, just to visit. He smiles as he walks through White’s house, full of his paintings and memorabilia. “Bob’s had pretty much the coolest life ever.”– 19SM
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34 | March 2020
Major Milestone Only Part of Coale’s Legacy
I
n the history of Division I women’s basketball, less than 100 coaches have won 500 games. Sherri Coale surpassed the 500 win mark on Feb. 2. But it was more than a historic win. It was a critical road victory against an opponent that had the Sooners down by 22 points at halftime. The Sooners roared out of the locker room and outscored Kansas 29-13 in the third quarter, eventually forcing overtime, when they outscored the Jayhawks to break a four-game losing streak. “In the great scheme of things, our team needed to win a basketball game today and we did,” Coale said. But there’s no doubt that the win was also an important highlight to a legendary career. Coach Coale took a women’s basketball program from the brink of extinction to a Final Four appearance, and then on to compete for a national championship. She has elevated the Sooners to a level of consistent success that is good enough to
land her in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame before her coaching career is even finished. Leave your story better than you found it. That is the foundation of Oklahoma Women’s Basketball under Coale’s leadership. “When a head coach gets recognition, it’s a result of a bunch of great players and a wide array of great staff members through the years. But it’s not just the guys on the floor. It’s the people that get us where we’re going: our office manager, equipment managers, trainer, strength staff,” Coale said. “That recognition goes to a lot of people. Five hundred reflects a lot of great players and a lot of committed staff members. “I’ve been very, very fortunate to be surrounded by amazing people and that’s the only way that happens.” While this historic win meant a lot to the 2019-2020 Sooners, it continues to add to
19th STREET MAGAZINE | 35
one of the great stories in college basketball history. In the spring of 1990, OU was coming off another losing season. The Sooners had finished 7-22 and had an average of 65 fans at home games. OU President Richard Van Horn and Athletic Director Donnie Duncan made the decision to drop the program, saying they wanted to use the funds to bolster other women’s sports. Coale was a coach at nearby Norman High School when she heard the news. There was no way they could shutter the
program, she thought, but the university seemed set on its plan. The reaction was swift and included a campus rally to condemn the decision. A national group prepared to file a lawsuit, advocating for women’s rights as part of a movement focusing on sports as a key element to achieving across-the-board gender equity. The State Senate even passed a resolution, condemning the decision. Threatened with legal action and battered by a national outcry, officials announced one week later that the program would be 36 | March 2020
restored. As the 1996 season approached, it was clear that the OU women’s hoops program was still struggling. In the meantime, Coale had won two state titles at Norman High, which got OU’s attention. So, OU administrators took a chance and made a rare move, hiring a high school coach to run a college program. Onlookers wondered if the job would be too steep of a challenge for Coale. “Everybody had to be convinced,” Coale said. “People inside the program, people
you wanted to bring into your program, people outside the program… we just continued acts of sincerity over and over and over to change the way people saw who we were.” “Coale came in with a plan,” said Marita Hynes, who was OU’s associate athletic director at the time. “She was very specific and effective in showing how she could do it.” Former President David Boren said he was proud of the fact that Sherri Coale was the first coach hired on his watch.
38 | March 2020
“Here we were, about to do away with women’s basketball, and along came Sherri Coale,” Boren said. “It’s the only coaching decision my wife got involved in, as well. The discussion didn’t go on for long before we realized we wanted and needed to sign her up.” Coale gave birth to her second child, her first daughter, Chandler, just two weeks after she got the job. “When you have a job like this, your family has to be a part of your job,” she said. “It’s not, ‘leave it at the office and come home.’ To me that’s impossible, because, with this job, I’m never off.” “If we go to Target to buy school supplies, when people see me, I am still the head women’s basketball coach for the University of Oklahoma, so family has to understand that.” While her family continued to grow, so did the women’s basketball program, but many questioned whether it could ever be changed enough. “It’s really, really challenging to stay at the top,” Coale said. “But I don’t know that there’s anything harder than truly changing a damaged perception.” Through years of hard work and determination, Coale has done that, and her record of success speaks for itself. Since taking the job, Coale’s teams have won six Big 12 regular-season titles and four Big 12 post-season titles. She has been named the Big 12 Coach of the Year on four occasions, and she has made the NCAA Tournament 19 times. In those 19 trips to the Big Dance, Coale has advanced to the Sweet 16 nine times, the Final Four three teams and the NCAA Finals once. However, her former players, those who helped leave the story better than they found it, best tell Coale’s impact. Take Amanda Thompson, a former Sooner standout who played from 2006 to 2010 and is currently a graduate assistant. “From the first moment I met her, I felt that passion to win a championship,” Thompson said. “That’s one of the reasons why I came here. She really wants to win. Her players and her coaching staff are all on the same mission.” When Coale took over, the program had made two tournament appearances in 22
years. The move from irrelevance to elite was not an easy climb, though. “She is Oklahoma basketball,” former Sooner Maddie Manning said. “She made the program what it is. That’s why I went to the University of Oklahoma. That’s why kids go there, to play for Sherri Coale. She’s a Hall of Fame coach and has an unbelievable way of motivating people. I can’t say enough good things about her.” Success and championships helped push the program, but the journey is more than just wins and losses. For Coale, it’s about changing lives. “She’s chasing that championship, but she’s on a mission to change people’s lives,” Manning added. “That’s her biggest thing, affecting anybody that walks through that door in a positive way, and then chasing that championship.” Colton Coale, Sherri Coale’s son and assistant coach the last two seasons, says their players are the top priority. “The kids mean more to her than those wins,” he said. “In her mind, those aren’t her wins… they’re her players wins. I think the wins are just kind of a validation of how she’s touched so many people. She does this thing every day to impact kids and help them figure out who they are. That’s just the lens that she looks through every day and she does a heck of a job of it.” It is amazing to think that a program which was viewed as an afterthought has become such an integral part of OU’s athletic department. Coale is now one of only 33 coaches with 500 wins who are currently active, and only 15 achieved the mark while coaching at a single school for their full career. She has coached 14 WNBA draft picks (six of those were first round picks), 13 All-Americans, seven Big 12 Freshmen of the Year and six Big 12 Players of the Year. She was inducted into the Women’s College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. While 500 career wins serves as an important milestone that represents Coale’s on-the-court success, she believes the impact she’s made on her players, coaches and the sport of women’s basketball is even more meaningful. – 19SM
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BY: LINDSAY CUOMO
Train Smart
Norman Regional Observes National Athletic Training Month
A
thletics are an influential part of our culture. From the court to the gridiron, on the pitch or the diamond, communities across the nation rally behind youth sports. Entire cities and states come together to support their favorite collegiate and professional teams. And, all this recreation is powered by athletes, young and old, competing at various levels.
It should come as little surprise that sports medicine is a fast-growing discipline. In fact, participation in high school sports reached an all-time high during the 2017-2018 season, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Experts expect these numbers to continue to increase. Norman Regional’s Sports Medicine program works with 10 different school districts and area colleges including Moore Public Schools. Their athletic trainers work with schools in a variety of capacities, providing resources for injury prevention programs, rehabilitation and more.
“We have different programs and services for each of the schools we work with,” 44 | March 2020
said Joe Waldron, an athletic trainer for 25 years and manager of the Norman Regional sports medicine program. “We help with the needs of the athletes to keep them healthy and get them back into the game as soon as is safely possible.” In addition to the growing demand, sports medicine has also experienced a renaissance of sorts, Waldron said.
“We know more today than ever before about the long-term effects of injuries, especially head injuries,” Waldron says. “We are so much more educated on what to look for and to test for.” New testing capabilities and injury protocols provide trainers with better guidelines for safe practices, and for recovery.
“It used to be, if an athlete had a head injury, they would have to sit out a certain (number of days) but every kid is different and secondary injuries can be deadly. We need to be very smart about how quickly we let athletes return to play. We now utilize more tests and tools to determine when an athlete is ready.”
Athletic trainers are required to be a jack-ofall-trades, Waldron said, addressing a variety of needs for the athletes under their care.
“We have a lot of training in different areas. We have training in nutrition and rehab,” Waldron said. “We are a combination of all of the medical trades, so we can help the athlete as a whole.” Waldron says conditioning plays an important role, especially in preventing future injury.
“Many times, an athlete’s body isn’t ready for the conditions. They come out not prepared physically and have a tendency to overheat, strain muscles or break bones.”
Waldron recommends young athletes participate in a variety of sports.
“Participation in different sports trains your body kinesthetically,” Waldron says. “Every sport uses the body in a different way. Let kids play every sport they want to play and then specialize later on if that’s what they want to do.”
But, perhaps even more importantly, Waldron said players should listen to their bodies. “Make sure you understand what your body is trying to tell you,” he said. “If you aren’t able to do what you were able to
do, that is an indicator you should (see a doctor).” And, when it comes to head injuries, Waldron said it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
“There are no heroes when it comes to head injuries,” Waldron cautioned. “We can fix knees, elbows, shoulders but we can’t fix heads.”
Norman Regional recently welcomed Ortho Central to its family of physicians and practices who are under the Norman Regional Health System umbrella of care. Ortho Central is composed of four orthopedic surgeons as well as a sports medicine physician. Through its new partnership with Ortho Central, Norman Regional assists various state sporting organizations including the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, providing doctors and specialists during championships and other events throughout the state. To learn more about Norman Regional’s sports medicine or orthopedic programs, visit www.NormanRegional.com. – 19SM
