Blackhawk baseball is a winning tradition, but it nearly wasn't an option for Pea Ridge athletes.
Nearly 30 years ago when he was hired as a football coach for Pea Ridge High School, John E. King was told to coach baseball, too. Soon after he arrived, the school superintendent told him that baseball would be cut because of costs.
Two Blackhawks baseball players have gone on to play professional ball — Brett Reynolds and Matt Samples. Reynolds was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 17th round of the 2006 drafts and played for three years — 2006-2008 — for the Missoula Osprey in the Pioneer League. Samples was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 49th round of the 2009 June draft, but chose to go to college. He was drafted by the Diamondbacks in the 28th round of the 2011 June draft. He played for Missoula in 2011, South Bend in 2012, and South Bend and Visalia in 2013. He was not on a team in 2014, but was picked by by the American Association Joplin Blasters in 2015. He is not on a roster this year.
"When I got here, before we even started playing, the superintendent said he had to make cuts," King said.
"I was kind of naive when I first got into this business," King said, explaining that when mid-way through baseball season the superintendent announced he was cutting baseball, he assured King he could coach track, too.
"As school ended that year, there was no baseball program," King recalled. "But, he (superintendent Bill Alverez) reevaluated; he said he would find a way. The next year, we had a real good group and went on to win a state championship."
Over that summer in 1987, parents of baseball players got together and told school officials they would find a way to fund the program. That determination saved Blackhawk baseball and began a winning tradition.
In 1988, the team record was 8-7, barely a winning season, but the wins increased and the losses decreased over the next three decades under King's tutelage.
In the ensuing 29 years, the Blackhawks -- and coach King -- have not had a losing season.
In 1989, Blackhawk baseball record was 22-3 and the Blackhawks won conference, district, regional and state. In 1994, the Blackhawks were runners up in state.
"We're very fortunate ever since to have a community that backs all of its athletic programs and baseball is definitely included in that," King said. "That has continued even as we have grown."
King, a native of Charleston, had been in the ROTC during college and owed the military time. He said when he finished his college and military, he wanted to be a football coach and had a mutual friend with Kevin Miller who was a coach in Pea Ridge at the time.
King, who played football and baseball in high school, spent his time in ROTC during college at Arkansas Tech University where he earned a degree in health and physical education.
"My football coaches were kind of big in my life. I had a good relationship with them. Still to this day, with one of them, I go on a father-son retreat," he said.
King still coaches football, too. Over the past 29 years in Pea Ridge has been offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and assistant junior high coach.
His assistant coach, Matt Easterling, coaches both baseball and football.
Someone commented that during baseball season, King shows intensity and Easterling is laid back, but that's reversed during football season.
King said he believes in the four Fs: fundamentals, fair, firm and fun. "Hopefully fun comes when we win," he said.
"I prefer to do my coaching during practice," King said, when asked about his style of coaching. "When it's time for the tame, you can still get on to them, but you've got to do your work during practice. If you're going to show up at a game yelling and screaming, you have to wonder if you've prepared them. You need to give them as much responsibility as possible."
"When I was a younger coach, I was probably more vocal," King said. "But, just by experience, I realized this (yelling) is doing no good. It's not helping any, so we keep working them hard in practice. At a game, you realize they're out there, they're going to be trying their best."
"A bunch of grinders" is how King described his team. "They're not going to give up. That's the thing athletics is supposed to teach us."
King said sports teaches life skills, like perserverence, explaining that he tells his athletes that they must learn to make the best of a situation they're in and that even when they have a job they don't like, they should perservere.
As for the 2016 season, King said, "I was very pleased with the season; we lost eight quality seniors off of last year's team. I think all of the other coaches, teachers at school, prepared those eight to be successful in life.
"This year's players have a lot of big shoes to fill. Our seniors this year did a great job filling in and showing good leadership ... We can't just fall into the trap of listening to everybody who tells you how good you're going to be next year ... we should have a good solid core. If we don't improve, we're not going to get better. All five of this year's juniors are pushed by younger kids to take their spots," he said, referring to the 2017 team to come.
"From our end of it," King said, "we're trying to teach life skills."
He said he was disappointed they lost the regional tournament game, but it's not going to make them quit and throw their hands up.
"When you get out in the work force, whether right out of high school or college, it's tougher working your way up to the top. Hopefully, we have taught them -- not only in athletics, the teachers in school are preparing them, too -- that it's not just given to you. You're going to have to work for it."
There were three seniors on this year's team and, ironically, two of them -- Bryce Beckmann and Gage Cawthon -- failed to make the team in the ninth-grade tryouts.
"But, they came back out the next year and made the team. That's what teaches life skills. You're going to have to work for it."
King praised the young men's fortitude, their drive.
"I probably spend more waking moments with them (his athletes) than their parents," he said. And, having his own son on the team is an interesting dynamic.
"I'm probably more unfair to him than I am the others," King said of his son, Garrett, explaining that with tryouts there are nine skills that are assessed, with two of them subjective. He said his assistant coach, Matt Easterling, ranked Garrett higher than he did.
"Pea Ridge has been very good to me.
"I couldn't have found a better place to work and live," King said.
"I enjoy being around kids," King said, when asked about retirement. "I don't know how long I'll be able to keep runing at the rate I'm running, coaching three sports."
Sports on 05/18/2016