Showing respect yields winning teams again and again

Coaching alongside "one of the most winningest coaches in Northwest Arkansas" -- coach John E. King -- is a dream come true for assistant coach Matt Easterling who was a student athlete on King's team in the late 1990s.

King and his Blackhawks have 495 wins on their record in King's 29-year career, all at Pea Ridge.

"He's definitely the most successful coach in Pea Ridge history," said Easterling, a member of the 1994 team that won district, regional and runner-up in state.

Easterling graduated from Pea Ridge High School in 1997, attended Williams Baptist College, then went to work for East Newton in Missouri. After about three years there, he received a call from his former coach, King, asking him if he wanted to come back to Pea Ridge.

Easterling admits he didn't hesitate, but didn't have time to tell his wife before accepting the job.

"I always said if I went anywhere, it would be back to Pea Ridge," he said.

"In a large sense, he (King) was a major influence.

"Baseball was my passion and coach King and I had a very strong relationship," Easterling said, adding that the relationship continues today and is more like family. He recalled that when he attended school, Pea Ridge didn't own the baseball fields at Blackjack corner and several parents as well as coach King worked to make it possible. "They all went together to buy that property. They held baseball tournaments to help pay for it."

"I spent my entire career on the Weston Street fields," Easterling said.

Easterling says his entire family are baseball fanatics, saying that his grandparents still have season tickets to Razorbacks baseball games.

King was Easterling's seventh-grade football coach and then his baseball coach throughout his high school career.

"Back then, there were only three coaches -- coach King, Kevin Miller and Larry Walker. They were all tough to play for. They had high expectations."

Easterling said King has a very good sense of potential in a young athlete and will push them to reach that potential.

"As you continue, and stick with it, you just build a bond. You start to realize that he's not out to get you, but wants you to be successful," he recalled of his years as a student athlete.

Both King and Easterling still work side by side in baseball and football.

"Our communication is pretty good. Even when he's on third and I'm on first, offensively, we know what the other is thinking," Easterling said.

"It would be very easy for me to point to all the championships we've been a part of, but as a player, obviously the '94 season was special to be a part of," Easterling said.

"He's been my coach, my mentor and one of my best friends," Easterling said." We're just with each other all the time and how many people get to say that about their coach they had in high school?"

Over the past three decades, Easterling has seen King mellow in insignificant ways, such as whether to allow facial hair or require sleeves under uniforms. But, Easterling said, his passion for baseball and excellence has not abated.

"Pea Ridge was one of the first schools to pick up baseball in this area so we picked up kids from Rogers who moved to Pea Ridge to play ball," Easterling recalled.

Baseball, though a team sport, is a highly individualized sport, too, Easterling explained, adding that each player has to work for the common good of the team.

"Baseball is just an amazingly wonderful life sport," Easterling said. "The hardest thing to do is hit a baseball -- the pitcher is throwing a round object that the batter has to hit with another round object squarely and make it land in a spot of territory that allows him to go 90 feet without getting thrown out."

"Coach E," as he's called by the students, said respect is the key to King's relationship with the students. "He has an uncanny ability to get kids to believe. I think that's what makes him special -- he shows them respect. He's got high expectations."

Easterling said people watching a game only see the competitive side of King, but that at practice and in other situations, King is softer, joking and more compassionate with the students.

A particularly funny moment, Easterling recalled, was when King argued with the umpire and later realized he was wrong. He said it was in either 2006 or 2007 when Randon Webb was batting. Explaining that baseball rules vary whether it's high school or summer league, Easterling said that the ball had hit the catcher's glove and yet Webb hit a home run. King argued that the home run should count. Unfortunately, that rule applied to summer ball, not high school ball.

"The umpire told Coach King he was wrong. King jumped in the air and said 'Don't tell me I'm wrong,'" Easterling said, remembering that King told him to look up the rule. After researching the rules, Easterling had to tell King he was wrong. "I was afraid of that," King responded.

"Both Matt and (his brother) Michael played under King," Randy Easterling said. "It was a good experience. They really excelled under him. I think he's one of the best baseball coaches in the state."

"It's been a pleasure being around him," said the brothers' father, Randy Easterling. (Their mother is Pam.) "It's been a pleasure to watch him coach; I've seen him take teams that weren't very good talent-wise and make something good out of them. He has done that time after time. He has taken good teams all the way to the state championship, won once and finals twice."

School superintendent Rick Neal said King's career at Pea Ridge is well documented and that King continues to build on that.

"I've known John over 20 years. He's an excellent baseball coach and an excellent part of the community. The best part about John is he is a wonderful teacher. He is a wonderful coach of cross country, baseball and football. The thing I admire most about John is he's a great father."

Coach E and his wife, Gina, have two children, Andrew, 10, and Allie, 8.

Sports on 05/25/2016