Drury community mourns loss of Bill Harding, former head basketball coach and Director of Athletics

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Bill Harding, considered by many the architect of the modern Drury University men’s basketball program who also guided the formation of a nationally-competitive athletics program for the college, passed away on Monday at the age of 89. 

Harding was the Panthers’ head basketball coach for six seasons (1965-71) and its athletic director/administrator for the remainder of his tenure. He retired from Drury in May of 1988, shortly after his induction into the Drury Sports Hall of Fame.  At that time, such an honor was unprecedented. No other Drury coach/athletic administrator had ever been so recognized. The Drury Board of Trustees, however, felt the honor was appropriate in recognition of his contributions over four decades to the Drury community and the Panther athletics program. It was Harding himself who established the Drury Sports Hall of Fame early in his coaching tenure with the Panthers.

Harding stepped down from his head basketball coaching duties after six seasons in 1971 with a career record of 119-44 losses, good for a .730 winning percentage.  At the time, he trailed only the venerable A.L. Weiser in total wins. Harding’s first Drury team in 1965-66 turned in a 13-1 league record to bring Drury its first MCAU championship in 28 years. On his home court (Weiser Gym), Harding was almost unbeatable, winning 65 out of 74 games.  His teams dominated the MCAU (Missouri College Athletic Union), winning five conference titles in six years.  The Harding-led Panthers never lost a home conference game, and three of his teams qualified for the NAIA National Tournament: 1968, 1970, and 1971.  His 1968 team advanced to the national quarterfinals. 
 
A native of Nixa, Missouri, Harding began his association with Drury in 1950. He was a four-year basketball letterman for coach Weiser, graduating in 1954.  Harding earned his Master’s degree from Drury in 1964. Following his college career, he spent three seasons as a high school coach at Nixa before moving on to Buffalo (Mo.) High School, where he was the head coach for four years.  In 1962, he began three highly-successful seasons at Springfield Parkview, during which his teams won 76 of 84 games.  In 1965, the Parkview Vikings, affectionately known as the “Jolly Green Giants,” won the Missouri Class L state championship, at the time the only state basketball title ever recorded by a Springfield public high school.
 
After that 10-year prep career, Harding arrived on the Drury campus and began to build the Drury athletics program and, in particular, the Panthers’ men’s basketball program into one of the most nationally-respected programs in the nation.  His vision of nationally-competitive teams with student-athletes who placed equal emphasis on academic achievement was the philosophy he brought to Drury in 1965.  

“A Drury athlete must have three qualities,” he stated early in his Drury coaching career.  “They first must be solid students, capable of earning a college degree; they must have the talent to keep us competitive with the best. Finally, we want our athletes to be the kind of people who will become campus leaders and ultimately civic leaders and successful adults.”

That approach remains the cornerstone of Drury athletics to this day and the motto “Excellence In Athletics and Academics” remains the Drury Way since Harding’s arrival in the fall of 1965.  

Former Drury president, Dr. John E. Moore, fondly remembers his colleague and friend. 

“Coach Bill Harding was on the search committee in 1983 that interviewed me for the president’s position at Drury,” said Dr. Moore. “After we met and he talked to several mutual friends, he told the committee that, besides being an Ozarks native, ‘I could certainly sell cows at the Nixa sales barn.’  Such was Bill’s endorsement and his down-to-earth, practical, common-sense way of dealing with things. We were colleagues for about five years before his retirement and became good friends, fishing the James River together and hunting quail on occasion. We maintained our friendship over the years as he raised racing greyhounds, cattle, and kept continuing close ties to Drury athletics. 

“I always appreciated Bill’s perspective and sound counsel and he leaves a remarkable legacy as a great coach and athletic administrator at Drury.” 

Mark Stillwell was a junior at Drury in 1965 when Harding came across town to take over Panther basketball. 

“Coach Harding didn’t have an assistant coach his first year (a job that eventually went to Edsel Matthews),” Stillwell recalls. “But he did have some excellent local talent from Parkview in Ryan Galli, Steve Grace, Larry O’Reilly, and Gail Fredrick; and, the next year, he added Virgle Fredrick and Steve Hutchinson from Parkview and we were off and running. His first year, I remember we won by 20 in a league game at Culver-Stockton on our first road trip after having lost by 30 at Culver the previous season. That 50-point turnaround against one opponent on the road in 10 months opened some eyes around the league.”  

Stillwell returned from Navy active duty in 1970 to become Drury’s first full-time sports information director and notes that Harding established the first Drury basketball booster club and oversaw the addition of the sport of baseball and the hiring of Jack Steck to start a swimming program. Steck took Drury to its first national title in 1981, and Drury swimming eventually became one of the nation’s premier programs.

Dr. Edsel Matthews coached alongside Harding during historic seasons as Parkview and Drury. Matthews then guided the Panthers basketball program from 1971-78 with Harding serving as the Director of Athletics. 

“As a basketball coach, Bill Harding made men out of boys and taught them how to be successful on and off the court,” Matthews said. “He had great teams at Buffalo and coached the Parkview Jolly Green Giants in the 1960’s to a state championship and one of the best teams ever in the Ozarks. At Drury, coach Harding turned the basketball program around, making it a national contender in the mid-1960’s. He added sports that put Drury on the map at a national level. On a personal level, he gave me my first coaching position at Parkview and later the opportunity to coach and work at Drury.” 

Gail Fredrick played for Harding at Parkview and at Drury, and the member of the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame, and Drury Panthers Athletics Hall of Fame, credits Harding for a lasting influence in his life and the lives of his teammates. 

“He was not only a great coach but a great mentor,” said Fredrick. “He taught us the game of basketball in addition to life lessons in hard work, dedication, and commitment. His approach to the basketball program and to his players was the same as his approach to life in that he expected us to work hard. Those were life lessons that I carried with me, and they influenced me and a lot of us for a lifetime. Coach Harding was like a second father to us. He cared deeply about his players and was determined to see us be successful on the court and in life.” 

Larry O’Reilly was also a member of Harding’s basketball teams in the 1960’s at Drury and Parkview High School. A 1969 Drury graduate, O’Reilly is the Vice Chairman of the Board of O’Reilly Automotive, Inc., has served on the Drury’s Board of Trustees and the Trustees Athletics Committee.

“In my life, as in the lives of many, you come in contact with someone special to you,” O’Reilly said. “A person that you can go to for advice, ask for comfort, discuss things that are troubling. Well, for me, my dear friend, coach and just a special person was Bill Harding. I can honestly say that he helped shape my life. And over the years, it became more clear to me his impact on me. Words really can’t capture his importance. 

“One other person has his special place in my heart – my dad. What they shared together for me was a great role model. You just need to follow those examples. Oh yes, both full of life and a great sense of humor. Many wonderful memories of winning and losing. 

“Bill will always have a very special spot in my heart. It was not long ago (a few weeks) that he called and wanted me to stop by and see him. I said, ‘you bet!’ I could tell it was important to him. He had something to say. He wanted for me to know after all these years that he had seen himself in me, that my personality mirrored his. I was shocked and surprised and so grateful for his words. He meant it. I will never forget that day. It was this year!!! He always stayed in contact. I was always excited to see him. For me, he’s the Man of the Century.”

Information on a memorial service for Harding will be added to this piece and the Drury Athletics social media outlets when they are made available. 

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This article is provided by Drury University Athletics
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