Bristol's Bill Bingham - and other great coaches of mine who never coached me

A while back, I was sent the following message from a friend; “Charles Collins, a long-time educator, coach, and school board member in Russell County, is a big fan of your column. He’d like for you to call him.”

I called Mr. Collins, and we proceeded to talk for the better part of an hour. I found out he is old enough to be my father but has the energy of my son. Mr. Collins taught high school and coached for many years, then became an elected school board member in Russell County for six consecutive terms.

Mr. Collins was perhaps most widely known as “Coach” Collins, rather than as “Mr.”, so I will refer to him within this particular column as such from hereon.

During our lengthy phone call (in which time flew by) Coach Collins and I happily discussed several topics in that highly reminiscent mode that all old men do. In particular, we discussed the topic of a couple of old Mountain Empire-area high school ball coaches.

Several minutes into our lively and warm conversation, I remarked to my new friend, “Coach Collins, you remind me so much of someone you likely met at some time in your life. Someone filled with endless energy and enthusiasm about sports, like you; the old Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett basketball and golf coach, Buck Van Huss.

I detected a moment of silence on the other end. Then Coach Collins reverently and joyously replied, “I loved Coach Van Huss. I would take my kids from Castlewood to his basketball camps each summer when I could. We learned so much about discipline and fundamentals from him.”

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Then I told this good man how he reminded me of yet another role model coach from my youth (yet again, someone who had never coached me personally). I said, “Coach Collins, there’s another fellow that comes to my mind as I talk with you.” (Coach Collins and I indeed had a good talk. Yes, a warm and meaningful talk, the kind with a lot of meat on the bones.) “This man’s name was Charlie Bayless, and he coached both basketball and golf at Happy Valley High School in Elizabethton.”

Again, I heard nothing but silence for a moment. Then I could have sworn that Coach Collins nearly cried when he began to speak again. I could feel the emotion in his voice, even through the phone. “When I was a student at Milligan College, Coach Bayless was my coaching supervisor. He taught me more about how to mold young people through sports than maybe anyone I ever knew. He was an absolute master at it. He especially liked molding the ones who were a bit rowdy and in trouble. And in my teaching and coaching career, so did I. You gain so much satisfaction from helping young people like that get on the right track.”

My own personal experiences with Coach Van Huss and Coach Bayless were not as numerous as those held by new friend, Coach Collins, but they were every bit as memorable to me.