Ron Reed, who coached area basketball teams on the high school and college level for a remarkable 48 years, died Thursday morning after a prolonged battle with Parkinson’s. He was 79.
I was privileged to know Coach Reed as a friend, as a coach who I interviewed many times and even as a parent when he coached Rose Hill Christian School for one season when my son was a freshman. What I always saw from him who was a man whose imprint was stamped on many young people in the area.
He was driven to teach fundamental basketball and taught it the only way he knew how – with what I would call compassionate toughness. He was straight to the point, did not play favorites and put up with zero nonsense. Ever. Some loved him, some hated him. He never strayed from his values. Unbreakable. But for those who loved him, they were loyal to him, and it showed on the basketball floor. Some jokingly called him “Bobby Knight Light” for his way of working players hard – extra hard some would say – but without the bad language.
In fact – and this is what impressed me most about Ron Reed – he was an unapologetic Christian. He was a believer who wore it on his sleeve. Now, I have seen him mad coaching – so mad he would almost shake, and his face would turn blood red – but even with that he never lost his witness for God. He called on me several times to speak at his Fellowship of Christian Athletes basketball camps that he worked all over the state.
He cut his coaching teeth on the football field with legendary Tom Sims at McKell High School where he was an assistant for those great 1966-68 Bulldog teams that featured Don Gullett, Tom Wright, and others. Ron was also a storyteller. Here is one from that first season when he was an assistant at McKell, the start of his nearly half century coaching odyssey that included basketball, baseball and football.
McKell was preparing for the season opener against Anderson County in the prestigious Recreation Bowl in 1966. Reed, a new assistant wanting to make an impression, asked Coach Sims if he wanted him to go to Anderson County and watch them practice for a scouting report. Sims agreed that could be valuable information.
Ron borrowed a press pass from friend David Reed (no relation), who was working for the Ashland Daily Independent as a sportswriter. Tiny Roberts, Billy Webb and one of their friends went with Reed to Lawrenceburg for a look at the opponent.
Ron introduced himself to the patrons at the local restaurant as a reporter for the ADI. He told them he was putting out a football preview and one of the area schools was playing in the Recreation Bowl. Anderson County was preseason ranked and had a veteran team, led by All-State linebacker Billy Ware. Reed and his crew went to practice and an assistant coach from Anderson County came over and asked what they were doing. Reed pulled out his press pass, and the coach unwittingly let them stay.
Ron said he and Tiny watched the offense and Billy concentrated on defense, all taking mental notes. On the ride back after the practice, Billy talked about Ware “being the real thing” and when it came to talk about the offense, Ron said the squirrely friend interrupted and asked the group, “Would this help?” and pulled out from underneath his shirt a plastic folder. It was Anderson County’s playbook that he found on the front steps of the school.
Ron gave the scouting report and playbook to an appreciative Coach Sims and the Bulldogs defeated Anderson County 9-6 in the 1966 Recreation Bowl.
Years later, David Reed became the sports editor for the Herald Leader in Lexington. He wrote a scathing column about the price of winning and knew of a coach in eastern Kentucky who used false press credentials to scout an opponent. Ron said David never mentioned the details, or culprits, of the scheme.
Ron was later an assistant basketball coach at Ole Miss under Bob Knight-disciple Bob Weltlich, known as “Kaiser Bob” because of his toughness on players including a memorably brutal practice on Christmas Day after a bad road showing. Ron was later the head coach at Milligan College and then coached Anderson County (football), McKell (baseball), Lawrence County, Raceland, Russell (boys and girls), Rose Hill in basketball on the Kentucky high school level and in Chesapeake and Minford in Ohio. He coached on the college level at Ohio University Southern and Kentucky Christian University, retiring in 2015 after 48 years of coaching. It is an amazing legacy.
While he did not win any state championships, what he did was far more important. The life lessons impacted his players not just for a season but for a lifetime. Ron Reed was more than a basketball coach. He was a life coach. Those who followed his advice have been successful long after their playing days.
I appreciated his Christian witness at all his coaching stops where I was involved as a reporter. He had the support of a loving wife, Joan, a beautiful person who had the job of consoling Ron after tough losses. He had a few and none tougher than the 16th Region championship game between Russell and Ashland that went to double overtime in 1993. A referee waved off a last-second basket by the Red Devils in regulation that would have won the game that the Tomcats took 80-70. I am not sure he ever got over that one. He was not upset for his own sake, but for the players. It was always about the players who were like extended family.
Ron Reed had a fierce passion for God, family, basketball, and life. Make no mistake, wife Joan, their daughters Joan-Michael and Holly, and the grandchildren were the light of his life. But he loved seeing his players succeed after their playing days and many of them stayed in touch with him throughout their lives. On his 70th birthday, Joan put together a birthday party and several members of his Anderson County team from the early 1970s showed up as did players from other coaching stops. They loved their coach, who was tough on them for their own good.
The “pukers” in Coach Reed’s preseason training are the stuff of legends. At Rose Hill, he ran the players hard and they had to “earn” their jerseys. But only three “earned” them by completing the “puker” runs. The “pukers” were suicide drills – 60 in 60 minutes. They ran 15 per quarter, where there was a break, and had timeouts that the team decided on together. If they missed the time, they started over. Players ran until they vomited, and he always said that he would mop it up (he was true to his word at Rose Hill). My son was one of three Royals who made it through the gauntlet. But that was one season that Reed had to change his rule. Playing teams 3 on 5 would not have worked at Rose Hill. We had enough of a problem with 5 on 5.
We started three freshmen and lost more than we won (6-19 or something close). But I guarantee those who played that season remember Ron Reed fondly and those “puker drills” not so fondly. He was honest with his players. Before the Royals played Ashland in the district tournament, there was no David vs. Goliath story. He told them they were going to lose but could still play hard and leave with pride. They did lose and they did play hard. Attitude and effort were paramount in his coaching philosophy.
It was never about winning and losing, although he loved winning as much as anybody. Reed gauged how his players were improving and not just on the basketball floor. How were they improving as a young man? That is what mattered.
Ron Reed was an outstanding coach who prepared young men for life with lessons from the game. His life was full of adventures and his impact on young lives will last for generations. His was a life well-lived indeed. Keep his family in your prayers.
Services for Ron will be Tuesday at Fairview Baptist Church in Westwood with visitation at 11 a.m. and the service at 1 p.m.
MARK MY WORDS 2 