THIS SELLERS PERSONAL STORY ABOUT AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FRIEND, BILLY BOCK,  WHO BECAME A BASEBALL SPORTS LEGEND.--- HIGH SCHOOL  AND COLLEGE BASEBALL USA TODAY COACH OF DECADE FOR 1980S AND THEN COACH OF THE CENTURY.-- 44 YEARS WITHOUT A LOSING SEASON---HE WAS ALSO A CHAMPION IN 5 SPORTS. IN SEVERAL HALLS OF FAME. -- He was the 1986 Head Coach of the "Gold Medal" winning South Team in the USA Olympic Festival in Houston, TX.

I went through Holy Redeemer Catholic grade school with Billy Bock in Clarksville, AR. He was a grade behind me and had a reputation of "pooping" in his pants. During recess one day while in the 2nd or 3rd grade we were on the playground wrestling. He got the better of me and sat on my head. He had done it again, and it sure did stink! You remember things like that.

Our school was one room with grades 1 through 8 and heated with a coal stove in winter. When you wanted to go to the toilet, you raised your hand and held out one finger or two (you know what that means) and Sister would give you permission. You had to go outside to the rear corner of the building where there was a tiny boy-and-girl toilet that only had a commode in it.

Around the end of grade school Billy and I joined the Clarksville Boxing Club coached by the famous O.D. Hightower (He later moved to El Paso and coached at a YMCA which was named after him when he died). Clarksville had one of the best boxing clubs in the state. Leon and I had boxing gloves and boxed each other in our back yard on Thompson Street. When Dad saw him knock me down a couple of times, he took the gloves away from us, and we did not use them again against each other.

Sometime later Billy, who lived a few blocks away, came to our home on Louise Street, and we used our boxing gloves to box in the basement of our house on a hill. One time he had me backed up against the door. Every time he jabbed me, the back of my head would hit the door. Got a double whammy! Billy and I usually worked out together at the Club located in the basement of the large Presbyterian church near us. I was more his punching bag as he was very athletic. He used to criticize me for clinching or holding too much. I did this to keep from getting hit too much. This went on for a short time until I developed a serious case of Acne, which lasted for about 4 years, so I had to quit. If I had been able to train longer with Billy, he probably would have helped me become a pretty good boxer. This was the end of my sports participation for the next several decades (I was the Tennessee State Bicycle champion in 1988, and in 2002 I ran my first and last marathon at age 69 in the first St. Jude Memphis Marathon).

Billy went on to much greater honors. After grade school he enrolled at the Subicaco Academy for the next 4 years. Several years later another kid, Billy Dave Wofford, attended the same two schools and became a Major General and head of the Arkansas Army National Guard. Served for 43 years. His parents were our very best friends. In boxing Billy was a five-time State Golden Gloves Champion, Mid-South Champion, and AAU Champion. He sparred with Muhammad Ali when he was Cassius Clay. Billy was a four-year letterman and Champion  in football, basketball, baseball, track, and tennis and five years in boxing. He was named Arkansas High School Coaches Association (AHSCA) Baseball Coach of the Year nine times (1967, 1974, 1983–85, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1995) and District Coach of the Year 18 times. He was nationally recognized as well. Collegiate Baseball and USA Today named him Coach of the Decade for the 1980s and then Coach of the Century. As a coach for 44 years, he never had a losing season. He was honored twice by the Arkansas Legislature and twice had a "Billy Bock Day" in Arkansas proclaimed by then Governor Bill Clinton. Check Wikipedia for his many other awards and accomplishments.

Billy's son, Kirk, followed him as a super successful coach. As a baseball coach, he won over 600 games and many Championships. He was named National Coach of the Year in 2005.  Kirk's son, Garrett, is now a high school head coach in Hot Springs, AR. His father expects Garrett to be a better coach than he or his grandfather.

Billy died of cancer in 2003 at age 68. Funeral services were held in Pine Bluff, AR, and he is buried in the Holy Redeemer Catholic Cemetery in Clarksville, AR  by U.S. Highway 64.  There is a burial plot there reserved for me next to my Mom and Dad. All they will get is my ashes. Billy's grave is several rows up on the right.

P.S. After Billy died, I told his pretty and super nice wife, Jo Ann West Bock, at an old class reunion about his "pooping." She laughed and said, "Oh, I wish I had known about that."