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This Sellers personal story of Sports Legend Billy Bock who was Head Coach of the South's Gold Medal winning team in the 1986 USA Olympic Festival in Houston, TX. USA Today voted him Coach of the Decade and later Collegiate Magazine voted him Coach of the Century. Billy was a Champion in 5 sports. As a coach for 44 years, he never had a losing season.
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. Brother 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."
Also, have stories on my TITANIC and WOMAN SUFFRAGE PAGES.