A roundtable of former coaches is one of the items planned for the 2016 IBCA Spring Clinic. This year’s panel features a trio of coaches – Jack Colescott, Myron Dickerson and Bob Kirkhoff – who will offer their expertise on building programs that stand the test of time.
Here is more info on each of the panelists.
Jack Colescott
Jack Colescott coached at Swayzee and Marion high schools, compiling a varsity record of 216-122 over 14 seasons that included championships of six sectionals, four regionals and two semistates. His teams made the State Finals in 1968, falling to Indianapolis Shortridge by two points, and in 1969, falling to eventual champion Indianapolis Washington by one point.
Colescott was an outstanding athlete at Gas City High School, graduating in 1948 in the school’s final year before it was consolidated with Jonesboro to become Mississinewa. He then enrolled at Indiana Central College in Indianapolis, where he earned four letters each in basketball and baseball. He won the Brenneman Sportsmanship Award his senior year at Indiana Central. He also earned a master’s degree in secondary education from Ball State in 1960.
After graduating from Indiana Central in 1952, Colescott returned to his native Grant County where he served as head basketball coach at Swayzee High School for eight seasons. In 1961, he took a “Giant” leap from Swayzee to Marion High School, serving as freshman coach for one year, varsity assistant for three years and varsity head coach for six years. As the Marion head coach, he led the Giants to a 122-37 record and two State Finals berths in six seasons.
Colescott served as athletic director at Marion from 1970-76. During his tenure as athletic director, the Giants won state basketball championships in 1975 and 1976. Colescott’s son, David, was named Indiana’s Mr. Basketball and won the coveted Arthur L. Trester Mental Attitude Award in 1976.
Colescott returned to Marion as an assistant coach from 1980-96 for Bill Green and Dan Gunn. After retiring from Marion as a teacher in 1996, Colescott was an assistant coach for his son-in-law Glenn Heaton at Fort Wayne North from 1996-2000 and at Mississinewa from 2002-07.
In total, Colescott coached basketball for 53 years and coached baseball for 32 years. He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997 and into the Grant County Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
Colescott and his wife, Marge, have four adult children – Linda, Nancy, Susan and David.
Myron Dickerson
Myron Dickerson compiled a 380-158 record in 26 seasons as a varsity boys’ basketball coach in Indiana, guiding Connersville to the 1972 state championship.
A 1952 graduate of Perry Central High School in Boone County, Dickerson attended Ball State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1956 and a master’s degree in 1962.
Dickerson began his coaching career at Royerton High School (now part of Delta), serving as an assistant coach from 1956-59 in basketball, track and cross country. He then became the school’s head basketball coach for seven years (1959-66), guiding the team to a 129-37 mark, three Delaware County titles and an undefeated season in 1961. He also was head coach for cross country and baseball.
Dickerson moved to Connersville, where he was varsity basketball coach from 1966-72, leading the Spartans to 93 victories, five sectional crowns and the ’72 state championship. He then became coach at Muncie Northside, guiding the Titans to a 158-68 mark that included four Olympic Conference championships and a semistate appearance in 1975 during a 10-season span from 1972-82.
Dickerson was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.
Bob Kirkhoff
Bob Kirkhoff amassed a 324-112 record in 20 seasons as the varsity girls’ basketball coach at Roncalli.
Kirkhoff coached grade-school boys’ teams for more than 20 years in the Catholic Youth Organization program when he was asked to take over the Roncalli girls’ program in 1981.
Kirkhoff is a 1953 graduate of Cathedral High School, where he averaged 10 points per game and was an honorable mention all-City player. He then attended St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, where he played basketball for two years.
During his tenure with the Rebels, Kirkhoff’s teams won nine Indianapolis City Tournaments, eight sectionals, four regionals and one semistate, advancing to the 1986 State Finals. His led his 1994-95 squad to a runner-up finish in the Hall of Fame Classic.
He was named City Coach of the Year three times and he served as an assistant coach for the 1993 Indiana All-Stars. Three of his Roncalli players were named to the Indiana All-Star team and seven of his players were recognized as all-state.
After stepping down as Roncalli’s head coach in 2001, he later served as an assistant coach for three years at Franklin Central, one year at Bishop Chatard and four additional years at Roncalli.
Kirkhoff was honored with the Jan Brown Award from the Marion County Coaches of Girls Sports Association in 2004, the Owen J. Bush Award from the Indianapolis Oldtimers’ Club in 2005 and a Virgil Sweet Award from the IBCA in 2008. He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.
