By: Danny May
In today’s society, anyone who stays at his or her job 30 consecutive years is an anomaly. Bob Mantooth is someone who has hit that mark in full stride and seems to have plenty of innings left in his tenure as head coach of the Apollo Eagles’ Baseball team.
“I just feel so blessed to be able to continue to coach this game of baseball that I love so much,” says Mantooth, showing it all across his face. He is very gracious in accepting the Kidcentric “Coach of the Year” award, but he’s also quick to acknowledge that he could not have coached all those years without the support of his wife, Sheree, and all the great people at Apollo. Most importantly, he says “The Lord has blessed me and put me here at Apollo for a reason, and all I can say about me is I’ve just been fortunate.”
Fortunate for sure! But although the Eagle baseball team did make it to the state tournament again this season, the Kidcentric “Coach of the Year” recognition was not given based on wins and losses. No, this award was based on something much more important than state title runs– Mantooth’s character as a coach and the values he passes on to his players.
All those years in the clubhouse have given Mantooth plenty of time for his coaching style to grow and develop. Starting with his first head coaching job at Webster County, which he got when he was 22 and fresh out of college, Mantooth learned early on that coaching is about much more than just teaching the skills involved in baseball. He credits his college coach at Murray State University, John Reagan, with being a great example of that. “Coach Reagan taught us more than baseball. He taught us about being young men. I’ve always tried to apply that into my own coaching as well.”
Several years down the road, when Mantooth became a father, he says teaching character and values became even more important to him. “Being part of a team is about being self-less; there’s self sacrifice involved, and those are great lessons.”
Now, after playing baseball all the way through college, followed by 37 years of coaching (7 years at Webster County and 30 years at AHS), Mantooth still has love for the game. “I still really love the game of baseball as much as I did when I played it as a kid. The main thing I love about coaching is the relationships that form with the young men and the assistant coaches, just the team atmosphere. You know, each team has its own personality and every year is different. I love that.”
Kidcentric President Travis Chaney presented coach Mantooth with the award during Kidcentric’s “Super Sports Sunday” event on June 23rd, explaining from the podium that “Bob is a baseball icon in our community for youth baseball. Recently, Bob took the time to host a free clinic for youth coaches to help our area kids in baseball. Apollo again won the Regional Tournament and he has won over 900 games in his 30 plus years of high school coaching. He exemplifies the core beliefs of Kidcentric Sports as Bob is dedicated to developing young men through baseball.”
According to Kidcentric’s website, those core beliefs are integrity, sportsmanship, respect, good citizenship, teamwork, personal responsibility and manners. Based on those values, Kidcentric is on a mission to make sure organized sports programs for kids remain all about the kids’ learning, character development, life skills transfer, and enjoyment. They do this by offering educational opportunities for coaches, parents, and youth sports leagues to help transfer lessons learned through sports into everyday life.
One initiative Kidcentric is assisting with is the newly formed Kids Football League, which has a highly organized board and committee members representing a broad base of community support. With ties to the NFL as well as involvement from local high school varsity coaches, the KFL has distinguished itself with an approach that should be very appealing to parents because they actually value success off the field more importantly than success on the field. Like Kidcentric, KFL is all about character development and setting kids up for success later in life; football is just a fun way to reach that goal.