Kansas City area loses two high school girls basketball, football coaching legends
The Kansas City and Lawrence areas have lost two high school coaching legends in a matter of days.
Bishop Miege High School recently announced the death of Terry English, 72, who won the last of his 22 state championships in girls basketball in 2021.
Dick Purdy, who won six Kansas football state championships at two schools, Lawrence and Shawnee Mission West, died Oct. 6 in Green Valley, Ariz. He was 88.
English spent his entire coaching career — 45 seasons — at Miege. His career record: 910-158.
Going into his final game, the Kansas Class 4A title matchup in 2021 against McPherson, English didn’t tell his players about his retirement plans. But he’d already decided that if his team of Stags won that day, he’d step down.
“I didn’t want them to worry about winning a game for me,” English told The Star in 2021, “when it’s all about them.”
Victory in hand that evening, English proceeded to inform his players when the team returned to the locker room after the post-game celebration.
“There were a lot of people crying, and I was probably the worst,” he said then. “It was very emotional. It was very hard for me to get out what I wanted to say.”
You made a difference! All the time, energy, and effort you put into coaching each player. It will have a lasting impact on each of them. Their lives are better because of the time you spent with them. You contributed to the stories of their lives and we are forever grateful️ pic.twitter.com/Mnt1s2PqYz
— Bishop Miege Girls Basketball (@BishopMiege_GBB) October 11, 2022
Purdy spent 41 years in the high school coaching ranks. At Lawrence High, he won state championships in each of his first four years, a stretch that included a 35-game winning streak, and five overall.
A former standout football player at Southeast for coach Cecil Patterson (where he also played basketball), Purdy won another state title at Shawnee Mission West. He was later inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.
Purdy’s coaching career started in 1956 at Chetopa High in southwest Kansas. He also coached at Chanute and Lee’s Summit high schools. His career record stands at 275-140-5.
Purdy stopped coaching high school football briefly to join the University of Kansas’ coaching staff for the 1982 and 1983 seasons. But his heart remained in the high school game.
Even when he announced his retirement in 1999, he left open the possibility of returning one day.
“I’ll just go out to pasture,” Purdy said. “And if I can’t stand it, maybe I’ll see if anybody wants an old coach.”
