Kent coached Oklahoma Wesleyan
Rocky Kent was a standout football, basketball and baseball player as a young man in his native Michigan — and he became a good hoops coach, too. A salute to the former Oklahoma Wesleyan coach and other people with state ties who enjoyed the game day experience.
A farewell to people with Oklahoma ties who enjoyed the game day experience:
•Rocky Kent, 71, of Bartlesville was the longtime men’s basketball coach at Oklahoma Wesleyan College. He spent 13 years as coach, while also serving as the NAIA school’s athletic director.
“He ... loved his players,” a family obituary said. “He wanted them to be successful men both on and off the court. He cared for them, guided them and kept tabs on them. His legacy, through them, is a strong one.”
Kent played prep football, basketball and baseball in his native Michigan. He went on to play basketball and baseball at Spring Arbor College; he averaged 20.1 points and 11.0 rebounds over four basketball seasons. Kent was the first player in the school’s history to score more than 2,000 points.
As a baseball player, he finished with a .301 career batting average and was all-district in 1964 and 1967. He was honorable-mention All-American one season.
Spring Arbor College inducted Kent into its Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002. He received a liver transplant in 2014.
•Frank Boggs, 89, of Edmond was one of the best sports writers in the history of The Oklahoman and Times. He retired as executive sports editor and managing editor in 1989, after 41 years in the newspaper business.
Although he was a 10-time winner as Oklahoma Sportswriter of the Year, Boggs said two of his favorite assignments were nonsports. He joined World War II veterans from the 82nd Airborne Division for a Normandy Invasion reunion and watched a moon launch at Cape Canaveral.
More on Boggs can be found on NewsOK.com.
•Lewis Crowder, 74, of Oklahoma City. The Vietnam veteran was an autocross racer for several years.
•Chad Colvin, 21, of Oklahoma City earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do at age
10.
•Betty Neukom White,
89, of Oklahoma City was a longtime OU football season-ticket holder. The retired research scientist rarely missed a home game. White also followed the Cincinnati Reds, the Colorado Rockies and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Fly-fishing for trout was her perfect vacation. She volunteered for 20 years at the Department of Wildlife, where she taught kids how to fish.
•Doug Cooper, 48, of Oklahoma City was an all-around athlete as a youngster. He wrestled and played football for the Satellites, Hefner Junior High and Putnam City North High School. He was a state champion wrestler at 80 pounds for the Satellites.
Cooper was a big Oklahoma State and Thunder fan. He worked in the food industry and cared for his father, Donald, who had Parkinson’s disease.
•Maureen Moore, 64, of Oklahoma City participated in competitive horse jumping.
•Henry Coffeen Jr., 85, of Oklahoma City played football and ran track at Classen High School. He was an all-district halfback and was given the Joseph Hester Patterson Award for being the Comets’ outstanding track athlete. He became a custom homebuilder.
•Lisa Liles Linden, 48, of Oklahoma City was an accomplished basketball player at Western Oaks Junior High School and then Putnam City West High. She went into education, teaching at Overholser Elementary School. She was also the girls basketball coach.
•Ann Atkinson, 62, of Oklahoma City was a gymnast and cheerleader at Goddard High School in Roswell, N.M. A paralegal by trade.
•Leamon Freeman, 88, of Oklahoma City. He was a pitcher at Fort Cobb High School, and he also played American Legion baseball. Freeman attended a New York Giants tryout camp 45 minutes away in Lawton and made the first cut.
But he returned home before the final cut and joined the Army, where he was a surgical technician. Freeman was later an accountant with The Oklahoma Publishing Co., and then became an attorney. He was a district judge from 1981-96.
•Wilburn Terrell, 90, of Oklahoma City. He played on church league softball teams or for teams at Tinker Air Force Base for more than 20 years. Terrell, who worked as a section chief at Tinker for more than 30 years, was also an avid golfer.
•Melvina Melton, 84, of Moore held OU season football tickets for several years.
•Henry Wallis Jr., 75, of Oklahoma City. He coached his children through the Putnam City Optimist sports programs and once served as commissioner for girls softball. Family said he made playing sports fun for kids and made sure everybody got to play.
•Jerry Jackson, 80, of Oklahoma City played football at Crooked Oak High School. He was a member of the Oklahoma football team after turning down recruiting attempts by Paul “Bear” Bryant at Texas A&M. Jackson graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma and spent 33 years in the Air Force reserve.
•Paul Page, 52, of Oklahoma City was an All-City Conference wrestling champion as a senior at Capitol Hill High School. A big NASCAR fan.