BY GARY VAN CLEAVE
Special to Telegram
MONTEZUMA – His face will always shine brightly on the Mt Sunflower of boys’ high school basketball coaches in Kansas.
Mark Applegate, the all-time winningest boys prep coach in Sunflower State history, recently recorded his 800th career coaching victory.
“Legendary, young coaches getting in probably dream of reaching 500 let alone 800. An absolute feat,” Kiowa County coach Matt Hoffman said of the remarkable 43-year career of Applegate’s all at South Gray.
“It is an awesome feeling,” the 68-year-old Kansas coaching giant, who’s 801-233 in his stupendous career, said. “When I started coaching 43 years ago, I never dreamed I would reach this number.”
Applegate has guided the Rebels with a cause to state championships in 1997, 2007, 2008, 2018 and 2024.
“He’s been the head of the program for 40-plus years and he’s been blessed with a lot of talent,” 2024 star Joey Dyck, now at Seward County, said. “He was able to put together a really good program that’s one of the best in the state of Kansas and he meant a lot to me personally. He really helped me to become the player I was.”
“A person doesn’t achieve something like this without a lot of help,” Applegate said. “I have had basically two assistants that have as much ownership in this as I do: Tom Watkins and Grant Salmans. Grant has been with me for 27 years so he is a big part of it also.”
He then noted the many players and managers who were the core of these wins, said Applegate, whose first coaching victory came in 1982 against Copeland.
“Some were all-state players and went on and played college basketball. Others ended their careers at the end of high school,” Applegate said. “Some were starters and some came off the bench. All of them were equally important to our success.”
“You don’t get more consistent than him,” 2024 graduate Dominic Martin, now at NCK Tech where he’s majoring in power sports technology, said. “I feel very honored to be apart of a handful of those games. He knows so much about the game and he keeps everyone to a very high standard. He knows what he wants out of all of his players and that’s what makes him so great.”
Applegate’s Rebels entered this week’s games with an 8-2 record.
“I’m glad to be apart of the team that got him it,” junior Gavin Wahl said. “He is a great coach and he deserves it and I’m proud of him for it. Hopefully we can finish off this season better than we have started and go win him his sixth state title.”
“It was great to be apart of and he will go down in history as one of the best,” sophomore Daxton Hendrickson said.
The Rebels have reached the state championship game 11 times under Applegate, who’s reached the semifinals another 13 occasions.
“The many fans and parents that supported our teams were also important,” Applegate said. “Last and certainly not least my wife Mindy was the backbone to our success. She would tutor kids having trouble in school. She would wash our uniforms at the state tournaments. She was the rock that kept me grounded. Without her we never would have accomplished this. So you see this isn’t my 800 wins, it belongs to everyone that helped me along the way.”
The court in the school gym in Montezuma is named the Mark and Mindy Applegate Court.
“I just hope people remember me as someone who loved the game and was very content coaching at the level I’m on,” Applegate said.
He continued.
“I learned that it doesn’t matter if you’re coaching on the 6A level or the 1A level it is coaching,” he said. “I met my wife here and we had two sons. Montezuma is a great place to raise a family so we stayed. I have absolutely no regrets. I also loved the two communities of Copeland and Montezuma, great people.”
“It was an honor to be a part of it and be able to play in that game for a bit,” sophomore Landon Loepky said. “It was just a good thing to be apart of and being able to have him as a coach is a blessing.”
Dyck finished his prep career with 1,275 points. His class fashioned an astonishing 90-10 record in their four-year run as a Rebel.
“He taught me to play smart, be a team member and to not get frustrated,” Dyck said. “He also got me to work on the mid range shot and that really helped define the shots I took.”
“It’s a legendary achievement,” Conner Salmans, majoring in technology and engineering education at Fort Hays State, said. “It’s an incredible milestone for Applegate, he really deserves it. I think there are a lot of other people who deserve credit for such a successful program, too.
“I’ve been fortunate to have great PE teachers starting back to my kindergarten year in Montezuma. Developing fundamentals at a young age is key to having coachable players. The South Gray community has never failed to show up for its students either. Even small things, like parents bringing their children to the games, has helped develop a hard working mentality at South Gray.”
Mindy died a few years ago.
“My wife is five years younger than me. She would have been 62 last year and our plan was to retire together,” Applegate said. “Now I am just taking it a year at a time. I figure I will know when it is time. I’ve always said there are two types of coaches, those that have been fired and those of us waiting to be fired.”
Applegate graduated from LeRoy High (now Southern Coffey County) in 1975 and Emporia State in 1980.
“I could have gone to work at UPS out of college, but instead took a job at Jewell HS as a head football coach,” he said. “Only lasted one year. I was the worst football coach in the history of the game.”
Back then, Applegate added, teaching jobs weren’t as easy to find as today.
“I went work at Wolf Creek Nuclear Plant in Burlington as a welder,” Applegate said. “Saw the job opening at Montezuma and took it. Working at UPS or Wolf Creek would have paid a lot more than teaching, but there is much more rewards with working with young people than just punching a time clock. Education has been very good to me. I’m glad I chose the route I did.”
He concluded.
“I still enjoy every day I come to work,” Applegate said. “When that stops, it will be time for me to do something else like be a full-time grandpa.”
