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Post by Kyle Feller on Mar 23, 2010 7:39:23 GMT -5
Alexandria High School Coach Garth Cone has passed away.
As a youngster growing up next door to Garth and his family I idolized and watched everything Coach Cone did. He led Alexandria to some very memorable tournament runs and is the single #1 reason why I bleed Indiana HS Basketball like I do.
The first time I ever cried at a basketball game (1987), the first time I ever rushed a court (1995), the first time I saw a future NBA player in HS (1995), the first time I ever saw Hinkle Fieldhouse in person (1996), my first ever start in a high school basketball game (1999), the first basketball camp I ever attended (1986), the first time I got an autograph (1987), my first ever season tickets (1996) and ultimately the first time I ever went to church on my own decision....Garth Cone was present for all of these life experiences I've had. There are probably a dozen other special moments in my life that he was around for........it was amazing how I felt every night I walked into "The Jungle" in Alexandria and how that feeling hasn't been replaced since at any sporting event.
Not to mention he was a great basketball/baseball player at Taylor and is in their HOF. He was my dad's baseball/basketball coach in High School and I've never heard my father give higher praise of any individual on this planet.
I'm very sad today........
Garth Cone, 419-268 in 31 years at Alexandria
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Post by Kyle Feller on Mar 23, 2010 7:59:46 GMT -5
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Post by Kyle Feller on Mar 23, 2010 8:05:33 GMT -5
From his induction to the Taylor HOF: www.timeswrsw.com/archive/1999/S1006994.HTMTaylor University inducted but two people into the Taylor Athletic Hall of Fame in ceremonies held Sept. 10. Pierceton native Garth Cone was one of the two. Cone is the son of Betty Cone of Pierceton and the late Charles Cone. He graduated from Pierceton High School, where he starred in basketball, in 1965. Cone, who graduated from Taylor in 1969, coached the Alexandria Monroe Tigers to the Indiana Class 2A basketball championship in 1998. He has a .680 winning percentage in his 25 years as high school basketball coach. Also inducted was Norm Wilhemi, a 1951 Taylor graduate. Like Cone, Wilhemi was honored for basketball. Cone, who joined Alexandria’s faculty after earning his degree at Taylor, has coached the Tigers to 15 Central Indiana Conference championships. He won the District Coach of the Year award in 1978 and 1996, and he served as president of the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association in 1995-1996. He is the founder of Tiger Reading Program, a recognized scholastic achievement. Jerry Young, Cone’s pastor at Christian Congregation Church, wrote this in his letter to Taylor recommending Cone’s induction: “Garth Cone is one of the finest men I know ... If you ask the hundreds of young men who have played for Garth, they will surely tell you, ‘Garth Cone is one of the most influential people in my life.’ Garth has helped many of his players to understand the importance of honesty, integrity, morality and commitment to hard work.” |
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Post by Kyle Feller on Mar 23, 2010 8:28:08 GMT -5
From the book "Where The Game Matters Most" - William Gildea (Washington Post) on class basketball.
Garth Cone said, "I think our society is
trying to have more winners. And in the attempt to have more winners,
we're diluting the prize." Cone said, "There's a trend in society,
enlarge the honor roll. Basketball reflects society. I wouldn't want
to be told that just because I came from a little school I couldn't
compete for a job at a big school. And I don't think it's fair to
tell the kids the same thing. There's too much stock put in
championships. How many times have you heard it? It's been 1954
since Milan. I'm not so sure we need another Milan. So much of life
is not dealing with the championship but with the path you take."
I'm not sure there is a more appropriate quote to summarize Garth Cone, the man.
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Post by goshen32 on Mar 23, 2010 8:52:17 GMT -5
My all-time favorite memory of coach was when CBS news did a piece on class Basketball in Indiana. They interviewed the Principal at Frankfort, who was complaining about how playing against big schools was so unfair and he was ready for "their chance".
Then they cut to Coach Cone who basically made the principal look like a fool, saying something along the lines of if you don't want to compete at the highest level then you are not going to be very successful in life.
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Post by Kyle Feller on Mar 23, 2010 9:01:29 GMT -5
That was on 60 minutes I believe...................I'm still searching for that video. I'd love to add that to my collection of "goodies".
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Post by Kyle Feller on Mar 23, 2010 9:52:59 GMT -5
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Post by goshen32 on Mar 23, 2010 22:35:59 GMT -5
Funeral Service Time and Day: A Celebration of Life Service will take place at 7 pm on Friday March 26, 2010 in the Alexandria-Monroe High School Gymnasium
Visitation: Friends may call at the Alexandria-Monroe High School Gymnasium on Friday after 2 pm prior to the evening services.
The family has asked all in attendance on Friday to wear the Alexandria Tiger School Colors. Visitors calling from 2 pm to 4 pm are asked to park in the east parking lot, after 4 pm visitors are asked to park in the west parking lot.
Memorial Contributions: May be made to the Alexandria-Monroe High School Basketball Program through the funeral home.
A great way to say goodbye, people on this board may not know what coach meant to Alex...this night will mean a lot to a lot of people.
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Post by Kyle Feller on Mar 24, 2010 8:08:20 GMT -5
I"m upset that I won't be able to make it.....expect a packed house.
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Post by clinttjohnson on Mar 25, 2010 18:20:31 GMT -5
Coach Cone was truly a legend, and one of the great coaches, but better yet, great people associated with Indiana Basketball. His death creates a void in the state.
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Post by goshen32 on Sept 15, 2010 18:22:46 GMT -5
Lessons Learned from Legend Garth Cone
Travis Daugherty
ALEXANDRIA, Ind. -- Garth Cone, the legendary, long-time boys basketball coach at Alexandria-Monroe High School, passed away unexpectedly last week at the age of 63. News like this about someone important always forces you to stop and think about many of the big questions of life and the impact of important people on your own. I consider it one of the great fortunes of my life to have had the opportunity to play for Coach, to work under him as an assistant, and to learn from him as both a mentor and a friend in the many years that I knew him. He belongs in conversations about the great Indiana high school basketball coaches of all-time.
Photo: Alexandria High School Website
Alexandria Tigers and Coach Garth Cone 2009-10
His resume is impressive (419 career wins, 17 Central Indiana Conference championships, five sectional titles, three regionals, a semi-state and state championship in 1998, along with titles like former Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year and Association President), and his innovative systems, terms, drills, and philosophies are a part of more programs today than most of the coaches of those programs probably realize. But in thinking this week about the life of my coach, and of the impact he had on my life, it wasn't the numbers or stats or awards that defined the man. In his 31 years at Alex, Garth Cone taught young men like me the simple secrets to winning basketball and a winning life.
Above everything else, Coach connected with people because he was real. He was authentic. He never demanded from a player anything he didn't demand from himself. He demanded that you compete, for instance, because he was himself such a competitor. Coach's teams were always the little-guy underdog in the powerful Anderson sectional, where the big bullies like Anderson, Highland, and Madison Heights were supposed to dominate. Coach, though, couldn't accept that. He chose to schedule and play regular-season games at Anderson's Wigwam every year, instead of alternating home-and-home games like usual. Partly, he wanted to make sure his teams were always their most prepared for the postseason. Partly, I think, he loved the challenge of walking into that place with a group of undersized, small-town kids and kicking the big bully's butt. Coach never liked the idea of class basketball because he always thought you learned more about your team and yourself by taking the biggest challenges in life head-on. He expected to win, and created something in his players that made them expect the same thing, and he never made an excuse for not doing what he expected to do. He won many of those hard-fought games in the toughest settings, and made a reputation for himself by doing so. If he lost, it ate him up. He couldn't help it, mainly because he had invested so much. Coach wouldn't shop at the stores inside Anderson's city limits if his teams had lost in the rivalry game against them during the season. It wasn't even so much that he wouldn't. More like he couldn't. Just personally couldn't bring himself to do it. He would say his kids were always more excited for Christmas during the years when they won those games, because their holiday gifts could come from the big-city retail stores instead of the local, small-town shops.
That competitive spirit drove Coach Cone in everything he did, but he never let it become unhealthy or misguided towards his opponent. Coach knew winning wasn't everything, but his opinion was that life, in many ways, was about the daily choice people make to win or lose. For him, it was about teaching his players what success really looked like - on a basketball court today, but just as importantly as a husband, a father, an employee, a friend, etc. someday soon. Coach wanted to succeed, and he wanted his players to succeed, and that's the simple reason why he spent so much time preparing. No one prepared like him. It was legendary. The time and energy he committed to watching film, scouting opponents, and analyzing how he and his team could improve was born of a very simple motivation. Find a way. Do all you can. Keep working and learning and looking for new ways to win. Other people have given up, but we won't. When someone like Coach says these kinds of things, and then lives them out for his players, those players believe, and prepare, and usually in the end, win, too.
Ultimately, Coach was who he was because he devoted his personal and professional life to doing things the right way, and to helping young people on the court and in the classroom by teaching them to do the same. He was always thinking of others before himself. He sent letters of encouragement or congratulations to players and coaches from other teams for landmark achievements. He freely gave away so many of the drills, strategies, and philosophies to any coach who asked, even though they had taken him years of his own time and energy to create. Every year he would take his team to the local nursing home and sing Christmas carols to the shut-ins and the elderly. I can vividly remember him singing more loudly and further off-key than anyone else there. If a player or a player's family member was sick, Coach would call or stop by to see if there was anything he could do. He always gave his players credit for the job they had done, even when many times his game plan was the major reason why his team upset a superior opponent. He never felt the need to market himself or make it about himself. That's why, in some ways, he was a well-kept secret to many casual basketball fans outside east-central Indiana. Coach Cone did so many things, some before the bright gym lights of thousands of people and some that will forever remain unnoticed, that showed us the right way.
The small town of Alexandria, the basketball-crazy state of Indiana, and our great game lost a legendary coach last week. The impact of his loss has been remarkable. Two days after passing, a facebook page created to remember his life had 1,800 fans and thousands of messages and stories. On Friday, thousands of people packed Alexandria's high school gym to pay him their respects, including a number of legendary coaches from around the state. Even still, I'm not ready for the legacy of who he was and what he believed to subside. He lived a life that deserved to be remembered and celebrated, to be taken and used as a motivator for change in our own lives. Surely that's the sign of a man who's lived a remarkable life. Though his career and life are over, the lasting legacy of who he was and what he was about will live on. As coaches, fans, and people, may we all strive to be better from the lessons he taught.
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