Charles K. Heatly

   I attended the funeral of an old friend and mentor on Sunday at the Lindsay High School gymnasium, aptly named "Charles K. Heatly Arena". It was the largest devotion and remembrance of any I've ever attended, as Coach Heatly is legendary. He organized his funeral much the same way he organized his girls basketball teams (which won over 500 games, 2 state titles, 3 state runner-ups, and 17 state tournament appearances). Doyle Greteman, former Blanchard High School principal and former Lindsay school superintendent, spoke and introduced the speakers during the memorial. One tribute was given by Jill Street, former All-State player, who represented the 100+ Leopardette players in attendance. Another tribute was provided by Tommy Noles, a former All-State basketball player and All-State football player, who represented the 100+ high school men athletes in attendance that played for Coach Heatly. Also in attendance was Sherri Coale, University of Oklahoma womens basketball coach and John Cox, state superintendent candidate. Reba McEntire, who attended Charlie's basketball camps as a high school player, sent flowers to the remembrance. All speakers had numerous memories of Coach Heatly, including his son, Danny, who related the following: The Lindsay Leopardettes were playing Byng in the semi-finals of the state tournament in 1968. His point forward - Gaylyn Armstrong, put up a jump shot "in the lane", which went under the basket but swished the net on the way to the floor. Gaylyn was fouled while shooting, and Heatly made the slam-dunk motion and screamed "Yes!". The game official approached the score table and made the same gesture "shot good" plus one free throw. Gaylyn completed the unlikely 3-point play, eventually winning the game, and then winning the state championship the following day. (A side-note is that the game official went on to officiate during the NCAA Championships and in the NFL as a football official.) Of course, as most Oklahoma sports fans know, Charlie Heatly is a true "Girls Basketball" legend and a pioneer for high school girls basketball, both in Oklahoma and nationwide, but my recollections are from Jr. High football...
   Coach Heatly was my first organized school coach in Lindsay Jr. High, 1970, as my 8th grade football coach. For competitive sports, we only had "little league" prior to 1970, and the coaches weren't mean (We didn't have to run much and didn't get chewed out, which was just the opposite in Jr. High football. I was a player for the Leopard Cubs (as we were called), as was Danny Heatly, Coach Heatly's son, and my future brother-in-law - as my sister Dana would soon marry him. At the end of each football practice - Coach Heatly had wind-sprints in store for us. We would run 6 or 8 50's at which time Heatly began allowing the winner of each sprint to "go in". I was fairly fast, by Leopard standards, so would usually win the first sprints before beginning the elimination sprints. Danny was also fast, but usually finished in the middle of the pack, before it counted. As the first elimination sprint was run, I noticed that I had not finished first, but Danny had won. He had smartly saved his best for when it counted, and would get to "go in". Not so fast, though, as to prevent Charlie from noticing. I can still hear Coach Heatly say "Jimmy, you can go in, Danny you can stay out here." Danny won the next several heats, but Coach Heatly never let him "go in" early. As a matter of fact, Danny usually stayed until everyone else went in to get dressed. He was a quarterback though, and needed the extra practice...