TOPEKA (KSNT) - 87-year-old Ron Slaymaker is gearing up for his first season as the Topeka High head girls' basketball coach.
Slaymaker, a Kansas coaching legend, hardly needs an introduction. The winningest coach in Emporia State men's basketball history and Kansas Sports Hall of Famer has enjoyed the new challenge of coaching high school basketball for the last several years.
After recently retiring from his previous gig with Olpe girls' basketball, the last thing he expected to do was sign up for another head coaching job an hour from his home in Emporia. Slaymaker said he joked on the phone with a friend, who works at Topeka High, that he was available for the job opening after resigning from Olpe. About an hour later, he received a call from Topeka High's principal.
He agreed to lunch with principal Dustin Dick. However, on the drive there Slaymaker made up his mind that he wasn't taking the job. That didn't last long.
"On the way home I stopped to see a good friend [living near Topeka] who had played for me and coached for me and goes to Palm Springs in the winter, looking for a house sitter," Slaymaker said. "And one thing led to another and all of a sudden he's got a house sitter. How could I turn this down."
Now, he's a month into the job that pulled him out of retirement for the third time. And with a few weeks of team practices in the books, Coach Slaymaker likes what he's seeing from the Trojans.
"They're supportive of each other, they listen, all kinds of good things," Slaymaker said. "There's some talent that's young, very young talent. But I know last year was not a good year and a lot of girls had quit, some did not go out that should've been out, so hopefully we'll get the girls out who should be playing here."
Slaymaker says he's most excited about the girls' attitudes and their ability to play defense. With several returners from last year's team, he's also looking forward to having a foundation for building a solid culture.
The long-time head coach is aware he's most likely not going to have a decade-long run with the Trojans, but he's is prepared to give it his all for as long as he can.
"I've coached my whole life, so coaching sort of is my life," Slaymaker said. "I still have the energy, I have some flaws, my brain is still reasonably good, I don't move around as good as I used to so I can't demonstrate as well as I once did, but I think I can still coach."
