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AFM Magazine


Nice Guys Finish First

Garden City Community College\'s Bob Larson proves that good guys can reach the top
by: Aaron S. Lee
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Former Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher was often quoted as saying that “Nice guys finish last.” But perhaps in the case of Garden City Community College (Kan.) head football coach Bob Larson, that isn’t necessarily the case.

In fact, trying to find someone with something negative to say about Coach Larson is like trying to find a proponent of the Bowl Championship Series at a mid-major. The fans love him, the athletes love him, the coaching staff loves him and even the opposing teams love him. Face it, Larson is well liked and will probably remain that way.

However, don’t let Larson, whose gruff – yet gentle – voice reminds you more of your grandfather than of your football coach, fool you. This guy is a master motivator bent on drawing the absolute best from both his athletes and staff.

“Coach Larson is probably the best at pre-game speeches,” said Scott Hawks, linebackers coach at GCCC. “He knows how to turn a phrase and tell a story.”

Larson’s pep talks are so popular and effective that even the GCCC women’s basketball coach, Bob Brasel, enlisted his services before a playoff game in the spring of 2003.

“I had heard him talk before when I was an assistant here on the boys side and he did a great job,” said Brasel. “When I moved over to the women’s side we were going to the regional tournament. We had won our conference for the first time in school history so I wanted them to realize that our mission was not over. I knew that Coach Larson could get them to understand that.”

The Lady Busters not only took heed of Larson’s speech, but according to Brasel they nearly tore the door off the hinges taking the court to win the regional tournament and finish 4th in the country.

“Yeah, Coach Larson’s words motivated the girls so much that they nearly ran through the door,” he said. “That says a lot about his ability to twist his words to fit both men and women.”

Coach Larson had never given a pep talk to a female crowd, but he says it was indeed an enjoyable experience.

“Our girls basketball program took the heart of this community,” said Larson. “It was an honor to speak with them. However, it was a lot different. For one thing, their locker smelled a lot better than ours, and when you looked up they were a lot prettier than the football players.”

Larson’s speeches revolve around the philosophy of not ever doubting yourself or stop trying.

“You know, we all have dreams,” said Larson, who was an All-American offensive lineman at Pratt (Kan.) Community College before finishing at Colorado State. “Unfortunately, most of us stop ourselves and cut our dreams short.”

Larson’s younger brother, Bill, did not. The younger Larson was drafted in 1977 by the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, before ending his career in Green Bay.

“You write a paper as a little kid about who your hero is,” said Coach Larson. “When I was younger it was my father, now I would have to say my brother. I know how he grew up and he didn’t do anything other than work his tail off to get to the pros. He proved that anyone can live the ‘American Dream’ if they are willing to work hard enough.”

Coach Larson himself dreamed of playing in the pros, but those dreams never materialized.

“I remember the phone call from Bill telling me that he had been drafted,” he said humorously. “He told me that I could have made the pros, because the 49ers had fat offensive lineman, too. The comment hurt because I was the one that said I couldn’t do it, no one else did. So I try to tell others not to be the ones that limit your goals and for them to set their goals as high as they can.”

Juco Life ...

One common denominator between football coaches from the high school ranks to the pros is the ability to make a difference. Ask Coach Larson why he makes his living in football and that is exactly the reason he gives for doing so.

“I’ve been here going on my 10th season,” said Larson, a native of Wichita, Kan. “It is a special place and I can’t tell you why. We are out here in the southwestern corner of the state, but it is a special thing. People don’t come for the palm trees and the mountains.

“I hope they come here for two reasons: to get an education and play a great brand of football.”

Make no mistake about it, Coach Larson is as passionate as anyone about keeping the tradition of winning at Garden City, a program that was originally turned around with the hiring of Brian McNeely in 1987. Ironically in 1980, Larson, who was an offensive coordinator at Pratt, had hired McNeely as an assistant. McNeeley then went on to Butler and the University of Kansas before taking the helm at GCCC.

Since McNeeley’s hiring, GCCC had compiled an impressive 139-42-1 record entering the 2003 season. Larson, who began his head-coaching stint with the Broncbusters in 1999, can be attributed with 37 of those wins and only nine losses. It also speaks very highly of Larson and his program that GCCC has only lost two assistants during that span.

GCCC took third place in 2002 with a 7-4 overall record in the ultra-competitive NJCAA Kansas Jayhawk Community College, which includes teams Hutchinson, Butler County and Coffeyville, and are considered among the favorites this season. But the only thing more concrete than the foundation GCCC football is built upon is the core of admiration and respect that surrounds him from former players and colleagues alike.

“I was a freshman in 1980 at Independence Community College, which was Coach Larson’s first coaching job,” said Coffeyville Community College head coach Jeff Leiker, a former GCCC head coach who hired Larson as the offensive line coach at GCCC in 1994. “He was the offensive line coach at the time. We were extremely thin on the offensive line, which was bad news since I was the quarterback. But he has always done an excellent job of working with what he has.”

The Broncbusters have played in bowl games in each of Larson’s previous nine seasons at GCCC, including last year’s Valley of the Sun Bowl against Glendale, a team that Larson’s team lost to in the national championship game in 2000.

“He is one of the hardest working coaches I know,” said Hawks, who not only coaches under Larson, but also played for his boss during Larson’s stint at Idaho State. “I remember when he was a coach at Idaho State, he did not have a lot of talent on the offensive line – including me. However, he did a great job of not ever making us think that. He coached us from a below average offensive line to an above average line. Coach Larson literally coached us to play above our ability.

“We would give our life for this guy after just knowing him for three months. He made us believe we were good and still does that.”

Recruiting ...

Ask Coach Larson about the biggest difference in junior college football compared to all other levels and he’s quick to tell you, “Depth!”

“You have to recruit your tail off at a junior college,” he said. “You can’t have one bad year of recruiting. At a four-year school you can perhaps have a bad year because you have other classes for support.

“I’ve been at two four year schools: Murray State and Idaho State,” he added. “I don’t think there are any better recruiters than in junior college.”

According to Larson, recruiting is simply how you treat people. Often he compares it to courtship.

“In return they have to get something out of it and that can be different for everybody,” he said. “A Kansas kid that is not extremely gifted athletically can play at the junior college level and possibly move on to play somewhere at a four-year school – I’m not talking about Notre Dame or Florida State. Of course, we have some kids that move on to bigger schools. But what we do for those kids is give them a support system academically to be successful so that they can move on. For those kids the question is not how high they can jump or how fast they can run, the question is whether or not they can pass Comp I.”

Larson, along with wife Barbara, have three children, including twin boys. The eldest, Adam, is just finishing college, while Kevin and Kyle are just starting.

“Being a parent gives you a totally different perspective on recruiting,” said Larson. “I know exactly what it is like to sit across from a coach and hear what is said, and more importantly what is not said. It gives you tremendous insight. I’m just thankful that I didn’t have daughters.”

Junior college football is a different brand. These are not sub-par athletes looking for one last hurrah after high school. Many of these programs are filled with major Division I-A hopefuls that move on to play at the nation’s top schools. While many are considered academically challenged, most are good athletes looking to either gain more field experience or a firmer grasp in the classroom.

Athletes such as Benjamin Gay, Demetrius Hill, Gerald Dixon, Corey Dillon, Jeff Kelly and Darnell McDonald have all attended GCCC and moved on to NCAA Division I-A scholarships and NFL careers.

“I can empathize with these kids,” said Larson. “I know what it feels like to not be as big or as fast, but to want to do well.

“I believe that I am a better coach at age 51 than I was at 21 because of parenting,” he continued. “I try to treat my athletes like my children, and you can ask my children there have been times when I put my foot places, but before the end of the day they knew that I loved them more than life itself. You have to have discipline and accountability, but you have to show them you care. If you do that, I believe you will win more than you lose.”

Future ...

A coach’s win-loss record is more often than not the highest determining factor on whether or not he keeps his job. And although it is not always easy, there are still men out there like Bob Larson who do it for the love of the game and satisfaction of having a hands-on approach and effect.

“When we are young we think we need the best at every position,” said Larson. “We need the biggest, fastest and strongest players to win. What I’ve learned is that you don’t have to have the best. Now you do have to have talent, but more importantly it is how you utilize that talent and mix the chemistry, and how you affect the kids’ lives and benefit every child. When they put me in the ground, I doubt they will put my win-loss record on my marker. In this profession it is the lives you touch that are the most important things.”

Garden City Community
College Coaching Staff

Bob Larson - Head Coach
Frank Bean - Defensive Line, Assistant Head Coach
Brian Hill - Offensive Coordinator, Quarterbacks, WRs
Scott Hawks - Linebackers, Strength & Conditioning
James Mireles - Defensive Line
Dan Delgado - Offensive Line
Ron German - Running Backs
Tim Schaffner - Defensive Coordinator, Defensive Backs
Greg Greathouse - Athletic Trainer
Dan Evans - Athletic Trainer
Chris Bluml - Secretary
A.J. Jones - Wide Receivers
Tony Rubbo - Defensive Line






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