Ron Slaymaker, former men’s basketball coach and member of the Emporia State Hall of Fame, is back on the sidelines coaching, but not at Emporia State.
Slaymaker is now the head girls’ basketball coach at Chase County High School. Slaymaker has posted a remarkable 594 victories on his record between high school and college. 463 of them came during his tenure as ESU men’s coach from 1970-98 – the most in school history.
“I’ll coach those girls the same way I coached college men,” Slaymaker said.
Slaymaker, 77, has been a high school official for the past 17 basketball seasons. He had a hip replacement and couldn’t officiate this winter. The Chase County girls caught his eye from their middle school days when he used to officiate them.
“I saw there was an opening for the job, and I figured what the heck, I can still coach,” Slaymaker said.
Chase County hasn’t been a school known for its basketball, so for Gregg Errebo, Chase County athletic director, it was a no-brainer hire.
“He’s a great coach,” Errebo said. “He’s got a hall of fame track record. He showed some interest in in the job and we talked for a bit, and I thought what I really need is a great role model and a great person, and he fits the bill.”
Slaymaker said he always wanted to coach girls and always had an interest in working with them since he ran his basketball camps at ESU.
“Girls listen, and they’ll run through a wall for you, and I like teams like that,” Slaymaker said.
Slaymaker’s coaching career started in the 1960s as an assistant at ESU. After that, he went to be the head boy’s coach at Roosevelt High School in Emporia, where his record was 131-12. After those six years, he was at ESU where he took the Hornets to four national tournament appearances and won District 10 Coach of the Year six times.
Slaymaker also served as an assistant coach for the United States national team at the 1987 World Games and was on the 1988 Olympic Basketball Selection Committee.
While Slaymaker’s win-loss record speaks for itself, he also had a knack for being a “player’s coach” and would do almost anything for his players.
“Coach Slaymaker is really the best of both worlds. He would be intense when he needed to be and he would pick you up if you needed that, too,” said Michael Wohlgast, a former assistant of Slaymaker. “What makes coach Slaymaker a great coach is that he’s a great person and he’ll get the best out of you because of the relationship he builds with you.”