LABELLE, Fla. — NBA Hall of Famer Larry Bird is widely considered one of the best ever to play the game, and the man credited with finding Bird is now coaching in Southwest Florida.
Bill Hodges was an assistant coach at Indiana State University in the 70s when he found Larry Legend. Now the longtime coach is looking for that next gem at Labelle.
At 79 years old, Bill Hodges might be the oldest, most experienced rookie coach of all time, and certainly takes that title for Southwest Florida.
“I think this makes my 46th year. I’m not positive on that because I have never counted it,” Labelle boy’s basketball head coach Bill Hodges said.
It might seem like a random connection for an Indiana native and coach of Indiana State to be in Labelle, but Coach Hodge’s connection to Southwest Florida started early in his career.
“I played on coach Stemler’s first team at Edison in 1966,” Coach Hodges said.
From there, the storybook coaching career began. Coach Hodges has been at eight different colleges, and that doesn’t include stops at a few junior colleges in between.
His coaching career hit its peak in 1979 when he helped lead Indiana State University to a championship game appearance along with superstar Larry Bird.
“He was such a hard worker, and he didn’t hold himself above anybody else. He was just a really good team player,” Hodges said.
Eventually he would retire from basketball, but he was asked to come watch a Labelle game last season by some friends.
“They won that night, and they only won three games last year. I just felt like they needed some direction, and I could help them,” he said.
What an honor it must have been to have a legend like Coach Hodges willing to coach the Cowboys up, right? The only problem was most of those players didn’t know who he was or who he had coached.
“One of the kids asked the other one who is the new coach, and he said I don’t know some old guy,” Hodges said.
So how did that switch get flipped?
“The biggest thing was when they found out they can Google me and that I was on Wikipedia,” he said.
It’s a good thing for Google because once the team bought in, the Cowboys have been clicking. After three wins a year ago, the man who found Larry Bird has the Cowboys sitting with nine wins already.
“It’s kind of an honor to be honest, because he is a good coach. You know, since he coached Larry Bird? I’m going to think that he is all that. I’m going to think he’s a good coach.”
Even though Bird may not be out on this court, the message that Coach Hodges once told him has remained the same.
“Every kid has his day. The key is to play hard, practice hard, and share the basketball. I think these kids have done a good job with that,” Hodges said.
Not bad for a rookie coach. The Cowboys will go for their 10th win of the season against Lake Placid, which would be their first 10-win season since 2018.
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