Evangelical Christian School, former players honor Terry Tippett

When Dee Wilkes was applying for the head basketball coaching job at FACS, the door suddenly swung wide open when he mentioned the magic words.

"He (the late Phillip Spain, longtime FACS athletic director) had my resume and he looked over it and said 'you know coach Tippett?,'" Wilkes said. "And I said, 'yes sir, I played for him. 

"And he said, 'you played for coach Tippett? Okay, then come back here tomorrow ... and we're going to hire you.'"

That's the kind of cache' that comes from playing for Tippett. People know you've been around one of the best the game has to offer.

Wilkes was one of several dozen former players on hand Thursday as ECS honored Tippett, who is retiring at the end of the season. The 72-year-old has 895 victories — far and away the most of any active coach in Shelby County and second only to Jerry Peters of MUS on the all-time list — and six state championships.

Tippett is the only man in Tennessee to win a state title at three different schools and all of them — the old heads from Trezevant, the baby-boomers from White Station and the younger guys from ECS — were on hand at ECS' aptly-named Legacy Center.

Because it's quite a legacy that Tippett will leave behind after 48 years on the sidelines.

"It's really him as a person," said Robert O'Kelley, who starred at White Station before going on to an all-ACC career at Wake Forest.

"Just a guy that was always there for you. Obviously he was a great basketball coach but just the Christian influence ... he just wanted to do the right thing. He's just a friend, a great guy.

"And he knew what he was talking about. I don't think anybody knew more about my jump shot than coach Tippett. If I was missing, going through a slump, he could look at film and fix it."

It's that combination of basketball knowledge and strong character that makes Tippett standout. In his view, assists are more important than baskets and taking a charge is more impressive than a slam dunk.

And the players bought in. Take Steven Kaspar, who led ECS to a state title in 2011 and is now an assistant at his alma mater after playing collegiately at Bucknell. By his own admission, he sometimes had trouble keeping his mouth closed on the court.

"My senior year, we're playing St. George's and I get a technical," he said. "Coach Tippett pulled me out of the game and didn't put me in so we ended up losing. The next day was a Saturday and he met me and sat me down and said, 'Steven, the way you're playing isn't honoring Christ and that's not what this team is about.

"And he had a piece of paper (for Kaspar to sign) and said, 'if things don't change, we're going to have to kick you off the team.' I broke down in tears but as a player, it changed the way I compose myself on the floor.

"And now that I have that second perspective ... that was really hard for him to do as a coach to say, 'here's our best player. But if he doesn't act right, we're going to kick him off the team.'"

Kaspar was one of several individuals who addressed the crowd prior to Thursday's game, in which Wilkes got the better of his old coach with a 40-36 victory.

ECS athletic director Tommy Danner told of how he applied for the Eagles' job at the same time Tippett did 13 years ago and wondered if the school had made the right choice (it did).

Assistant coach James Armfield spoke of their 30-year long friendship — and Tippett's insistence on eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at McDonald's as the two traveled the road together.

Harding coach Kevin Starks jokingly told the crowd he was there as the coach Tippett had beaten the most often, before turning serious and expressing regret that his 5-year-old son would never get to see Tippett on the sidelines.

"I'm jealous," Starks said. "I am. Because they got to do something that I didn't do. Which was to play for him."

Reach John Varlas at john.varlas@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @johnvarlas.