ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 4, 1996 TAG: 9601040043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on Jan. 6
Correction
There have been four, not three, head basketball coaches at Patrick
Henry High School. Rex Downey was the head coach the year the school
opened, and he was followed by Len Mosser Sr., Dick Kepley and Woody
Deans.
One of Timesland's most successful coaches, Woody Deans, will step down following the basketball season.
Deans, 47, said Wednesday this will be his last year as the boys' coach at Patrick Henry High School, where he has spent nearly his entire career as a player and a coach. His Patriots teams have won 205 games in 12-plus seasons as a head coach, while losing 96.
``There are probably 101 reasons,'' Deans said, explaining his decision. ``The main reason is it's just time to get out. I've been thinking for a couple of years I had some seniors I wanted to see through this year. I thought at least two years ago this might be my last season.''
There were hints Deans would quit when he talked longtime assistant Hank Hamrick into coming out of retirement and rejoining his staff this season.
``He said this was going to be his last year, and I figured if this was his last year, I had been with Woody so long one more year wouldn't hurt me,'' Hamrick said.
Deans didn't make his decision official until after his team lost three games at the NationsBank Holiday Hoops Classic in Salem. He decided to tell his team this week that he was ready to head into the sunset.
``I didn't know when I'd tell them,'' Deans said. ``I thought I'd tell them during the season if I thought it would do some good for them.''
On Tuesday, PH came out smoking and drilled Pulaski County 75-56 in its first game following the Holiday Hoops Classic and is 5-6 this season.
Just as impressive as Deans' success as a coach has been his success promoting high school basketball.
Deans started bringing highly ranked teams into the Roanoke area to play games against PH and other local squads. He was the first state public school coach to take a team to Hawaii for a Christmas tournament, traveling to the South Pacific with his 1990-91 Patriots team.
PH also went back to Hawaii, visited Myrtle Beach, S.C., this winter and played in three Arby's Classic tournaments in Bristol, Tenn. To raise money for these and other trips, as well as provide financial guarantees to out-of-state teams, Deans devised numerous fund-raisers, including a popular spring golf tournament.
``I hate to see Woody get out,'' Hamrick said. ``He's a good, young coach who offers the kids a lot. The kids will lose and the city and the schools will miss him because of what he's done through his promotions.''
Deans said he will remain at PH as a teacher, but he will not coach again.
``Patrick Henry is my home,'' he said. ``I didn't want to coach anywhere else but here. I went to school here as a player. There are 13 banners in the gym and I've had a part of every one of them. The first was as a player, seven more as an assistant, the last six as the [head] coach.''
There is no disagreement to the high point of Deans' career. Surprisingly, it is neither of the Deans' PH teams won two Group AAA championships, in 1988 and 1992, but neither was his most memorable moment as a coach.
It was ``the DeMatha game in the Roanoke Civic Center before a sellout crowd,'' Deans said of a matchup during the 1987-88 season. ``It was in my hometown in front of my friends and family, playing the premier [high school] program in the country and performing well enough in a situation like that to win.''
PH beat DeMatha of Hyattsville, Md., and its fabled coach, Morgan Wootten, 79-71. That put the Patriots in the USA Today national rankings and was part of a 21-game winning streak that carried PH to a state title.
``That DeMatha game is something that will never happen here in the city again,'' Hamrick said. ``He's done so much to promote basketball since he's been coaching.''
Deans is one of only three boys' basketball coaches in PH history. He played for Len Mosser Sr., then moved up from the junior-high coaching ranks to serve as junior varsity coach and varsity assistant under Dick Kepley. When Kepley retired 13 years ago, Deans got the job.
``As far as I'm concerned, Woody's been sensational,'' Kepley said. ``He's probably still a young man who has accounted for more victories and success than any other coach in the valley. He's won a lot of big games and had a lot of big seasons.
``What people don't realize is what he does for the youngsters. He's there for kids who have problems. These are things that never come out. A lot of coaches, when they leave the gym, leave the players. He probably has more players come back to see him than any other coach in the area.
``I've known him to take kids to get their teeth fixed or to get a driver's license or visit them when they're sick. He's been an important influence on a lot of people's lives.''
That's not to say Deans' career hasn't been tempered by some controversy. After his 1988 team won the state title, George Lynch left to play for Flint Hill, a private school in Oakton. Lynch went on to play for the University of North Carolina and is now with the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.
After the Patriots won the 1992 Group AAA title, sophomore Curtis Staples and junior Tim Basham left to attend school at St.John's Prospect Hall in Frederick, Md. Staples now plays for Virginia and Basham starts for East Carolina.
``Those were the worst moments,'' Deans said of the loss of those key players. ``It made us suffer through some losing seasons. I've been on the bottom and I've been on the top. Being on the bottom makes you appreciate being on top.''
There also has been friction between Deans and Burrall Paye, the longtime William Fleming coach. The two rivals have, at best, been cordial to each other when facing one another on the court, but each has been critical of the other on more than one occasion.
Despite this, Paye said Wednesday, ``Woody's been a formidable opponent. I've loved coaching against him and I wish him luck in his next endeavor.''
Deans hasn't officially tendered his resignation to PH's principal, Dr. Betty Lee. Until he does, the process of choosing a successor can't officially begin.
``He's an excellent coach and I hate to see him leave coaching,'' Lee said.
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Deansby CNB