POPLAR BLUFF – When Brent Eckley’s playing days ended in 1993 at William Penn University in Iowa he knew that he held a long passion for the sport of football and for competition in general.
Fast-forward through his life and he has discovered those are only secondary benefits to having chosen a career in education.
“As a young coach you think about schemes,” the veteran Jackson coach said. “Your vision of coaching is schemes and drawing stuff up, it’s calling the right play, it’s all Xs and Os.”
Eckley certainly has done that throughout his career, but his work has proven to be impactful as much off the field than on it.
The Jackson coach was honored Wednesday at the 74th annual Poplar Bluff Gridiron Banquet as the Coach of the Year in the SEMO Conference.
Eckley’s team is going for its 14th victory in as many games Saturday, as the Indians will face Carthage at 7 p.m. at Faurot Field at the University of Missouri in Columbia for the MSHSAA Class 5 state championship.
A win on Saturday would certainly be special for Eckley, but the scoreboard won’t have any meaning at all in measuring whether his work with the Indian student-athletes was successful or not.
“You coach for a while,” Eckley explained, “and you realize it has a lot more to do with mentoring, relationships, connecting with kids, and trying to develop leadership.
“It ends up being a way bigger thing than (schemes).”
That impact has been exhibited to an insane degree this week, as Eckley has his team on the cusp of a championship.
He has heard from players that he coached 20-plus years ago, some of which showed up at Jackson’s state semifinal win at Staley last Saturday.
“Coaching is a natural move to stay involved in football and stay involved in the competition,” Eckley said. “But also, coaching high school guys, it continues to keep me feeling young.”
Having ‘heart’ pays off
Longtime Southeast Missouri high school football coach Charlie Vickery was the first to mention a trait he found admirable in Scott City senior runner Jimmy May, but he wasn’t the last to do so.
“Jimmy May didn’t gain all of those yards because of his stature,” Vickery said while presenting an award Wednesday. “He did it because of his heart.”
May was named as a member of the All-SEMO Conference West Division Team, but he also was recognized for having set a new scoring mark (316 points), as well as receiving the Carr Trophy, which goes to the “best football player” in Southeast Missouri.
“He is very quick and he is very agile,” Rams’ coach Jim May said when evaluating his son, “and he has a lot of heart.”
May totaled over 1,300 yards this season despite being 5-foot-5 and 150 pounds and he helped lead his team to an 11-2 mark, which was the best in over a decade.
“It’s a lot easier to go out and block when you know that the guy behind you is giving 100 percent every single play,” Scott City offensive lineman Noah Braun said.
Braun was named as the West Division Lineman of the Year and was a key reason why May had the success that he did.
“He wants that first down,” Braun continued to say of the younger May. “He wants the extra yard, that last little inch on every single play.
“That helped our offense a ton.”
A big impact
Braun and May not only made an impact on the Rams’ football history by winning the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 championship, but the Scott City program wrote its legacy on an entire community, which resonated with Braun.
“When (the season) happened,” Braun explained, “you didn’t realize it until later, but we did something special.”
The elder May has coached at his alma mater for a decade and only had two winning seasons prior to this fall. But following an 8-3 campaign in 2018, the Rams broke through in historic fashion this year.
“It was nice to be able to do that for the community,” Braun said. “To see them rally behind us felt great.”
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