Charlie Vickery named 2022 Semoball Lifetime Achievement Award recipient

Former Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery will receive the 2022 Semoball Lifetime Achievement Award on Friday at the annual Semoball Awards presented by SoutheastHEALTH.

Southeast Missourian file

For the past 47 years, Chaffee-native Charlie Vickery could be found pacing the sidelines on Friday nights in the fall, coaching young men on the gridiron.

And he's still not finished.

Vickery, who is likely best known for his time as the head coach of Sikeston's football team from 1978-2003, is currently an assistant for Jim May at Scott City.

Coach Charlie Vickery is the current offensive coordinator for the Scott City Rams.

Southeast Missourian file

His long tenure as a coach in the Southeast Missouri region, coupled with his passion for teaching young athletes how to be the best version of themselves, has led him to receive the 2022 Semoball Lifetime Achievement Award.

"It's an honor, getting the award," Vickery said. "Just getting your name, not that I was good as them, but getting your name with those who have got the previous awards is an honor. I'm proud of that and humbled to be in that group."

Vickery grew up in Chaffee where he was an All-State quarterback on the Red Devils' football team his senior year in 1970. Following his high school career, he played baseball at Southeast Missouri State while pursuing a degree in education.

In 1974, at just 22-years old, Vickery returned to his alma mater as the head coach.

He helped turn around a struggling Red Devils program, going 16-22 in four seasons and leading Chaffee to an 8-2 record and its first conference title in 17 years in 1976.

Coach Charlie Vickery, right, shakes hands with his father during a pregame ceremony in 2013 recognizing his 200th win.

Southeast Missourian file

"It was just awesome to be able to do that," Vickery said of returning to Chaffee for his first coaching job. "A friend of mine said, because they had struggled a little bit, he goes, "Have you ever thought about if you didn't win a game?' I said, 'Well, I never really thought about that.'

"We started a junior high program when I went there, and I didn't have another coach. It was just me. ... Coach Terry Glenzy, I went and met with him the day after I got the job, and coach Mick Wessel. Us three had the program and we had a group of kids coming up that were good players. They worked hard and they were fun to be around."

After his initial stint at Chaffee, Vickery ventured south where he became the head coach for Sikeston in 1978. During his tenure with the Bulldogs, Vickery compiled a 156-104 record and advanced to the state quarterfinals in 1987.

"I was fortunate to get the job there, and the reason I was there for 26 years was because we had such a great administration," Vickery said. "You're going to have some down years and stuff, and people are going to go, 'We need a new coach,' or whatever. Maybe they did, but the administration, 'We'll make that decision, it's not you.' I survived for 26 years and once I got my 30 years in, actually the last 12 years ... I was the athletic director here at Sikeston. After 30 years I thought, 'I'll go ahead and retire from the teaching part of it,' but I still wanted to coach."

Mercy is the presenting sponsor of the Semoball Awards, the area’s premier awards show recognizing student-athletes and coaches in Southeast Missouri.

Vickery ended up assisting Terry Flannigan, who was the coach at Scott City, after he left Sikeston. Vickery was inducted into the Missouri Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2004 before returning to his alma mater once again.

"In my first year out, coach Terry Flannigan, who was an assistant for me here at Sikeston, he became the head coach at Scott City," Vickery said. "Chaffee was not open, so I went to Scott City and helped him for a year.

"I said, 'Well, Coach, what if things aren't going good? Are you going to take back over?' He said, 'No, that won't happen,' so he and I got along perfectly. We had a good group that went 8-2, then the next year I went to Chaffee."

The Red Devils had lost 24-straight games heading into Vickery's first season back and had gone 3-37 in the previous four years.

Chaffee went 0-10 again in 2005 before defeating Grandview 43-14 to open the 2006 season. He also helped lead the Red Devils to a winning season in 2007 and their first victory over rival Scott City in 21 years. In 2013, he helped lead the Red Devils to nine wins, a conference championship and a playoff berth.

"In '13 We really had some good players. I mean, all the way up and down through the lineup," Vickery said. "We won the conference again and won nine games. Our quarterback got hurt and we didn't go as far as we wanted to, but it was fun."

Vickery stepped down as a head coach in 2016 and has since spent time as an assistant at Malden and Scott City.

"I thought it was time (to step down)," Vickery said. "I've been able to call plays and run the offense and stuff because the coaches have allowed me to do that. I still don't feel much different than being the head coach except I don't have to do all the paperwork and all the stuff a head coach has to do."

Vickery has maintained his competitiveness and although he knows he will have to give up coaching sooner than later, he isn't sure when he will step away from the game.

"You will know when you're done, and it's definitely closer than further away," Vickery said. "You just you never know what's going to happen, and hopefully you keep your health and everything like that. But I couldn't tell you."

The 2022 Semoball Awards presented by SoutheastHEALTH will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday at LaCroix Church in Cape Girardeau.