Longtime Lexington Coach Tom Beck was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame on February 1, which is a very prestigious honor. Tom coached track, football and wrestling each year at Lexington High School for a total of 30 years, and during that time he was an instrumental part of a total of 9 State Championship teams in those three sports combined, along with numerous Conference and District Championship teams. Tom was also the leader of the weightlifting program at Lexington high School, which played a key role in the physical development of many of the school’s athletes. I interviewed Coach Beck recently, and following are his answers to the questions that I asked him .

What encouraged you to come teach and coach at Lexington? I did my student teaching at Lexington High School, and Coach Rector and Coach Hayes allowed me to be a part of the football program during that time. I enjoyed working with both of them, and I liked the school, so I applied for a teaching and coaching opening in the school, and the rest is history.

During the 27 years when you were head track coach, how were you so successful in getting a large number of students to come out for track? It wasn’t just me. All of the high school coaches encouraged our kids to come out for track, because we all knew that if our kids worked hard in track, they would normally become faster, and improve many of their other athletic skills.

What was the secret for you, Coach Gil Rector and Coach Tom Hayes all working so well together for so many years? Those two were my mentors, as I learned so much from both of them, and respected them both very highly. We all had the same basic philosophy, as we all worked hard and tried to do things the right way. We normally communicated well with each other, and if we had a disagreement, we would not get mad, but we would always talk and work it out.

You were an assistant football coach for 30 years and a big part of 5 State Championship Teams, and you later served as head coach for 4 years, and one of your teams won a District Title. Our 2010 team won a District Championship, which I was very proud of. We lost to Hamilton in a close quarterfinal game, and we felt our team was not far from advancing to the State Championship game. We finished second in the district the year before.

You were an assistant wrestling coach and were a big part of the 1976 State Championship team, and you were then the head coach for 14 years, with two of your teams placing second in the state. We placed second at State in 1990 and 1991, and we had several individual State Champions, and many very talented wrestlers on those teams. Because of that, we had some very spirited and competitive practices, where those good wrestlers would compete against each other, and they all made each other better.

You were a leader in getting the weightlifting program started and developed at the High School. How did the program evolve? We started emphasizing weightlifting in the 70s, and it really took off and got bigger in the early to mid 80s. We started our program with a weight machine in a very small room, and we advanced to free weights and a larger weight room. All of our coaches sold our athletes on the fact that weightlifting was a key to being a good athlete, and the kids really bought in. I taught weightlifting classes, and almost all of our athletes and many other students wanted to take the class.

Your leadership in the weight room and your ability to get students to come out for track really played a key role in helping our athletes get bigger, faster and stronger. All of our coaches deserve a lot of credit for getting our kids to work hard in the weight room. We all worked together to also convince many of our athletes to go out for track and work hard to improve their speed and other skills. I believe that those two things did greatly help our athletes get bigger, faster and stronger, which was a big reason for the success of many of our athletes and our teams in the 70s, 80s and 90s .

What was the main reason for your high level of success as a teacher and a coach? I believe that the main reason for any success that I had, was that I was normally able to develop a positive personal relationship with many of our athletes, as well as other students. that I worked with. I tried to communicate with many of them on a regular basis, and I did my best to get to know them, both inside and outside of school. I believe that most of the kids liked me, but most importantly, I feel that they truly respected and trusted me. I still stay in contact with many of my former athletes and other students.

What does it mean to you to be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame? It means a lot to me to know that others feel that I did a good job in my career. The main thing is that I hope that I was a positive influence in the lives of the young people that I worked with. I could not have done it without the strong support of my family. I always knew that my kids, Stephanie, Monica, Laurie and Greg, strongly supported me, and my wife Jan, she was my best supporter and is my best friend. We will celebrate our 60th Wedding anniversary this coming September, and I don’t know how she has put up with me for this long.