ASU Coach Messbarger Remembered for Professionalism, Paternal Nature

Known on paper for his many victories, earning him the title of all-time winningest coach for Angelo State University men’s basketball, Ed Messbarger is more remembered by former players and colleagues as a coach who cared immensely, not only about his profession, but about the many players who he mentored and coached.

Messbarger, who retired from ASU in 1998 but never left his adopted home of San Angelo, died Monday at the age of 81. Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Johnson’s Funeral Home and Funeral Mass will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Holy Angels.

“I always thought the measure of a coach is how many of their former athletes keep in touch with them after they have graduated and gone on,” said Kathleen Brasfield, former ASU volleyball coach and athletic director. “And his former players all stayed very close to him. He was much more than a coach to them. He was a surrogate father and a friend.”

Former ASU point guard Matt Conrad said that sentiment exactly sums up his relationship with Messbarger and his wife Jane.

“You know, Coach got sick around Thanksgiving and because I live here I was able to go visit him quite a bit,” said Conrad, who is a native of Chicago but chose to make San Angelo his home after his playing days were over. “With the way things are today and everyone is connected through the internet, the word about him being sick spread around quickly and he’s had ex-players coming in literally from all over the world to check on him, see how he’s doing.”

Conrad said that a player from Messbarger’s days as coach at the University of Dallas, more than 45 years ago, had also taken the time to visit his former coach during his illness.

“The players had a lot of respect for him and for Jane. They were like a second mother and father to many of us,” Conrad said.

Conrad was one of a number of players Messbarger recruited from the Chicago area, many of whom, like Conrad, chose to stay in West Texas’ version of the “windy city.”

“When I was playing up in the Chicago area, Tom McMann was the guy who recruited a bunch of us, and everybody knew it was the guy from Texas to come to see me play,” Conrad remembered.

But being so far away from home, Conrad and his fellow Chicagoans really appreciated how much of a family the Messbargers became to him. “He and his wife are Godparents to our daughter.”

Mike Kotze, a native of South Africa and one of Messbarger’s last players, could certainly relate to Conrad’s comments.

“That’s exactly the term I was thinking of this morning,” said Kotze. “My parents are deceased for quite some time, and being here, across an ocean from home, without any family, he definitely played that role.

“He has been like family to us, me and my wife and kids. All the ball players that came through the years, they have stayed in touch with him. He’s probably been to more weddings and kids’ birthday parties than anybody. Just a great, great man.”

Kotze remembers Thanksgivings at the Messbargers.

“All the players would come over for Thanksgiving,” he said. “There would be 10-12 guys sitting on the floor watching the football game. It was my first-ever Thanksgiving — we don’t celebrate that in South Africa.”

Kotze saw the last of Messbarger’s years, having played just one season for him before his retirement. He said Messbarger would mention over the years that he wished he remained the coach long enough to finish out with Kotze.

“But I told him, ‘Coach, that’s not important. You brought me to this country, I met my wife here, and my wonderful kids, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.’ ”

According to ASU, Messbarger won 267 games while at ASU and coached the Rams to two Lone Star Conference titles and was named league Coach of the Year in 1984 and 1988. He retired in 1998 with a career record of 665-515. At the time of his retirement, he ranked third in Division II in victories and second in all of the NCAA in coaching appearances.

He is a member of the respective halls of fame for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), St. Mary's University (San Antonio) and Northwest Missouri State and was inducted into the LSC Hall of Honor in 2006.

Respect from peers is another way to interpret the legacy of a man.

“It’s hard to put into words all he meant [to ASU],” said former ASU basketball coach and athletic director Phil George. “He was totally consistent and very dedicated to his profession. He was a very competitive person and that showed when he was on the sidelines. He was a joy to be around….He was a hard worker and had a real concern and love for his players. He really was a special person.

“I have so much love and respect and admiration for him and he deserves all the accolades,” said George, who was the longtime men’s basketball coach immediately before Messbarger took over the program.

The Angelo State family during the 1980s and late 1990s was very consistent, as coaches Jerry Vandergriff, Messbarger, Brasfield and George were mainstays in the athletic department. One could not walk into the athletic department offices without running into George, who was the athletic director from 1968-1986.

Vandergriff first joined the ASU family as a quarterback and then returned to coach under such legendary head coaches as Grant Teaff and Jim Hess. He spent several years as the team's offensive coordinator, including the 1978 team that compiled a 14–0 record and won the NAIA National Championship.

Vandergriff was already on the staff when the more-experienced Messbarger came from San Antonio.

“Ed was a great asset, you name it and he knew it about coaching,” Vandergriff said. “A lot of people don’t understand all that goes into coaching. There are the times you teach class, times you’re raising money and when you get through with all that, you coach. It’s a multi-faceted job and Ed was a master at it. I learned a tremendous amount from Ed.”

Later when Vandergriff was named athletic director, he became Messbarger’s boss. But he made Vandergriff’s job as head of the entire athletic department, an easy one where basketball was concerned.

“I’m not sure anybody was ever Ed’s boss,” Vandergriff said with a laugh. “But that was just a title. Nothing ever changed between Ed and me. Everybody had a job to do. Ed was such a veteran professional, literally, and it was a great joy to work with him.”

It was that fall of 1978 when Messbarger, already a veteran collegiate coach, and Brasfield, a veteran in the high school coaching ranks, were hired at ASU.

“He was very passionate about what he did,” recalled Brasfield, who was the women’s athletic director starting in 1982 and was overall athletic director from 2004 to 2012. “He put his whole heart, all of his energy, into his job.”

A native of St. Joseph, Mo., Messbarger began his collegiate coaching career in 1957 at Benedictine Heights in Tulsa, Okla. After three seasons there, he moved on to the University of Dallas. Messbarger then moved to St. Mary's College — now St. Mary’s University — in 1963. He was named NAIA National Coach of the Year in 1974. During his time at St. Mary's, Messbarger led the Rattlers to a 281-140 record, and posted seven 20-win campaigns with only two losing seasons.

According to a release from the St. Mary’s athletic department, Messbarger led the Rattlers to 279 victories — a slight discrepancy from the numbers reported by ASU — and 13 Big State Conference titles during his tenure, which lasted from 1963 through 1978. The Rattlers advanced to the NAIA national tournament four times: 1964, 1967, 1974 and 1975.

"I am deeply honored," said Messbarger, upon his induction into the LSC Hall of Honor. "I've been strongly connected to the Lone Star Conference for 35 years. It meant a lot to me."

Messbarger was named to the NAIA hall in 1990 and St. Mary's hall in 1991. Even after his retirement from ASU, he was a mainstay in the department, coordinating the annual ASU Athletic Foundation Golf Tournament. The ASU Athletic Foundation is the main fundraising arm of the athletics department.

Messbarger is survived by his wife of 53 years, Jane, who among other endeavors was a professor in the business department at Angelo State. Ed and Jane are the parents of three children: Ed Messbarger Jr. and his wife Rita; Tisha and her husband Kyle; and Monica and her husband Richard. They have nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren, according to Conrad.

Family was important to Messbarger, Conrad said.

“One of the last things that Coach said — and Coach’s grandson is going to be a senior in high school and a really good ball player; he was there visiting his grandfather recently and talked about that he was going to work out at 5 — Coach said ‘I need to go watch him play.’ The basketball was always in him and his family.”

Messbarger himself was quoted at the time of his retirement as saying he was looking forward to spending time with his family, which amounted to about 16 years after his coaching days were over — some truly golden years that the family is appreciating today.