End of an Era

I could tell there was something on Wendell Simmons' mind when he sat down in my office last week. Sure enough, Wendell soon spilled the news that he had decided to retire at the end of the 2010 baseball season.

So sometime soon -- probably in late April unless the Bronchos mount a late charge to qualify for the Lone Star Conference Tournament in early May -- a UCO coaching icon will move to the sidelines. The end of an era.

Wendell came to UCO in 1992 after a lengthy high school career spent mostly at Edmond Memorial High School. A Central graduate, it didn't take him long to turn the Bronchos into a conference and national power.

UCO had five straight losing seasons before Wendell took over in 1992 and the Bronchos made it to the national tournament in just his third year at the helm. That 1994 team won the program's first-ever Lone Star Conference title and finished 39-14 in establishing UCO as a legitimate national threat.

The Bronchos upset No. 1 seed Delta State in the first round of the South Central Regional and then pulled off one of the most remarkable comebacks I've ever seen in any sport at any level, overcoming a 15-2 deficit to beat Southern Colorado 19-17.

UCO lost twice to Delta State in coming up short of a Division II World Series berth, but three years later Wendell would get his team to that event in Montgomery, Ala. That was indeed a memorable time and we made it all the way to the finals in 1997, taking a lead into the bottom of the ninth inning before two errors prevented us from winning the national championship.

It was a crushing loss, even for me. But I'll never forget going up to Wendell after the game and him saying "I've won games like that and lost 'em the same way. That's baseball." I know he had to be hurting inside, but he showed incredible grace and humility in the face of such a devastating defeat.

Wendell won hundreds of more games and took numerous teams to the national playoffs, winning 40-plus games seven times. He'll leave UCO with nearly 650 wins and he's won well over 1,000 games in a remarkable 34-year coaching career.

I know he'll miss being around the sport he loves and invested so much of his life to, but hopefully he'll come back from time to time and walk through my office to check on me like he does most mornings.

Thanks, Wendell, from one Broncho to another.