Gene Rhodes was a coach of presence and principle | Tim Sullivan

Gene Rhodes made his exit remembered as a man who could make an entrance.

The former coach of the Kentucky Colonels, who previously led St. Xavier High School to the 1958 Kentucky state basketball title, died Saturday at age 90 following a relatively short illness and a long, vivid life.

“You talk about a guy who had presence when he walked in the room,” said Mike Pollio, a student manager for Rhodes at St. X. “(Former player) Bill Heavrin said he felt like he wanted to genuflect when he went into the room.”

In a time more tolerant of autocratic coaches, Rhodes taught basketball with a demanding, disciplined and detail-oriented style. Former Courier Journal columnist Billy Reed remembered him Saturday as “very volatile and headstrong; he had some Bobby Knight in him." 

Pollio also described Rhodes as "volatile," but he interpreted the coach's decision to send four players home between the quarterfinals and semifinals of the 1958 tournament as a matter of principle rather than pique.

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Having ordered his players to avoid socializing with outsiders in the team's hotel rooms, Rhodes opened a door to find four sophomores conversing with girls from another school. Instead of looking the other way in the interests of team depth, the coach told  his players to pack their things. 

Despite playing with a shortened bench, St. X beat Monticello in the state semifinal, 58-48, then dispatched Daviess County in the championship game, 60-49.

“He was tough, but he was fair,” said Eddie Schnurr, a guard on the 1958 team.  “He expected a lot out of you. We had tough practices. Sometimes, I thought we knew the opponent’s offense better than they did...

“I always felt at least 10 teams had better talent, but the reason we won was Gene Rhodes.”

“He made everyone better,” Pollio said. “You don’t have to say anything else about anybody if you can say that.”

A high school teammate of Ralph Beard, Rhodes played on Male High School’s 1945 state championship team and subsequently starred on three Ohio Valley Conference champions at Western Kentucky University, where he also won four letters as a baseball pitcher. Drafted by the NBA’s Indianapolis Olympians, Rhodes played one season of professional basketball before that franchise folded in 1953.

Reed said Rhodes effectively “forfeited” a second state championship at St. X by resigning abruptly prior to the 1962 season  in a dispute over the extent of his classroom responsibilities. Returning to WKU, he served as an assistant to John Oldham during the Clem Haskins era and prior to the founding of the American Basketball Association.

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Rhodes would become the Colonels’ second head coach, replacing John Givens after a 5-12 start during the franchise’s inaugural season (1967-68), and he compiled a record of 128-110 in parts of four seasons. When he was fired, in 1970, the Colonels were in first place with a 10-5 record.

“He knew that he had been fired when he coached the last game at Freedom Hall,” Dan Issel recalled. “We won the game and he walked straight out the back door, never came in the locker room. He walked off the court, and down the ramp and right out the back door.’’

Funeral arrangements were incomplete as of Saturday afternoon.  

Here follow the week's Top 10 sports quotes:

10. Wil Myers, San Diego Padres first baseman, on himself: “One of the things I struggled with was dealing with my failure. . .It’s never been the tools. It’s never been the talent. I think I’m too talented to be an average player in the big leagues.” (@MartyCaswell on Twitter)

9. Mark Gastineau, former New York Jets star, on the effects of his brain diseases: "My wife, she and I used to go around and do yard work. But you know what? She does everything now for me.

"It's not good, it's not good. When I'm laying in bed until three, four, or five [in the afternoon], it's not good. There will be days I get up and I'm good. ... My wife will tell you, she helps me get out of bed...and she'll help me remember names." (WOR radio)

8. Gerald Delp, son of trainer Bud Delp, on the death of Spectacular Bid’s jockey, Ronnie Franklin: “He was a little guy, but he thought he was as big as Muhammad Ali. I remember we were in a bar in New Orleans one time and he got into it with a guy who was about 6-foot-6. Ronnie was a guy you wanted to have in your corner.” (Baltimore Sun)

7. Brandel Chamblee, Golf Channel analyst, on Tiger Woods: “He's just re-created himself. I don't even recognize him anymore. He's not driving the ball great, that's for sure. That's not there, that hasn't come back. But my goodness, he's turned into Seve Ballesteros — he's a magician out there." (ESPN’s Golic and Wingo)

6. Jake Plummer, former NFL quarterback, on Colin Kaepernick: "I think that (the owners are) all scared, and that they’re uneducated on him as a person and what he wants to do. I don’t know if he wants to play for organizations run by scared, kind of bigoted people that don’t understand what it’s like to be in the shoes of someone like him and to see the things he’s seen and to relate to the people that go through the atrocities of what everyday people deal with.” (Denver Post)

5. Steve Francis, retired NBA All-Star, on his youth: “I’m not trying to glorify dealing drugs. Ain’t no glory in it. But you gotta understand where I come from, and when. I grew up in D.C. in the ’80s during the crack epidemic. Don’t ever call it the crack era. It was an epidemic. Crack devastated our entire community. It was like a plague, man. I watched it. I lived it. I sold it.

“My very first memory in life is visiting my father in the federal pen on Cookout Day, and having a police officer take me and my mother into a little holding room. They strip-searched both of us. I was like three years old. Didn’t matter.” (The Players Tribune)

4. Terry Francona, Cleveland Indians manager, on baseball’s emphasis on launch angle:  “(Corey) Kluber’s throwing down and away. If you’re trying to get the ball up in the air, then the next thing you should start thinking about is exit velocity. And that’s how fast you’re going to leave the batter’s box and go back to the dugout.” (@MLBastian on Twitter)

3. Derrius Guice, LSU running back, on NFL combine questions: ''It was pretty crazy. Some people are really trying to get in your head and test your reaction. . .I go in one room, and a team will ask me 'do I like men,' just to see my reaction. I go in another room, they'll try to bring up one of my family members or something and tell me, 'Hey, I heard your mom sells herself. How do you feel about that?' " (Sirius XM Late Hits)

2. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M football coach, on committed recruits: “When you're 18 years old and never been across the world and somebody says I can take you five different trips, how many of y'all wouldn't go on five free vacations? You have to look at it in their perspective and they've never been sometimes out of their own hometown or been anywhere. . .

"I always ask them this, 'When you get married and she says yes, but says I'm going to go on two more dates, are you going to let her?" (Interview session)

1.  Bill Raftery, CBS basketball analyst, on whether he considered joining Twitter: “No, and I’ll tell you why. Because at 11:30 at night when I’ve had my 10th drink, I’m liable to say something that will cost me my job.” (@JimmyTraina on Twitter)

Tim Sullivan: 502-582-4650; tsullivan@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @TimSullivan714. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/tims.