June 11, 2025 • 6 mins
Todd Walker reflects on the passing of Ohio's All-Time Winningest High School Basketball Coach, Dick Kortokrax, who passed away Saturday at the age of 91.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It is seven sixteen Limas Morning News underway for this Tuesday,
Todd Walker here. The show is brought to you by
Quick as the Week Printing. Don't forget you can save
big and get an eleven percent rebate on everything on
your next project. At Menards it is grilling season and
you can save big on a barbecue grill mat. In fact,
(00:27):
they're just ninety nine cents after rebate right now at Minard's.
Good to have you on board for a Tuesday show,
and of course with it being Tuesday, we will have
our City of Lima segment at eight fifteen. Police Chief
Jim Bakers scheduled to be with us. Sometimes Chief is
(00:50):
otherwise occupied and one of his lieutenants, if you will
actually majors in the structure of the line of Police Department,
will instead be here.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
But we are expecting the Chief here at eight p fifteen.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Of course, we have the sports stuffer to get to
here before the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Also or read's history lesson.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Also, I wanted to take time to reflect a little
bit after the passing of Dick quarter Cracks over the weekend.
We got word Saturday of Dick's passing at the age
of ninety one, and I had just recently heard that
he was feeling and doing much better and had actually
come back to home, and I was told when he
(01:34):
passed away it was surrounded by family, which is exactly
what he would prefer. That was always a big thing
for Coach Quartercracks. And got to thinking about some of
the memories over the years, and recently a lot of
you commented on the piece in the Alignment News that
John Grinrod wrote featuring me, and he asked me about
(01:57):
a lot of great memories, and I talked about coach
SEG's last game, but one of my favorite memories actually
was a game we covered with Kaleida. Of course, we
saw them several times over the years doing basketball broadcasts,
and two thousand and nine the Wildcats were back at
(02:18):
the state tournament and we did their regional championship game
at Anderson Arena. It was March twentieth of twenty nineteen,
and it had been a bit of a tough stretch
for Colyidea Basketball and the early two thousands through the
mid two thousands, and for Coach Quartercracks. You may recall
this was originally announced to be his last season and
(02:41):
then that changed in the offseason of nine to the
nine to ten season. Nonetheless, it was quite a season
for the eight to nine Colida Wildcats, and they got
to the regional final. They were taken on Toledo Christian
and they hadn't been to state since nineteen eighty eight,
and the coach Quartercracks and the Wildcats got it done,
(03:03):
beat Toledo Christian, and I was able to get my colleague.
Then you may remember him for many years here on
w IMA. Mike Miller went down on the floor. Of course,
Mike played for Dick at Ottoville, so that was even
another angle on this.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
But you know, Coach corner Cracks a lot of times.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Was pretty reserved and you know, not all that excitable,
But this may have been the most excited I ever
heard him as he talked with Mike after the game.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
This is how it sounded on WIMA.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And Mike Miller down on the floor, able to talk
with the King, Dick Quartercracks about this win number seven
eighty three in his glorious career.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
The san thing, what the name for, I'm unbelievable. I mean,
with a group of guys I had this year of
while we the cause of accomplished. I never felt so
good now. I've had some great teams to collideh but
this was a very special one because we had a
love leane years now and they got us back to
winning basketball like we were used to. And to bring
(04:06):
a team to State there a place where you go
every year, it has to be a circle to child
these guys. I've never coached a shot, so it's unbelievable.
What if fundon County means here for basketball? Well, it's
just like versus coal and so on. We beat EA
shut it up during the year, but the latter survives
has really could place the basketball because the competition have
(04:29):
a record bation. I let you go congratulates Ewart.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, that was that Dick Quartercracks on the floor at
Anderson Arena back in nine after his team won that
regional championship. And of course the last ten or fifteen
years there was various times when it looked like coach
Quartercrafts would be stepping down or be forced out, but
ultimately that waited until twenty sixteen. And of course when
(04:57):
his retirement was announced, there was a press engagement and
I was there and coach Quartercracks wrapped it up saying this.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
With the opportunity to coach forty years at any one place,
it was almost as unheard of. With the v in
theses on a profession for fifty five fifty six years,
it was almost unheard of. And to have the opportunity
to deal with the young men that I've had in
three schools and the coaches I've had the opportunity to
(05:26):
work with, including my friends Joe and Bob and my
son Rick, I just said, time to go, right, It's
time to go.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
That was Coach Quartercracks at his retirement press conference. And
you know he still wanted to coach another year at
that time, but did not make an issue of as
you heard him refer to there and Dick quarter Cracks.
Who knows how many lives he affected in a positive
way in fifty six years of coaching, and of course
(05:58):
Ohio's all time winningest coach, which with eight hundred and
ninety wins, and anybody that ever met Coach Quartercracks likely
didn't forget him. He was quite an individual and made
a huge impact over all those many years, and we
will certainly miss him, and we give our condolences to
(06:20):
the Quartocracks family. And all of us former players and
all the folks in Kaleida on the passing of quartercracks
hard to have a life with more impact and than
he'd had over his long career of coaching high school
basketball and also serving as a principal and teacher.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
And he was ad for a while also at Kaleida
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It is seven sixteen Limas Morning News underway for this Tuesday,
Todd Walker here. The show is brought to you by
Quick as the Week Printing. Don't forget you can save
big and get an eleven percent rebate on everything on
your next project. At Menards it is grilling season and
you can save big on a barbecue grill mat. In fact,
(00:27):
they're just ninety nine cents after rebate right now at Minard's.
Good to have you on board for a Tuesday show,
and of course with it being Tuesday, we will have
our City of Lima segment at eight fifteen. Police Chief
Jim Bakers scheduled to be with us. Sometimes Chief is
(00:50):
otherwise occupied and one of his lieutenants, if you will
actually majors in the structure of the line of Police Department,
will instead be here.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
But we are expecting the Chief here at eight p fifteen.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Of course, we have the sports stuffer to get to
here before the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Also or read's history lesson.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Also, I wanted to take time to reflect a little
bit after the passing of Dick quarter Cracks over the weekend.
We got word Saturday of Dick's passing at the age
of ninety one, and I had just recently heard that
he was feeling and doing much better and had actually
come back to home, and I was told when he
(01:34):
passed away it was surrounded by family, which is exactly
what he would prefer. That was always a big thing
for Coach Quartercracks. And got to thinking about some of
the memories over the years, and recently a lot of
you commented on the piece in the Alignment News that
John Grinrod wrote featuring me, and he asked me about
(01:57):
a lot of great memories, and I talked about coach
SEG's last game, but one of my favorite memories actually
was a game we covered with Kaleida. Of course, we
saw them several times over the years doing basketball broadcasts,
and two thousand and nine the Wildcats were back at
(02:18):
the state tournament and we did their regional championship game
at Anderson Arena. It was March twentieth of twenty nineteen,
and it had been a bit of a tough stretch
for Colyidea Basketball and the early two thousands through the
mid two thousands, and for Coach Quartercracks. You may recall
this was originally announced to be his last season and
(02:41):
then that changed in the offseason of nine to the
nine to ten season. Nonetheless, it was quite a season
for the eight to nine Colida Wildcats, and they got
to the regional final. They were taken on Toledo Christian
and they hadn't been to state since nineteen eighty eight,
and the coach Quartercracks and the Wildcats got it done,
(03:03):
beat Toledo Christian, and I was able to get my colleague.
Then you may remember him for many years here on
w IMA. Mike Miller went down on the floor. Of course,
Mike played for Dick at Ottoville, so that was even
another angle on this.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
But you know, Coach corner Cracks a lot of times.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Was pretty reserved and you know, not all that excitable,
But this may have been the most excited I ever
heard him as he talked with Mike after the game.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
This is how it sounded on WIMA.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
And Mike Miller down on the floor, able to talk
with the King, Dick Quartercracks about this win number seven
eighty three in his glorious career.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
The san thing, what the name for, I'm unbelievable. I mean,
with a group of guys I had this year of
while we the cause of accomplished. I never felt so
good now. I've had some great teams to collideh but
this was a very special one because we had a
love leane years now and they got us back to
winning basketball like we were used to. And to bring
(04:06):
a team to State there a place where you go
every year, it has to be a circle to child
these guys. I've never coached a shot, so it's unbelievable.
What if fundon County means here for basketball? Well, it's
just like versus coal and so on. We beat EA
shut it up during the year, but the latter survives
has really could place the basketball because the competition have
(04:29):
a record bation. I let you go congratulates Ewart.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, that was that Dick Quartercracks on the floor at
Anderson Arena back in nine after his team won that
regional championship. And of course the last ten or fifteen
years there was various times when it looked like coach
Quartercrafts would be stepping down or be forced out, but
ultimately that waited until twenty sixteen. And of course when
(04:57):
his retirement was announced, there was a press engagement and
I was there and coach Quartercracks wrapped it up saying this.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
With the opportunity to coach forty years at any one place,
it was almost as unheard of. With the v in
theses on a profession for fifty five fifty six years,
it was almost unheard of. And to have the opportunity
to deal with the young men that I've had in
three schools and the coaches I've had the opportunity to
(05:26):
work with, including my friends Joe and Bob and my
son Rick, I just said, time to go, right, It's
time to go.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
That was Coach Quartercracks at his retirement press conference. And
you know he still wanted to coach another year at
that time, but did not make an issue of as
you heard him refer to there and Dick quarter Cracks.
Who knows how many lives he affected in a positive
way in fifty six years of coaching, and of course
(05:58):
Ohio's all time winningest coach, which with eight hundred and
ninety wins, and anybody that ever met Coach Quartercracks likely
didn't forget him. He was quite an individual and made
a huge impact over all those many years, and we
will certainly miss him, and we give our condolences to
(06:20):
the Quartocracks family. And all of us former players and
all the folks in Kaleida on the passing of quartercracks
hard to have a life with more impact and than
he'd had over his long career of coaching high school
basketball and also serving as a principal and teacher.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
And he was ad for a while also at Kaleida
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