When a school gets a reputation for prominence in a certain sport, it’s usually because of a coach such as Bob Chavez.
For 30 years starting in 1959, Chavez coached the boys basketball team at Glenwood Springs High School, and the Demons became a beacon for basketball on the Western Slope.
The Demons went to the state tournament in Denver 19 times in those 30 years, winning three state championships, finishing as runners-up four times and winning three consolation titles.
Chavez became a symbol of quality for his players. He didn’t force-feed the game to his athletes and encouraged them to go out for other sports. When he hears that Glenwood Springs became known as a basketball school, he quickly reminds that the Demons have had some prominent football teams.
But even so, when basketball was ruling the winter months, it became a big story when Glenwood Springs could claim an individual state wrestling champion. All three of his sons, Rob, Rick and Mike played football at Glenwood Springs, but only Rob and Rick played basketball.
“My best coaching trait was being a motivator,” said Chavez, 73. “I jumped around a lot on the bench when I first started. But I enjoyed practice more than the games. That’s when I could talk to the players. When you got to the games, it was time to show what you had done during the week.”
Chavez considers himself more of a student of the game than a player. He played at Holy Trinity High School in Trinidad and Pueblo Junior College, but wasn’t a prominent player at Western State.
“I was 5-foot-11 and good enough to play in high school and junior college, but my best sport at Western State was track and field,” Chavez said. “I learned so much from Harry Simmons when I played for him in junior college.”
While Chavez didn’t want his players to focus just on basketball, he built his program’s foundation on the town’s youngsters as early as the third and fourth grade.
“If you don’t know the fundamentals, you can’t play the game,” Chavez said. “I wanted my players to play hard, have enthusiasm for the game, make sacrifices to play the game well, but do all that and have fun as well.”
He even had a hand in the beginning of the girls basketball program at Glenwood Springs.
Harlan Spencer, an assistant coach with the boys team for 20 years, became the head coach for the girls team. Spencer and Chavez added a section for girls to their summer instructional camps. To acknowledge the glory days, the school’s basketball playing site has been named Chavez and Spencer Gymnasium.
The Demons became fixtures when the entire state tournament was played in Denver and the Class AA division was competitive with the likes of coach Dick Katte and Denver Christian and coach Lee Roy Needens and the Brush Beetdiggers. The 1979 Demons were Chavez’s only unbeaten team.
Of his players, Tom Vidakovich, who went on to play at Colorado State, might be the most remembered.
“(Chavez’s) enthusiasm was unbelievable,” Vidakovich said. “He was just a fireball. He continually told the players they could do things they didn’t think they could do. We reached goals that we didn’t think we could.”
Katte, who still coaches at Denver Christian, remembers Chavez for his energy.
“He had a team manager assigned to grab his shirttail if he got too excited off the bench,” Katte said. “His enthusiasm carried over to his teams. He was one of the basketball leaders in our state in the 1960s and 1970s.”
When Chavez began at Glenwood Springs, the school had 200 students and competed at the Class A level. He finished 477-161 overall.
“Our first team came on strong at the end and took second in our league,” Chavez said. “We didn’t get anyone’s attention that year but before long, basketball became important in Glenwood. I never had a player to go on and play professional basketball, I had two go on and play Division I basketball in college, but I tried to make all of them learn something that would help them in their lives.”
Chavez retired in 1989, but continued as a substitute teacher until 1997 when he moved to Mesa, Ariz.
“I got tired of shoveling snow,” Chavez said. “I still go back for six weeks in the summer.”
His main activity when not traveling to visit family members has become golf, and he looks back with no regrets.
“I never went to school one day in 34 years that I wasn’t excited to be there,” Chavez said. “I couldn’t understand when people would say they were stressed out.”
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
