Longtime Denver-area high school coach Dick Yates died Saturday morning at a hospice in Wheat Ridge from complications of bone cancer. He was 84.
He built a baseball dynasty while coaching at Denver South. The Rebels won three consecutive Class AA state championships, the last in 1960.
Yates, born in Denver in 1926, attended South High School. He became a teacher/coach in the Denver Public Schools after graduating from the University of Denver, where he played football. His nickname at DU was the Little Monster — he played guard on offense as well as linebacker, and the nickname grew out of his size, which was about 165 pounds.
When John F. Kennedy High School opened in 1966, Yates left his job at South High for the new school to became its first baseball coach and later helped coach the football team.
As a head coach in baseball and football, Yates’ teams won 18 city championships, eight state championships and two regional championships. He officially retired in 1985 after 35 years.
Yates was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
Yates is survived by his five children: sons Steve, Scott and Shanon and daughters Sandy and Sharron. Scott Yates is the longtime football coach at Kent Denver High; Shanon played football at the Air Force Academy. Although he had retired, Dick Yates helped out his son with coaching at Kent Denver, where his grandson played through last season.
Services are pending.
