Sportsmanship and championship were Capps’ way
By Steve Williams
Mike Capps will be the recipient of the Buck Vaughn Legacy Award at the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame event on Aug. 22.
Vaughn, who passed away in 2018, was founder of the Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame in 1982 and had his hands in every part of the growth and development of the Hall as well as the Knoxville area’s Boys and Girls Club annual fund raising.
Capps, who became the Sports Camp Director at the Knoxville Boys and Girls Club in 1988, knew Vaughn.
“He was always very supportive of my Sports Program and very appreciative of the program,” said Capps, who will soon turn 71.
“I’m not technically coaching, but helping the coaches now. I’ve always been a mentor, but I’m exclusively in a mentor role now.”
Capps’ 54th year in youth sports will be coming up when signups and tryouts for basketball begin in early October.
For 51 years, he coached basketball teams. He also coached AABC Willie Mays baseball (9-10 years old) 30 years and football for 25 years.
His football coaching included the Boys Club’s Minor Pee Wees (10-year olds) and Hoppers (7-8s) and Cutters (9-year olds). He also coached some in the Baby Falcons’ program and the 9-year old Cutters at Halls with longtime coach Teddy Williams.
“That’s just why I consider myself a youth sports coach,” he said. “It was year round for me (some years) and that’s what I loved doing.”
Capps was most successful in basketball. His teams won six Junior Pro National titles, one Girls Basketball Association (12U) National championship with his Lady Pride team at Cincinnati in 2009 and one USSSA National title with his 13U Lady Pride team in 2005.
His Instructional Coed teams (ages 6-7) took first place in two Junior Pro tourneys in 2001 and 2005 and he had four other Girls Training League teams (9-10s) to come out on top in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2007.
With so many awards having been won over the years, Capps said: “I started asking my former players to be caretakers of the trophies.
“I’ve already given away two National Final Four trophies and five AAU State Championship trophies.”
Capps had four teams make it to the AAU Final Four in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2010.
Winning championships were great, but Capps’ teams also strived for Sportsmanship Awards through the years and earned that honor 95 percent of the time.
In fact, going into each tournament, Capps ranked his team’s goals: 1-Sportsmanship, 2-Play Hard, 3-Fundamental Skills and 4-Teamwork.
“We broke the huddle,” said Capps with “Play! … Hard!”
That was the recipe.
“It was for our program,” he said. “The parents as well were included in that.”
Coach Capps has been a ‘giver’ in youth sports
Shelley Sexton Collier, a point guard for the legendary Pat Summit at UT, who went on to notch multiple state championships as a high school coach at Webb School, also assisted Mike Capps when her daughters played for the Lady Pride youth basketball team.
Below are some of her memories and comments on Capps, who will receive the Buck Vaughn Legacy Award on Aug. 22 at the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame.
“There are two kinds of people … givers and takers,” said Coach Collier, who now is the head coach at Lenoir City High. “Mike Capps is definitely a giver.
“It’s hard to put into words just how special he is to me and to my family.
“All of our daughters played in his Boys and Girls Club program. Two of our daughters and me were with him in his Knoxville Girls Club Lady Pride program as well. They played and I was an assistant coach.
“The lives that he has impacted through the years in our community and beyond are truly incredible! He inspired and influenced not only players and coaches but also referees and parents. He made everyone around him better and taught people how to act appropriately. I learned so much from him. I and my family are forever grateful for him and how he has touched our life. He is definitely deserving of this award.
“There are so many moments and special memories that we have shared with Mike Capps.”
One was the Lady Pride’s battle with the West Virginia Thunder.
“They had not been beaten and we were about to upset them,” recalled Shelley. “Word had gotten out and people started coming over to our court to watch. In the heat of the moment there was a timeout and I remember him saying in the huddle to the girls, ‘Pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what you are doing, and you know what you are doing!’ We beat them and the gym was absolutely crazy!
“I love Mike Capps and everything he has stood for. He is truly one of a kind. He is a legend! You can ask anyone that played for him in his program and they will say the same.”
