It’s time for the second round of elections for the Sports Movie all of Fame. Full results from the first class can be found here, but Johnny Lawrence, Ty Webb, Kelly Leak and Benny “the Jet” Rodriguez all made it on the strength of your votes. Instead of electing another class of athletes, we’re focusing on the brains behind the brawn and determining which coaches are worthy of enshrinement in the Sports Movie Hall of Fame. Take a look at their credentials below and cast your vote at the end of the post.
Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks)
Accomplishments: Three time MLB MVP, hit 534 career HR, taught children all across the country to “avoid The Clap”, totally nailed that waitress in South Bend
Hall Pitch: Dugan should be appreciated for his off-field contributions just as much for his on-field. Not only did he help popularize one of the first professional women’s sports league, he also helped the people in the stands, and all across this great nation. Without him, all our great female athletes would be running back to Oregon just before the big game to have a million babies, annoying children would be walking around with glove marks on their faces, and everyone would just assume there was crying in baseball. He emphasized the basics of the game like hitting the cutoff man and not having your #3 hitter bunt (you hear that, Dusty Baker?!). The fact that his only season of coaching did not bring home the title should not be held against him. Besides, we all know Dottie dropped that ball on purpose so Kit could feel better about herself and be the center of attention for once, right? Right?!
Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau)
Accomplishments: Pitched in the minors, got 2nd place in a highly competitive Little League, set American record for most beers drank in a 7 inning game, once went to Japan
Hall Pitch: No coach has ever done more with less than Morris Buttermaker. In fact, he took “a buncha Jews, spics, niggers, pansies, and a booger-eatin’ moron!” to the finals with only two real players (Kelly Leak and Amanda Whurlitzer). The cunning and strategy it takes to know where to put your terrible players in order to minimize their effect on the game is a skill that few managers possess (just ask Willie Randolph! HIYO!). An early proponent of child safety, he made sure that all team members wore a cup unless they were a girl. Or Catholic. Buttermaker’s prowess was not confined to the field, however. While most managers have nothing else to distract them from running their teams, Buttermaker also ran a fairly successful pool cleaning business during the season.
Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez)
Accomplishments: Finished first (coach) and second (player) in the Twin Cities Peewee Hockey League, led Team USA to the Gold Medal in the Junior Goodwill Games, invented both the Triple Deke and The Flying V, could definitely get you Charlie Sheen’s autograph (but not Martin’s)
Hall Pitch: A freak knee injury cut Bombay’s playing career short, but maybe that was a blessing after all. It forced him into the coaching box where he really started to shine. After taking the District 5 team from last place to champions in his first year as coach, he went on to defeat Iceland in the finals of the Junior Goodwill Games. Think about that: Iceland. ICEland. Their whole country is made out of the substance the game is played on (or so I’m lead to believe)! And Gordon still lead our boys to victory. A brilliant mind, Bombay excelled at getting sponsors for youth sports, keeping young prodigious egos in check, and totally nailing Charlie’s mom.
Lou Brown (James Gammon)
Accomplishments: Managed the Cleveland Indians to 2 Divisional titles leading to a World Series bid.
Hall Pitch: Lou Brown was nothing more than a part-time minor league manager in Toledo who had to supplement his income working at a tire shop when Indians GM Charlie Donovan offered him the chance to manage in the big leagues. But Lou was able to overcome a roster that seemed built to lose and less then stellar facilities to rally from the cellar in the AL and win their division in his first year. Many attribute Brown’s success to his unique style of worldly motivation. Reports of pissing on players contracts as well as using his own heart attack as a motivational tool as it was happening during his second season are only eclipsed by the rumor of a life sized picture of Indians owner Rachel Phelps naked covered with removable sections of clothing that Brown would peel away after each win. Brown was unable to return to the bench after his heart attack but continued to provide interim Manager, Jake Taylor with inspiration as the Indians won there second divisional title.
Bill Yoast (Will Patton)
Accomplishments: Amassed a Hall of Fame worthy career as Head Coach of TC Williams; moved aside for coach Herman Boone but stayed on as Defensive Coach to help the community deal with the freshly desegregated climate; helped Coach Boone lead the Titans to a perfect season and the Virginia State Title.
Hall Pitch: Coach Yoast was a Hall of Fame coach before the 1971 High School football season. He was a shoe-in. But when TC Williams was forced to desegregate Yoast lost his position to the African-American Herman Boone. Boone offered an assistant position in charge of the defense that Yoast eventually accepted. From there these two men led the Titans to a perfect record and the State Championship game. When the good ole boy contingent attempted to fix the game so that Boone would be embarrassed, it was Bill Yoast who threatened to blow the whistle on the whole situation. After the game, Yoast was approached by community officials and told they had conducted a “straw poll” and he had just lost himself the Hall of Fame. Well, I think we need to do our own little straw poll and I expect it will be quite a different story.
Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall)
Accomplishments: Crew chief for not just 1 but 2 rookie sensations in Cole Trickle and Russ Wheeler. He also built the cars for Tim Daland’s team as well as the Daytona 500 winning car for Rowdy Burns team.
Hall Pitch: Harry Hogge is another guy that almost quit too soon. After years as crew chief for Buddy Bretherton, Hogge retired from racing when Buddy was killed during the last lap at Daytona. One year later, rookie owner Tim Daland approached Hogge and convinced him to get back into NASCAR. Without a driver, Hogge and Daland took on a young open-wheel driver named Cole Trickle. Hogge was able to make this driver understand the intricacies of stock car racing and Trickle became a powerhouse in NASCAR winning 5 of six races before getting injured. Daland hired another young unknown named Russ Wheeler while Trickle is unable to race. Wheeler has the same overwhelming success while working with Hogge (proving it’s not the driver) and secures his own sponsor just in time for Trickle’s return. After an accident at North Wilkesboro that destroys both of Daland’s cars Trickle’s team is fired, including Hogge. Both Trickle and Hogge move on to set up and drive the #51 Chevy of Rowdy Burns at the beginning of the next season, winning Daytona.
Chester Lee (Rodney Dangerfield)
Accomplishments: Winning a girls youth soccer league by cheating so boldly and brazenly that Tim Donaghy was jealous, ensuring Jonathan Brandis would need a lifetime of counseling (and that’s just the infamous dressing room incident).
Hall Pitch: A spot in any Hall of Fame normally isn’t reserved for youth coaches, but Chester Lee is the exception. To get ahead in his run-of-the-mill corporate job, he decides to coach a girls soccer team. Instead of encouraging his batch of subpar players and accepting defeat, his will to win was so strong that he convinces the best player he can find to dress up in drag. Of course, he dominates but is eventually discovered… but Chester leads his team to victory anyway. Ignore the fact he was quite possibly a raging pedophile.
Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith)
Accomplishments: Discovered “The Italian Stallion” Rocky Balboa as a no name and led him to a championship, devised effective, old school training methods to inspire underdogs everywhere
Hall Pitch: It takes a special manager to guide a two-bit brawler from fighting hobos to standing toe-to-toe with the Champion of the World, “The Master of Disaster” Apollo Creed. But it takes a genius to take what could be a fluke and drive him to be a long-reigning heavyweight champion. Mick was incredibly quotable and left this world the way any old man would, scuffling with an uppity punk kid.
John Kreese (Martin Kove)
Accomplishments: Popularizing karate in the Valley, creating a stable of world class martial artists, striking first, striking hard and giving no mercy
Hall Pitch: In the mid-80′s, no dynasty had a stranglehold on their sport like Cobra Kai on the All-Valley Karate Tournament. Not only did they typically produce the champion (Johnny Lawrence), you could place a bet on the fact they’d produce roughly 50% of the Quarter and Semi-finals in any given year. That, my friends, is true dominance. Without Sensei Kreese’s take no prisoners approach, his students would be average orange belts, toiling in obscurity and being mocked by football players. Instead, they’re the big men on campus that answer to nobody.
Norman Dale (Gene Hackman)
Accomplishments: Coached small town basketball team full of white guys to the 1954 Indiana State title, gave the town drunk a chance, owner of a “checkered past”.
Hall Pitch: Hickory High basketball coach Norman Dale was brought in after the death of Hickory’s previous coach. For reasons unknown, the hiring was a controversial one. Coach Dale was able to win the state title with 7 players and the occasional appearance by the team manager all because he focused on the fundamentals of defense and team play. His motivational speeches before games, at halftime, and during crucial timeouts in crunch time were the stuff of legend. Dale brought his team of hayseed bumpkins to the highest level of play, all while dealing with Barbara Hershey’s incessant nagging. That right there should be more than enough to earn him all your votes. Please disregard the fact that his team disagreed with the game winning play call in the final seconds and that ultimately he changed the play call to go to Jimmy Chitwood.
Tony D’Amato (Al Pacino)
Accomplishments: As coach and GM of the Miami Sharks, D’Amato led the team to “success” for several decades, took the Sharks to the AFFA Championship Cup in 1999 with a 3rd string quarterback.
Hall Pitch: Tony D’Amato was one of the few coaches of a bygone era still scrapping in the 24 hour sports news cycle/meddling owner/prima donna athlete era. He and Cap Rooney were able to create football magic for years. Then when Cap got injured, coach D’Amato molded a raw third string quarterback into a game changer. It was the melding of old and new, vanilla and chocolate (double entendre!), pass and scramble, etc. This guy is the epitome of a hall of fame coach. With the continual carousel of head coaches in the professional leagues a tenure of D’Amato’s truly stands out. D’Amato belongs with the Landry’s, the Noll’s, and the Shula’s.
Pete Bell (Nick Nolte)
Accomplishments: Never had a losing season at Western University (until the start of Blue Chips), tried his best to play by the rules in a corrupt recruiting world
Hall Pitch: In the slimy realm of college basketball recruiting Pete Bell tried his best to stay on the right side of the line. But the “rules” were changing and Bell was used to winning on his own terms. Initially, he bristled at the idea of buying off players and their parents. It went against everything he’d worked his life to accomplish. But the lure of winning again (he’d just completed his first losing season in his entire career) was just too much. He allowed boosters to give houses, cars, tractors, and bags of cash to the best recruits so that he could win again. But Bell knew it wasn’t right. And he came out and said so at a press conference after a big win. All he needed was a little prodding by Al Bundy, investigative journalist extraordinaire. That kind of soul-baring takes some serious stones. He may have disgraced his career, but he came clean in the end. Contrary to what Neon’s mom philosophy “A foul is not a foul, unless the ref blows his whistle,” coach knew he had to do the right thing.
Where the heck is Coach Taylor?
What about player/coach Reg Dunlop?
I agree, Reggie Dunlap did it all.
Jimmy Dolan from the Air up There? Coach Wally Rig from cinematic classic Necessary Roughness?
Hold up, what about Manager Joe Riggins and Coach Larry Hockett from Bull Durham? Best locker room speech ever.
“What’s our record?”
“8 and 16″
“How’d we ever win 8?”
“It’s miracle.”
Then the lollygagging and the “this is a simple game…”
Priceless
How is Bud Kilmer left off this list? He is not exactly a player’s coach but he does what it takes to win. 22 straight district titles? Unprecedented…
His statue stands outside the West Caanan football stadium to this day. He will always be a legend throughout Texas high school football.
Reggie Dunlop is definitely an oversight. And what about Billy Heywood. He was only 12 years old when he took the Twins within a playoff of the division title.
Reggie Dunlop not only coached, but played as well! He should definitely be there!
How can you have Yoast from Remember the Titans and not Boone? From the “run a mile” to the “martin and lewis” to my favorite, the underrated “Well I’m very happy to have the approval of a 5 year old.”
Jonathan Brandis didn’t just need a lifetime of counseling he actually went on to commit suicide in real life.
Where the hell is Reggie Dunlop? You put Chester Lee in here and no Reggie Dunlop?
“Put some blood on there, put some tits in it. For Christ sakes, put the fu%$in map of Florida in the background!”
Dunlap got screwed…old time hockey boys…eddie shore
What about James Caan as Coach Winters from The Program? He chose to bring back a cheating douchebag back-up QB Bobby Collins, who was also defiling his daughter, rather than lose four straight games while his starting QB was in rehab. That’s a commitment to winning.
I had to go Jimmy Dugan. Not only did he do all of those things you mentioned, but he took the second-longest on screen leak ever, behind only Austin Powers.
One error above – it was Butch MacRae’s mother, and not Neon Bodeaux’s, that said “It’s not a foul unless the referee blows his whistle.”
Had to give my vote to Morris Buttermaker. Not only did he bring his team of functional retards back from an opening day 26-0 shellacking at the hands of Roy Turner’s well-oiled Yankee machine, but he also had to deal with shoddy equipment provided by a bitch of an equipment manager, favoritism among the umpires, and two players that didn’t even speak English. Any coach that can face that much adversity and still win a pennant is an automatic hall of famer in my book.