Jim Yakel’s coaching career touches lives in 8 decades

Holyoke junior high boys basketball looks a little different on the personnel side of things this year. Jim Yakel has retired from a career spent coaching the sport he is most passionate about — basketball.

“I have coached in eight different decades,” he said, recalling that his parents bought him a basketball when he was a sixth grader in Gering, Nebraska. He put a rim up on the garage, and sometimes one or two friends would come over to shoot baskets with him.

He didn’t participate in organized sports until he played football and basketball as a freshman in high school. He was eventually cut from the basketball team.

“I wanted to make sure I didn’t get cut again,” Yakel said, pointing out that this motivated him to get better at the sport. After getting cut, he played on town teams in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and he became a good ball handler and a fair shooter.

Yakel had a scholarship to play football at Nebraska Junior College in Scottsbluff, now known as Western Nebraska Community College. After graduating in 1956, he worked in the Lake Alice School District in Nebraska.

During his two years there, he coached eight or nine boys who ranged from junior high to high school sophomores in age. “We played anybody we could get games with,” he said.

In 1958, Yakel went to Colorado State College, now the University of Northern Colorado, in Greeley to continue his elementary education coursework. He taught sixth grade in Scottsbluff from 1959-68. During that time, he coached fifth and sixth grade basketball teams for three or four years.

He then pursued his master’s in school administration at Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska.

“They still have that name,” Yakel said with

a laugh, pointing to the fact that other schools he attended have since changed their names.

After getting his master’s, Yakel worked as the elementary school principal in Bayard, Nebraska. He helped form junior high basketball teams that played other teams in the county, and he was an assistant high school basketball coach there for three years.

After 10 years in Bayard, Yakel resigned and moved to Holyoke in the fall of 1977, where he was principal of Holyoke Elementary School until his retirement in 2001.

Yakel said that when he came to Holyoke, the junior high girls basketball program hadn’t yet gotten off the ground. They had been unable to find a coach, so Yakel filled in as the coach for a year.

“I filled in whenever they needed a basketball coach,” he said. He started a peewee basketball program that allowed fifth and sixth graders a chance to play, and they competed in tournaments in Colorado and Nebraska.

He said he always liked when the school district hired teachers who could also coach since they’re close to the kids and can establish camaraderie. He specifically remembers hiring John Baumgartner, who he was quick to say continues to be a fine coach to this day.

In the 1990s, Yakel said he helped coach junior high boys basketball for three or four years, and he has been head coach of the team for the past six years.

Yakel said retirement has been on his mind for the last three years. “I knew I was going to retire but just didn’t know when,” he said.

He was quick to point out that his wife, Virginia, always supported him when he said he was going to coach again.

“Being able to work with kids was one of the things I really enjoyed,” Yakel said. “I enjoyed every minute of it. There were some obstacles and bumps in the road. I missed kids after retiring in 2001. I enjoyed being with them and working with parents in all shapes and forms.”

He said there weren’t a lot of peaks and valleys in his coaching career, but there are some things that stick out in his memory.

He remembers coaching a team that his granddaughter, Stefani Razo, was on, and the team didn’t win a single game. He also remembers watching as another granddaughter, Sarah Razo, had success on the Holyoke High School girls basketball team until the postseason was eventually canceled due to COVID-19 in the spring of 2020.

However, he does remember some recent successes. He said that last year, Akron beat the Holyoke junior high boys by 19 points in their regular season matchup. Akron went on to win the western division of the conference, and Holyoke the eastern division.

The Holyoke team made adjustments to play against Akron and came away with the victory in the conference championship. Holyoke also won the conference championship two years ago and was the runner-up in the conference three years ago.

“I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I had great boys and great assistant coaches.” He added that he really appreciates having worked with assistant coach Aaron Sprague, noting that they worked very well together.

One of the many things Yakel enjoyed about coaching was seeing the way players gained skills and grew.

He said he remembers telling struggling players that they may not be as good as they want to be yet, but if they work hard they can make varsity, and if they work really hard they can make the starting lineup.

Yakel smiled as he reminisced about players who went from clumsy basketball players to the starting lineup after they put in the time and the hard work it took to increase their skills.

“You’re not just here to play basketball,” he remembered saying to past teams, “you’re here to be part of a culture. If you’re solid in the classroom, then you’ll be solid here. Let’s step forward and be leaders.” He added that he wanted them to be able to go into another program after his and be a benefit to the community.

“Our basketball team was a tribe, a family,” he said, noting that he wanted the players to see it like that too and help each other.

“All kids want to know the parameters of discipline,” he said. “I am not Yakel to you,” he recalled saying to teams he coached over the years, “I’m either Coach or Mr. Yakel. I will earn that respect.”

Yakel ultimately got to spend many years combining two things he loves: basketball and working with kids. “I did set the bar high, but they got a lot of pats on the back and vocal encouragement,” he said. “I always wanted to make it so they enjoyed it too.”