General | 10/10/2019 11:25:00 PM

Gary Cornelsen had a look like he came right out of the mold from central casting to be a Hollywood movie star, what with his chiseled jaw line, piercing gaze and a frock of wavy hair. But as it turns out, what the standout athlete and Texhoma, Oklahoma native for the Aggies was truly being "molded" for during his time at Oklahoma Panhandle State University, was a career as a coach in both football and track that is unequaled.
 
Weened in the college football game for his first three years at Panhandle State by Hall of Fame coach Oscar Williams, Cornelsen also excelled as a member of the track team. He was a four-year letterman (1969-73) as a defensive back for Panhandle State and earned all-conference recognition, as well as a sprinter for track.
 
The influence of his college coaches – Williams, Carroll Gribble and Tom Cross – as an Aggie is undeniable…especially when it came to Williams.
 
"Oscar Williams was my coach for three years and he did a lot of work with the defensive backs," Cornelsen reflected. "I really enjoyed doing drills and stuff for him. He really got the best out of me. He just always made me want to do better; try to get better every day. I had a real good junior year and I give (Coach Williams) credit for that.
 
"I really appreciate Coach Cross, Coach Williams, and Coach Gribble, because I feel they really gave me a great background and great stepping stones in becoming a great coach and person."
 
In that junior season of 1971, Cornelsen led the Aggie football team to what was, arguably, one of biggest victories in program history. Cornelsen would produce a pair of interceptions, as he and his Panhandle teammates would knock off the NAIA's No. 1-ranked team, Central State (Okla.), in Goodwell on Homecoming!
 
When Williams passed away in the winter of his junior year, it was an especially big blow to Cornelsen. "It was a tough time for me when he passed on," Cornelsen said. "It was a struggle after that. As a senior, it wasn't quite the same without him being there. I had such a love for him as a coach."
 
But after graduating, Cornelsen would pay the highest compliment he could to Williams, Gribble, Cross, et al., by embarking on a coaching career of his own, one in which he would both emulate and celebrate those things gleaned as an Aggie. All told, Cornelsen spent 35 years either prowling the football sidelines or standing in the middle of the infield for track and field – or sometimes both – at the high school level, with the bulk of those years at nearby Liberal (Kan.) High School.
 
And Cornelsen's story as a prep coach is one of unparalleled success, especially for the LHS Redskins. As a football head coach from 1991-2000 and 2003, he amassed a record of 118-17. His teams made trips to the state finals seven-consecutive seasons and won four championships: 1992, '94, '95 and '97. He led the LHS boy's track team to 14-consecutive crowns as its head coach and the women's program added 10 more, to give him a total of 28 state championships at Liberal. He also won a state title as the offensive coordinator for LHS in 1980. He he followed that with a pair of girl's state titles at Pampa (Texas) High School in the early 1980's, giving him a hand in a total of 31 state trophies, in all.
 
While Cornelsen – despite his cinematic-like features - may not have ever been that Hollywood movie star, he did get his "name in lights" as a coach. In 2011, the USD 480 Board of Education voted unanimously that the Liberal High School outdoor athletic facilities would bear the moniker "Gary Cornelsen Sports Complex," in tribute to the man whose name was synonymous with the word "championship" in Kansas high school athletics.
 
Despite a pedigree as both a player and coach that is hard to replicate, Cornelsen has a hard time believing that his name will now be forever etched among the greatest Aggies of all time. "It's quite an honor," Cornelsen said. "And I would never have thought that I would be considered."
 
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Cornelsen joins Carroll Gribble, Norman Deckman and Caleb Holbrook as a part of this year's inductees. The 2019 OPSU Athletics Hall of Fame dinner and ceremony takes place on Friday (Oct. 11) at 6:30 p.m. as a part of Homecoming Weekend on campus.