Gene Bess obit

Legendary Heartland basketball coach passes away

 

He was not on the list.

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. (KFVS) - A legendary Heartland basketball coach has passed away.

According to his son Brian, Gene Bess passed away early on Friday morning, June 19.

Brian Bess said in his Facebook post that arrangements would be shared at a later time.

Gene Bess was inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2024.

He retired in 2020.

His coaching career consisted of 17 NJCAA national tournament appearances with two national championship titles.

Bess is a two-time National Coach of the Year, 19-time Missouri Community College Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, 23-time Regional Coach of the Year and the first college basketball coach at any level to reach 1,000 wins.

Bess, a native of Oak Ridge, Missouri, coached 12 years at Lesterville High School, Anniston High School, and Oran High School, recording 250 wins.

Bess went to Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, in 1970, where he spent one season as an assistant coach before taking over head coaching reigns in 1971. His career win-loss record is 1,300-416 (.757 winning percentage), making him the all-time winningest college basketball coach at any level. He won two national junior college basketball titles, in 1979 and 1992, and was the first college coach to reach 1,000 and 1,200 wins. Bess coached NBA player Latrell Sprewell at Three Rivers. Bess announced his retirement from coaching in May 2020 after suffering from health problems in his final years on the bench.

Bess was inducted into the Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, the Missouri Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1988, the NJCAA Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. In February 2023, Three Rivers Community College unveiled a Gene Bess statue in front of its homecourt, the Libla Family Sports Complex