True high school coaching legends are few and far between, and in Decatur we had one for the ages in Decatur High basketball coach Gay Kintner.

Kintner, a charter member in the Decatur Athletic Council Hall of Fame, won 649 games and three state championships while establishing a program that was the envy of the entire state.

They eventually named the gym after him, and Bob Fallstrom, who was sports editor of the Decatur Herald at the time, called it, "the Madison Square Garden of Downstate Illinois."

Fallstrom was right. Kintner Gym was "The Palace on the Prairie."

To be considered a high school coaching legend, they almost have to name the gym or playing field after you. Which is why there is little doubt that another coaching legend existed like a king in Collinsville.

Vergil Fletcher, who won 747 games and two state titles in a career that spanned 32 years, died Tuesday at age 93.

Fletcher was a special coach, a man who not only taught basketball but whose demanding style reached beyond the court and shaped players into people who would appreciate his influence long after basketball had faded into the background.

"Everybody knew he was a great coach, but he was a great individual," former Collinsville player Fred Riddle, now a dentist in Iowa City, Iowa, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"He took all of us as young kids and molded us into gentlemen to be productive in society. Coach Fletcher was one of those people that came along once in your lifetime, maybe once."

I used to feel that way about a few of our long-time coaches around here, like Dick McDonald of Blue Mound and Ed Butkovich of Mount Pulaski. They knew their future players by the time they were six years old. They'd coached their fathers, went to church with their grandparents and had their brand of offense and defense being properly taught in grade school gymnasiums.

Kevin Stallings, who is now the head basketball coach at Vanderbilt University, was a member of Fletcher's final Collinsville team in 1978.

"People had no idea what it was like playing for Mr. Fletcher," Stallings said. "He was one of those guys that even when you played for him he was bigger than life. And he was a guy who taught you what was right and what was wrong."

I reminisced about Vergil Fletcher with Bob Fallstrom on Thursday and there's little doubt Fallstrom found his way to Collinsville High School during his infamous "Prep Poll Tour" days while still in sports.

Fletcher had some great teams and Fallstrom, a popcorn aficionado, would have gone to check them out anyhow, just to visit the Collinsville concession stand.

For those curious, visitation will be held today at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Collinsville from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 1 p.m.

Another passing comes our way with news that former MacArthur High School running back Joe Zannie Rawls, Jr., 51, died this week in Tucson, Ariz.

Friends like Mike Mormino, who is one of Rawls' MacArthur teammates returning to Decatur for his funeral, remember a fun, fast, likeable friend who played during a time of considerable MacArthur success.

MacArthur football teams from 1972 to 1975 combined for a record of 30-5-2, twice under head coach Bob Matheson and twice under head coach Pete Innis.

Rawls shared ball-carrying time with Carl Spence and was with a terrific group of players that included the likes of Bill Helm, Ron Boehm, Dale Fiala, Bob Weatherford, Matt Tyner, Art Perkins and Tom and Lee Eichenhauer, to name a few.

Many of those players will be back for services honoring Rawls at the Jasper Street Church of Christ at noon, today.

mtupper@herald-review.com|421-7983