KCKCC’s Stambersky named one of three national coach of year finalists

Valerie Stambersky (KCKCC photo)

by Alan Hoskins  

Kansas City Kansas Community College coach Valerie Stambersky is one of three finalists for National WBCA Basketball Coach of the Year.

Named in honor of legendary Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt, the inaugural Pat Summit Trophy will presented at the Fourth Annual WBCA (Women’s Basketball Coaches Association) Awards Show to be held during the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, April 7.

Trenia Tillis Jones of Tyler Junior College and 2009 Coach of the Year Ned Mircetic of Ventura College are the other finalists for the 2014 Russell Athletic-WBCA Community College Coach of the Year award which will be announced in the Broadway Ballroom of the Omni Nashville Hotel.

“I’m a little lost for words; it’s a great honor,” Stambersky said. “My assistant, Shaun Burki, told me I had been nominated and I laughed. But then I received an email informing me I was a finalist and was totally shocked.”

Stambersky will be accompanied by her husband, Damian Stambersky, and their two children, 6-year-old son Taylor and 4-year-old daughter, Tyler, at the Women’s Final Four.

“In her 15 years at KCKCC, coach Stambersky has done things the right way,” Burki said. “She’s certainly helped me grow as a coach and as a person and I hope that all of her hard work and passion will come to fruition and she’ll win the national coach of the year award I believe she rightly deserves.”

In addition to her coaching duties, Stambersky is the assistant athletic director. Those responsibilities include maintaining the college’s athletic website and campus wide communications.

The winningest coach in KCKCC history with 183 victories, Stambersky’s 2013-2014 team recorded a career best 24-8 record with six of the eight losses to teams ranked in the top four nationally.

Three of the losses came to Highland, which lost in overtime in the national championship game; two to Johnson County, which finished No. 2 in the national rankings; and one to North Iowa, which was No. 1 in the final rankings.

The Blue Devils gave national runnerup Highland a huge scare in the semifinals of the Region VI tournament before a late comeback fell short in a 62-58 loss at Highland.

“Another minute and I think we could have got it into overtime,” Burki said.

The 24 wins are the most since KCKCC finished fifth in the nation with a 35-2 record in 1997. Averaging 74.8 points, the Lady Blue Devils were also the highest scoring team since 1997 while holding opponents to 59.7 points per contest.

Balance was a key to the success with nine players averaging 6.2 or more points a game. With only three sophomores and the only returning starter (Samantha Hurst) lost for the season in the 11th game of the year, the Blue Devils were still 14-1 in December and despite being without their top two scorers for the first five games of January, they still won four of five. Seven of this year’s top nine scorers and rebounders will return next season.

“The WBCA congratulates these coaches on being named finalists for the Pat Summitt Trophy present to the 2014 Russell Athletic-WBCA Junior-Community Coach of the Year,” WBCA CEO Beth Bass said. “Each coach helped lead their team to an outstanding season and was selected by their peers to be candidates for this honor. On behalf of the WBCA and its members, I wish all of the finalists the best of luck at the WBCA Awards Show in Nashville.”

This is the first year the award will bear Summitt’s name and is the only national coach of the year award to do so. The winningest basketball coach (men’s or women’s) in NCAA Division I history with 1,098 career victories, Summitt stepped down as head coach in April 2012 after leading the Lady Vols to eight NCAA Division I national championships. She was named Division I national coach of the year three times.

Russell Athletic and the WBCA annually recognizes six national coaches of the year – NCAA Division I, II and II, NAIA, junior-community college and high school. It is the 32nd year that the WBCA has honored the junior-community college coach of the year. The late Kurt Budke, who got his coaching start at KCKCC, was the 1995 Coach of the Year while at Trinity Valley. B.J. Smith of Highland was the 2012 recipient.

Snowy weather this year causes school day to be lengthened

A greater number than usual of snow days has resulted in a longer school day for Kansas City, Kan., Public School students.

On Monday, students started a new schedule that added 15 minutes to the end of each school day to make up for missed time.

In a memo to parents, Superintendent Cindy Lane stated that besides the extra 15 minutes each day, one additional day would be added to the end of the school calendar to make up for snow days.

Her memo stated that seniors needed to have enough instructional time in order to graduate, and other students needed enough instructional time.

The new last day of school for most students will be May 23, and the last day for graduating seniors will be May 16. Preschool classes will not be affected.

T-Bones sign pitcher Shore, acquire pitcher Blanks

The Kansas City T-Bones have signed right-handed pitcher Bobby Shore to a contract for the 2014 season.

Shore, 25 (01-27-89), a native of Oceanside, Calif., who is 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds, spent the last three seasons in the Seattle Mariners organization.

In 2013, he went 6-5 with a 5.42 ERA in 34 appearances, including 11 starts, for High Desert, Seattle’s high-A club. In 81 1/3 innings, Shore struck out 63 and walked 31. He is 10-9 with a 3.72 ERA, 155 strikeouts and 57 walks in 63 professional appearances.

“Bobby is a strike thrower, who’ll compete for one of the starting rotation spots,” said manager John Massarelli.

Seattle selected Shore in the 41st round of the 2011 MLB Amateur Draft out of the University of Oklahoma. At single-A Clinton of the Midwest League in 2012, Shore went 4-3 with a 1.94 ERA, 69 strikeouts and 19 walks.

Additionally, the T-Bones have acquired the reversionary rights to right-handed pitcher Bradley Blanks from Laredo in exchange for infielder Devin Goodwin.

In 2013, Blanks went 5-1 with three saves and a 1.38 ERA in 27 appearances for Laredo. He has spent time in the Milwaukee and Philadelphia organizations, in addition to three independent-league teams, in five professional seasons.

The T-Bones open the 2014 regular season at home on May 15 against Lincoln.

– Story from T-Bones