Flathead loses a coaching legend - Bill Epperly
The Daily Inter Lake
The Flathead sporting community, along with coaches from around Montana, are mourning the loss of Bill Epperly this holiday weekend.
The longtime Flathead High School coach passed away on Thursday at his home in Kalispell. He was 79.
Epperly was battling pancreatic cancer.
The Flathead High School Braves Basketball Facebook page made this announcement on Friday: “A sad day for Braves basketball with the news of the passing of Coach Bill Epperly yesterday. Coach Epperly led Braves basketball in the ’80s and early ’90s, including two state championships. He continued to have a positive impact at Flathead as a track coach through last year. His legacy will be felt for a long time. Our thoughts are with the Epperly family, including our freshmen coach Jeff Epperly.”
Epperly was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame on June 20. Flathead High School held a special ceremony to celebrate his induction in May in the school gym.
Epperly coached a variety of sports at Flathead and was the boys and girls high jump coach this spring.
Overall, he has coached in Montana for 49 years.
He led the Braves to state boys basketball championships in 1982 and 1989. The Braves also had second-place finishes in 1986 and 1991.
He began his career in 1959 at Bozeman Rosary High School and has served as a coach in the state ever since, including three seasons leading the Montana Tech men’s basketball program.
As an assistant, he has been a part of 13 state championships.
Since he has led the high-jump program at Flathead, the Braves and Bravettes have had 45 divisional, 24 state placers.
He was also a two-time MCA boys basketball coach of the year, was inducted into the MCA Hall of Fame in 1990, was a 1993 nominee for National High School Basketball Coach of the year and was inducted into the Kalispell Legends Wall of Fame in 2005.
“The biggest thing Epps did was he worked hard,” his longtime assistant basketball coach Fred Merrick said.
“He was one of the first coaches to start camps. He had a three-on-three league and worked with the Rotary League program. He was willing to put in the time and work hard.”
Merrick said coaching “was his passion.”
“He coached his grandkids. He cared a lot about the kids. Guys who played for Epps said he treated them well, that he was the best coach they ever had.”
Merrick said “big games” always brought out the best in Epperly. Like in 1982, Missoula Hellgate had beaten Flathead three times earlier in the season “and it didn’t look like we had a chance,” Merrick said of a fourth meeting at state. The Braves, however, beat Hellgate in the championship game that year 59-56.
“He had a great feel for the game,” Merrick said.
“Once we got there [state], he was more interested in the kids going out there and enjoying the game.
“The biggest thing, he realized there are no short cuts in coaching,” Merrick added.
“If you want to be a good coach, you have to put in the time. Epps epitomized that.”
Veteran Whitefish boys basketball coach Julio Delgado said Epperly “set the standard for the Valley. He had the best program. Everyone wanted to compete against him and his teams. They were well disciplined and fundamentally sound. You had to pick up your game to play them.
“As a young coach, I basically kind of idolized him,” Delgado continued.
“He was the guy that had all the success, won state titles, won at all sorts of levels from college to high school.
“He was a heckuva competitor,” Delgado added.
“After a ballgame, you could shake hands. There never were hard feelings, never anything personal. He was great in victory as well as defeat. I was fortunate to be able in my later years to get a few wins under my belt against him. That meant our program had arrived when we were able to beat his teams. He was a heckuva guy. I respected Bill a lot.”
Buffalo Hill Funeral Home is caring for the family. Services are still pending.
He is survived by his wife Kay, daughters Joanie Bowen and Julie Epperly, and sons Jeff and Jim.