Featured Story /// Remembering Ron Cole


Ron Cole remembered by his son, Chuck, and his head coach and dear friend, Pete


Story By: Tom Loeffler Photography Provided By: Cole Family


When John Jankowski stepped down as the top assistant coach   placement. And fast. “This guy’s name was given to me by an athletics goods salesman as a possible replacement for Jankowski,” Adkins said, “but the guy was out west somewhere on his motorcycle, and it took me a while to run him down.”  Together, Adkins and Cole — who was hired in 1975 — not only maintained the success the program had enjoyed in the 1960s. If anything, it became even more successful when you consider the  Sadly, after being in poor health for more than 18 months, Cole


passed away at the age of 79 on March 20. “That was a real shocker. Every time I think about him, I still cannot believe it,” Adkins said. Cole’s health problems started in 2024. That fall, he had a heart transplant, but his body rejected it, and he was forced to have an- other heart transplant. Having one of those operations is certainly a shock to the system, but having two in short order would obviously be an even bigger shock to his body.


“He had those in succession, and it put some real stress on him,” said Chuck, the only child of Ron and Helen Cole. “He never really recovered from those procedures, and once it turned that way, he went pretty fast.”


There’s only one guy who knew Ron better than Pete, and that’s Chuck, who played for his defensive coordinator dad and was a two- time all-state linebacker for the Jays in 1985-86.


Show-Me Sports /// 37


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