WAPELLO

Want to talk basketball with the newest head coach at Hillcrest Academy?

Then it’s road trip time.

One summer evening last week, you’d find Stephen Bender, the bug guy of Iowa County, swatting away bugs for real at the McGill Athletic Complex in Wapello. Why Wapello? There, Bender carved out a front row seat behind the baseball backstop to watch his son, Mason, play for Hillcrest’s baseball team.

Priority number one.

And that’s what you need to know, and maybe already know, about the guy who will replace one of Iowa’s best high school basketball coaches ever, Hall of Famer Dwight Gingerich with 700-plus wins, as the Ravens head boys basketball coach.

A family man.

Bender left Mid-Prairie years ago as the head coach for girls basketball for that reason, because of family.

And before Mid-Prairie, when he was the head boys basketball coach at West Branch, he made a change because of family. The Benders had built their home on the family farm. The 45-minute trip to West Branch, each way, every day, lost out to family.

“I loved it there,” Bender said, smiling at the memory. “I had good kids, good parent support.”

He arrived at Hillcrest as a volunteer assistant coach in 2020 because of family once his sons, Grant and Mason, chose Hillcrest to follow in the footsteps of their dad, himself a 1997 graduate of Iowa Mennonite School.

And he is here, in Wapello, because of family.

Suddenly, basketball talk is temporarily halted.

Bender grabs his camera and runs up to his spot behind the backstop. Mason is up at the plate and dad wants to grab every second of his son’s senior baseball season, playing for a coach (Danny Hershberger) who assisted Stephen Bender at Mid-Prairie.

Stephen returns to the conversation. And it’s basketball.

“The reason I coach is,” he says, searching for the perfect words. “I love the game of basketball. I love to make an impact on youth. I feel like I’ve been able to do that everywhere I’ve went and that’s kind of one of the main reasons I do it. I like to win, don’t get me wrong, I’ve only had one losing season in all the years doing this.”

In his third year at West Branch, the Bears won three games. All other years, Bender’s teams won. In 2016, the Mid-Prairie girls won 16 games, went to the state tournament and lost in the quarterfinals to Center Point-Urbana by five points. A year later, they won 17 games.

“Sometimes it’s about jelling at the right time and kind of believing in yourself,” he said.

When 2020 arrived, Grant Bender’s sophomore year at Hillcrest, Stephen made another change. Wanting to see all of his son’s games, he joined Gingerich as a volunteer coach.

“I loved coaching at Mid-Prairie, just like I loved coaching at West Branch,” Stephen Bender said. “I wanted to be there for my kids, to be able to watch their games. It just happened that I was able to help Dwight as an assistant. That worked out great.”

Except for one season when he took on the JV team, Bender remained an assistant. For free. He was a volunteer. Armed with a clipboard, he sat beside Gingerich every game. Not only an assistant. But a one-time Gingerich player rising up to an assistant spot on the bench.

“I played for him. I got to coach with him,” Bender said. “Great basketball mind.”

Again. Time out for an at-bat.

Stephen shouts as Mason makes contact.

Mason was one of three seniors who started all 25 games for Hillcrest in basketball this past season in a 21-win year. He led the Ravens in rebounds with 180, topping the 137 his older brother, Grant, who is now a student at the University of Iowa, totaled in 2023. He is an outfielder in baseball and on this particular night in Wapello, he had two hits and scored three runs in a 17-0 Hillcrest victory.

Dad is proud.

When Stephen Bender steps into those gigantic shoes, figuratively, left behind by Gingerich, there will be no Bender on the basketball court. Just Stephen.

“The good thing is,” Stephen said with a laugh, “we have different shoes.”

“His feet are bigger than mine, a little bit anyway.”

More laughs.

Bender did not know this was coming. When Gingerich decided to leave his forever school, Iowa Mennonite and Hillcrest, for a coaching position and athletic director job at Goshen College in Indiana, he texted Bender. Just a head’s up. Hey, this is happening.

“I was shocked,” Stephen said. “I thought he was going to be coaching until he couldn’t do it anymore. That’s just kind of what I thought. I kind of gave up the idea even that I would be a head coach again. I wasn’t going to leave anywhere to go do it. It had to be the right spot. This time, it was here.”

Home.

Not far from Hillcrest Academy, just a bit west in Iowa County, Bender and his wife, Sam, operate #1 Pest Defense. He is a licensed exterminator. Bugs by day and basketball by night.

Clearly, this new hoops gig has pumped enthusiasm into a guy who was already pumped up by a 21-win season and a district final appearance against 1A state quarterfinalist North Linn.

“I’m excited,” he said. “It’ll be fun to get back into being in one spot over on the bench and making the decisions. I enjoy that part of it. And just getting to interact with the kids more.”

He has the big guy’s blessing.

“It has been a joy to work with Stephen, and he will bring passion, knowledge and experience to the position,” Gingerich said. “Our players are familiar with and respect him, as he’s played an important role in our program over the last several years. Most important, he brings kindness and compassion and cares about our players. He will put his stamp on things and do a great job.”

“We have good kids, we have good families,” Bender said. “I think we’re going to surprise people, I really do.”

Ah, that family thing again.

It’s a staple at Hillcrest.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul