Former two-sport star turned coaching great to be inducted into Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame

Having excelled in basketball and baseball at Cowley College from 1981-83 and later going on to great success as a basketball coach at NCAA Division II Newman University, Mark Potter will be inducted into the Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame on Feb. 16.

Potter has always been very competitive and was having trouble dealing with the baseball team’s rough start during his freshman season at Cowley. So, after the Tigers suffered its seventh straight loss in the first game of a doubleheader against Johnson County, Potter approached then head coach Ben Cleveland about wanting to help pitch for the team, even though he had only pitched a couple of times in summer ball.

Cleveland wasted no time taking Potter up on the offer as he told him he would start the second game of the doubleheader vs. Johnson County.

Things did not start too smoothly for Potter as he surrendered a walk and a two-run home run in the first inning. However, he settled down on the mound and held the Cavaliers scoreless the rest of the way. With the Tigers’ trailing 2-1 entering its final at bat, Potter hit a two-run homer to lift Cowley to a 3-2 win.

“I was in the pitching rotation from that point on,” Potter said.

Potter, who was an all-Walter Johnson League catcher and first baseman at Sedan High School, turned into the staff ace for the Tigers. Despite the Tigers winning just 11 games in his two years at the school, Potter went 4-1 as a freshman and 4-3 on the mound as a sophomore.

His .476 batting average as a sophomore still ranks as one of the highest batting averages in the history of the Cowley baseball program.

“Baseball was actually my favorite sport, I enjoyed stepping into the box and hitting the baseball,” Potter said.

Along with being an all-league baseball player at Sedan, Potter is still the school’s all-time leading scorer in basketball. He helped the basketball team advance to the state tournament each of his last three years at Sedan as the Blue Devils went 65-10 during that time.

“It was a great experience for myself and the kids on that team to get to play in the Hutchinson Sports Arena,” Potter said.

While at Sedan, Potter played basketball, baseball, and football for coaching legend Les Davis.

He was recruited to play basketball at Cowley by then head coach Russ Gilmore. Potter’s oldest brother, Rod, had taken him to watch several Cowley basketball games featuring former Tiger greats Ronnie Ryer and Randy Smithson, so he already had an interest in the school. The opportunity to also play baseball at Cowley sold him on the school.

“I look back on that and say my goodness how did I do that,” Potter said. “Coming from Sedan and going to play basketball in the Jayhawk Conference was an eye-opening experience for me.”

Potter went on to start most of the Tiger basketball games as a freshman and then started every game as a sophomore. He went on to be named First-Team All-Conference and to the First-Team All-Tournament team for the Jayhawk Conference Basketball Tournament.

His accomplishments as a sophomore led him to be named the “Male Athlete of the Year” by Cowley’s Student Government Association.

“My two years at Cowley gave me an opportunity to play two great sports and it prepared me to come to Kansas Newman College,” Potter said.

Potter’s half-brother, Brad Dickens, was a member of the Cowley football team during Potter’s sophomore year at the school. Dickens was the top punter in junior college football that season and also played linebacker for the Tigers.

After Cowley, Potter went on to play basketball and baseball at Kansas Newman College, where he averaged 15 points per game as a guard for the basketball team and was All-District on the baseball team. He graduated from the school in 1986.

After graduation, Potter put his competitive nature to use by beginning a career in coaching basketball. He spent his first five years as a head coach at Cheney High School where he led the team to a second-place finish at the state tournament in 1989. He then spent five years as head basketball coach at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School, where the team captured third in the Wichita city league on two occasions and made a state tournament appearance. Potter spent one year coaching at Wichita South High School, posting a 16-9 record and finishing third in the state tournament. Potter's overall record as a high school head coach is 137-112, with four state tournament appearances in 11 years.

He decided to get into the college coaching ranks when his alma mater, Newman University, contacted him about its coaching vacancy in 1997. The school had dropped its men’s basketball program in 1986 but was ready to bring back basketball.

In just his second season as coach of the Jets Potter led the team to 20 wins in a row and a record of 29-6. He was selected as the MCAC Coach of the Year, Kansas Four Year College Coach of the Year and Wichita Sports Commission Coach of the Year in 1999-2000. Potter was again selected Coach of the Year in the MCAC during the 2001-02 season.

With an overall record of 180-98 entering this season, Potter has compiled the highest winning percentage in Newman's basketball history.

“I have been very blessed and fortunate to be in the right place at the right time,” Potter said. “If I stopped coaching today, I will know I have had a blessed career.”

The wins are nice, but helping shape the lives of young people is more important to Potter, who is also currently serving as the interim athletic director at Newman.

“I realized at a very young age that I wanted to coach, I loved sports and loved to compete,” Potter said. “I love coaching because hopefully I am able to make a difference in young peoples lives.”

Potter makes it back to Cowley a couple of times a year as he is out watching players to recruit to Newman. However, when he returns to the college on Feb. 16 it will have a special feel to it.

“I’m very humbled to be considered for the (Tiger Athletic) Hall of Fame, I’m not sure words can describe it,” Potter said. “An honor like this lets you know you have at least made a difference. Relationships I built at Cowley way back in 1981 are still going strong. Cowley is a great place.”

Mark and his wife, Nanette, have two children. Chelsey, 18, a freshman volleyball player at Newman University, and Zechariah, 21, a junior at Wichita State that is a member of the golf team.