Ken Bueltel                     Return to Coach                 HOME     Last Update: 12-7-2005                                                   

Coach celebrates after 1972 State tournament game (Emporia, KS)              Coach "gets into it" during 1961 game before he went "silver". Gene Werner (asst coach) & Larry 

Photo courtesy of Topeka Capital-Journal c. 1972                                                 Krische on the bench.

Topeka Capital Journal story of  8-23-1988  and additional comments from Mike Murphy and Tim Morrisey can be viewed  by clicking here or on link below.

Ken Bueltel coached Hayden basketball from 1952-1973. He also spent most of that time as Athletic Director. He taught classes in history - he also taught a lot of students how to play bridge. He could have easily been a stand-up comedian or a comedy writer but he was an even better basketball coach. 

When I was in grade school I wanted to play basketball at Hayden for Coach Bueltel. There was a stumbling block to my dream - I really had no talent for the game. My lack of athletic ability was matched by a "panic attack" style of play in official games. In practice, I could play reasonably well; but with an audience in the stands and referees in charge of the play, my style was explosive (not a pretty thing to see.)

I had a chance to win (or maybe it was just to tie) a game against Holy Name. I had the ball at half court with no one covering me and the red light on the Hayden East gym wall was lit up letting me know that time was running out. I really had no clue on how much time was left - so I dribbled a few more times and fired the ball towards the goal. I could have been 35, 30 or 20 feet out and the ball did not draw iron, net or backboard. Once the groans from the crowd and our bench died down, my grade school coach (Neil Bartley) took me aside and asked me "Was that a shot or a pass?".

Picture the ball in this photo not arching towards the basket - but simply dropping weakly into the painted block portion of the wall below the bricks . This would give you an idea of where my "shot" was headed. Someone dove out and touched the ball preventing my air ball from actually hitting the wall. I think it is accurate to say that my attempt at the goal came closer to hitting the clock. 

 ( Photo of early 1950 game against Osage City from Hayden Yearbook.)

Coach Bueltel cut me two years in a row at Hayden and I eventually gave up the idea of ever playing sports at Hayden.  Oh, I was on the football team, but the coaching staff was not receptive to my talents. I sacked the quarterback in the Highland Park game my senior year and Coach Orth complained that I celebrated too much after the play. I guess I should have been tipped off by his question to me on the first day of practice in 1966 - "Macfee, why are you here?".

It took me a long time to get out of the locker room after the Highland Park game (actually worked up a sweat and had to take a shower). When I came out almost everyone was gone except Coach Bueltel. "Macfee", he laughed "you made a tackle!" or something like that. I told him I would be available for autographs for the kids before our next game. He laughed at me some more, but he had made me feel like I was somebody. I wish to hell that he would have been our football coach.

There are so many people who knew Coach Bueltel better than I - but I thought I should give the above personal story to show that he had a way of making even the low man on the athletic totem pole feel pretty good. His style didn't work with everybody - that usually meant there was something wrong with those people. 

The best article about Ken Bueltel that I have read was published in the Topeka Capital-Journal August 23, 1988. Rick Dean wrote the story THE SILVER FOX'S GOLDEN TALE for the Sports Plus section of the paper. There are some great quotes from Coach Bueltel regarding his career at Hayden.

Coach  graduated from Capital Catholic in 1944. He graduated from Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Mo. His first head coaching job was at Immaculata in Leavenworth in 1951. He took that team to the District finals for the first time in school history. He also served as football coach and recorded a 2-6 record. In 1989 the Hayden Activities Center was renamed the Bueltel Activities Center as a memorial to the coach known as the "Silver Fox".

Career Coaching Record           1951-1973

Coach Bueltel's record is often listed as 325 wins and 159 losses. I can only verify as stated above: 320 wins and 159 losses.

Another error that is often repeated is that Hayden finished 3rd in State 3 times under Coach - this really only happened twice.

Immaculata Record 1951-52