Truman State University Athletics

"Doc" Sooter attended Brumley (Mo.) High School and received All-Conference laurels. He then enrolled at Kansas City (Kan.) Junior College, where he was basketball team captain and All-League as a sophomore. He transferred to the university and was named to the All-Conference team as a senior. That year, he was hired by the Memphis School System as coach and compiled a three-year record of 52-10 and three conference championships. He then enlisted in the Navy for the duration of World War II. After his discharge in 1945, he coached one season at Marshall, where his team won a conference title and posted an 18-6 record. It was then, Doc Sooter moved west to California and began a phenomenal 25-year career at Covina High School. Covina had not won a game in three years. That first season, "Doc" Sooter's team won only 6 games, and he was just about ready to pack his bags and return to the Midwest, although everyone in the Covina area was ecstatic about winning six games. Well, he stayed and his team the second season won 18 games, followed by a 23-victory campaign. Between 1947-74, his teams carved out a record of 654-177 for a percentage of .787. His teams captured more than a dozen league titles, and they made the CIF playoffs at least 20 times. He was named the 1970 California Coach of the Year and Coach of the Year in the West Coast area by the National Basketball Coaches Association the same year. When he retired he was the winningest, active high school coach in the nation. The figures would have been higher, but Mr. Sooter spent two years on his second hitch in the Navy. In 1978 he moved to Morro Bay, Calif., to retire but that did not last long as he took over the reins of the Cuesta College golf team. He also worked at the Morro Bay golf course. Mr. Sooter was one of the first persons to be inducted into the Covina Hall of Fame.