'He means so much to a lot of us.' ROWVA/Williamsfield's Bob Anderson gets 700th career win

ONEIDA — If you needed evidence of the impact Bob Anderson has left in his 43 seasons as a coach, it could be found in the moments following the ROWVA/Williamsfield boys basketball team’s 53-35 victory Friday night over Stark County.

Shortly after Anderson clinched his 700th career win, an announcement was made inviting his former players to join him and the current Cougars for a photo on the floor of Bob Meredith Gymnasium.

“I was like, well, about half the gym’s going to come take a picture with us,” R/W junior forward Graham Wight said. “It was really cool to see everyone. I mean, there were so many familiar faces.”

Following the group photo, Anderson could be found along the baseline, a line of friends, family, and former players waiting to take a picture with the man of the hour. If you didn’t know better, you’d think it was a celebrity meet-and-greet.

“It took a lot of people, a lot of players, a lot of family, a lot of fans, a lot of sportswriters,” said the 74-year-old Anderson, who coached Williamsfield for 36 seasons before leading the R/W co-op for the last seven. “Everybody’s involved. It's great. But, you know, it's done by a group. It's not done by one guy.”

Wight, a Williamsfield native and the youngest of four brothers to play for Anderson, scored a game-high 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and added four blocks and two steals for the Cougars (9-11 overall, 4-2 Lincoln Trail Conference). He and his siblings have never known Billtown basketball without Anderson at the helm.

“We didn't even think he was going to be coaching when my oldest brother Parker was there,” Wight said. “You go to the games and you get to see how hard they work and how much he cares about the game. So it really is cool to see what all he's done for us.”

Wearing a dark purple shirt and black tie with a folded notecard in the pocket, Anderson carefully examined the action on the court with his arms crossed from his usual second seat on the bench during the game. When something caught his attention, he delivered instructions in the short, sharp bark that has been a staple on the sideline for more than four decades.

“Motion!”

“Talk!”

“Get outside the 3!”

“Look in!”

“Gotta keep moving!”

“Wake up! Who you got?”

“Keep pushing the ball!”

His 700th win looked and sounded a lot like many of the first 699. Ever the perfectionist, Anderson found something to pick apart, even in a game the Cougars dominated for most of the final three quarters against the Rebels (9-11, 3-3).

“Take those two or three turnovers out there when we're trying to hang on to the ball a bit and it would have been great,” said Anderson, whose career record now stands at 700-529.

Anderson’s coaching resume includes regional titles at Williamsfield in 1982, 1985, 1997, 2007 and 2015. Travis Lewis, the all-state star of that 1997 team that reached the Class A state quarterfinals, was among the many former players in the crowd Friday night.

“He means so much to a lot of us. I just knew I had to be here,” said Lewis, who now lives in Edwards. “He is Williamsfield basketball. He’s this area’s basketball.

“It's passed down from generation to generation, growing up and watching the guys. For me, it was just about playing for Bob. And then when you get to do that, everything else was kind of icing on the cake.”

Asked if he remembered anything from his first victory, Anderson said he thought it came against Neponset back in 1979.

“I think, but I'm not sure,” Anderson said. “That’s a long time ago. Way back. I’m just happy to still be living!”

As he went through the postgame handshake line and an announcement was made about his milestone victory, the normally stoic Anderson was visibly emotional.

“It's kind of nice when you reach that plateau,” he said. “You know, you kind of let down and think, God, you know, it was worth it. It was worth it.”

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: IHSA Boys Basketball: ROWVA/Williamsfield's Anderson nets 700th career win