Years before Nick Larson took charge of the Community R-6 School District as superintendent, he took charge under the rim.

It was announced early this month that Larson will be inducted into the William Jewell College athletics hall of fame this year on September 28 for his contributions to the basketball program. From 2009-12, Larson played for the Liberty school and averaged 18.5 points and 10.6 rebounds, making him one of two players in program history to average a career double-double.

Larson said going into a hall of fame was never his concern as he mainly played basketball with a team-focused mentality and admits he wasn’t concerned with himself even when receiving the call about three months ago. The 40-year head coach of the William Jewell program Larry Holley, who amassed 919 career wins to make him one of 14 men’s college basketball coaches to accomplish the feat, died last year but not before making an impact as Larson’s coach.

“My first thought actually was initially sadness because my college basketball coach passed away about a year ago,” Larson said. “When I thought about that, he wasn’t going to be there. But I heard from a lot of friends and buddies since it went public a couple weeks ago so I’ve talked to guys I haven’t talked to in years.”

Reliving his days as a player these previous few weeks has been fun for Larson as he said he hasn’t thought about those days as much since he went on new career trajectories. Larson has served as a coach for Tina-Avalon and Sturgeon, as an athletic director for multiple schools, including Centralia, and as a principal at Montgomery County High School prior to becoming Community R-6 superintendent two years ago.

As a Cardinal, Larson is the all-time rebounding average leader, a top-10 scorer in program history at 1,701 points, owns the school’s NCAA single-game rebound record at 22, is a two-time All-American in 2010-11 when the Cardinals were in the NAIA, and is a three-time all-conference player. 

Larson said he discovered his player identity as a junior at Liberty High School, where he was all-state his senior year before initially committing to play in college for Benedictine College and Minnesota State Moorhead. 

“I was always an undersized center. I was 6-foot-6, and a lot of the guys we played against were 6-foot-8, 6-foot-9, 6-foot-10 or something like that,” Larson said. “I had played center since I was in high school so that’s always how I’ve played basketball — right down close to the basket. I always said that rebounding the basketball is about desire and want to. I wanted to have the ball maybe a little bit more than everybody else.”

The desire can be shown through actions on the court like when it comes to boxing out for a rebound. Larson said this came naturally to him as he had a thicker frame that helped him not be pushed around as much, even by taller players. Size ended up not being as much of a factor as Larson recalls William Jewell’s shooting guard at the time Craig Mattson also being 6-foot-6.

Larson’s desire to be a better player led him back home to William Jewell as he transferred from Benedictine only to be redshirted at Minnesota State Moorhead, being relegated to only practice for a year, in a period Larson said he became a better player. Nowadays, Larson is accustomed to being in a small-town community at Community, but small-town ties made his return complete as he was familiar with the legendary Holley already.

In third grade, Larson said Holley’s wife, Linda, was his teacher and recalls making a birdhouse for her. He and his coach maintained a relationship that involved them talking monthly, but one conversation really sticks in Larson’s mind.

“Coach and I used to talk about (the birdhouse), and he said, ‘I knew in third grade you were going to play for William Jewell,’” Larson said. “I miss coach Holley everyday. Whenever I’m thinking about a situation where I would have called to ask for some advice, it’s sad he’s not here for me to reach out to him.”

Another one of his teammates, Adam Johnston, is from Australia but remains one of Larson’s best friends, and he has also stayed in contact with David Kennedy over the years. The hall of fame announcement brought more Cardinals back into Larson’s social circle like Mahamadou Sisko, who is from France, and Cooper Bahiya, who is from Africa. 

Larson made several memories with his teammates at William Jewell like when the Cardinals won their conference tournament in 2010 when he was a sophomore, defeating Lindenwood in overtime to qualify for the NAIA national tournament. That was a significant game because of the end result, and Larson also remembers his final game fondly as William Jewell was ineligible for NCAA postseason play because of the Cardinals’ NCAA debut that year along with three other teams so they played in an event against each other in Las Vegas.

A negative memory Larson still thinks about was when he was a high school senior at Liberty and missed a crucial layup in a state quarterfinal game against Rockhurst. However, the positive moments in his career and the game of basketball overshadow the negative.

“I love basketball. It’s given a lot to my life.” Larson said. “I am probably one of the few people that have played it, coached it, officiated it, been the AD and seen it from all lenses. I feel like I owe the game of basketball a lot.”

Larson said he became a basketball official in 2020 as MSHSAA was having a hard time finding officials during the COVID-19 pandemic and wanted to ensure kids had the opportunity to play. He has enjoyed that role ever since like his primary role in education. 

Even though it has nothing to do with the court, Larson said he values education and wants to guide children to fruitful lives as an administrator. He admitted he didn’t always see education’s importance when he was in high school but changed his thinking when he was able to attend and play for the academically selective William Jewell before graduating from there with a bachelor’s in education, which was just the first step as he has since earned master’s and specialist degrees and is currently going for a doctorate degree. 

“All these high school kids think if you’re good enough at basketball, your grades don’t matter. That’s not the case at all,” Larson said. “I think all students need someone that they can look up to or maybe they can relate to.”

Larson has two of his own kids with wife, Haley, so father is part of that long list of roles he has had in life. While he hasn’t served in the basketball player role for a while, Larson is glad that he’ll give that part of his life more thought soon.

He is also looking forward to September when he sees teammates and coaches for the first time in years. It will be fitting for Larson to be individually recognized while surrounded by people he cares about.

“When I got the phone call, I was happy and surprised,” Larson said. “Now I’m focused on the school and educating kids. I don’t think about myself playing basketball anymore so it’s been fun to relive some of those memories. You get busy in the day to day of life — working and raising your family — so you don’t get a chance to reminisce about the ‘good ol’ days’ very often.”