As the Lionbacker Luncheon began last Friday, members gathered to eat a free lunch and listen to Southern coaches and student-athletes discuss their seasons, both finished and ongoing. The simple gathering thanks donors for all the contributions they made to the University and lets them put names with the faces they truly affect.

Notably in attendance was the MIAA Championship trophy, draped in the dissected net from the goal in Kansas City that the Lions basketball team cut down nearly a month ago.

Missing from the event, though, was the coach who guided the group of young men on that journey. Missing physically, yes, but ever present in the hearts and minds of a group of men directly affected by his leadership.

Electricity filled the air as the audience showed their appreciation for the hard work and accomplishments of a team picked to finish mid-pack in the MIAA poll at the beginning of the season. Speakers took time to talk about the records that had been broken, and the graduating players who had left their marks on Southern.

Then the mood of the luncheon changed, as soon-to-be-Head Coach Jeff Boschee arrived at the podium and began to talk about the season past and the hopes for the future.

The clatter of dining and hum of voices died away and Boschee struggled to contain his feelings as he spoke about the man and mentor who will soon become the green-and-gold standard for coaching in Missouri Southern lore.

Boschee, in front of a room so quiet that a pin dropped would not dare make a noise, clutched the podium tightly, searching for words to describe a person, a coach, a man who had done so much for a school and those around him during his 25 years. Boschee simply could not verbalize it.

“Then obviously Coach Corn, umm, winning Coach of the Year,” Boschee explained before emotion forced him to pause. “I think you guys, umm … how much he has meant to this University … and to, umm …” Overcome, he paused again before asking the audience, “Well, you guys got any questions?”

The room exploded into laughter. Once again Corn had saved the day, bringing a smile to the faces of the people who knew him best.

“He has meant a lot to me over these past five years. I’ve learned so much just from being around him,” said senior Jordan Talbert. “I’m sure it is going to be different not seeing him on the bench but the legacy he’s leaving behind will carry on for years.”

Corn’s history at Missouri Southern goes multiple levels deep, from when he was a player who, in his senior season as a co-captain, helped guide his team to the Central States Intercollegiate Conference and NAIA District 16 titles before advancing to the quarterfinals of the NAIA Tournament, to his lengthy tenure as a coach.

His 413 career wins, most ever by a coach at Southern, also made him fourth all-time among coaches in the MIAA. He boasts 16 straight MIAA Tournament appearances — 21 overall — five trips to the NCAA Division II National Tournament, four MIAA Coach of the Year awards, and nine 20-win seasons — just a sample of his coaching accomplishments.

These numbers, while impressive, do not show the graduation rate of his players, the talented young men who now make a living playing overseas, or the careers awaiting coaches like Boschee and Bradford who got their training under Corn.

Still, the most impressive recognition in basketball Corn may ever receive may come today as, even as he stands with one foot out the door, his peers recognize him yet again by making him a finalist for the Clarence Gaines Division II National Coach of the Year Award.

The honor, named after one of the best coaches in basketball history, goes to the top Division II men’s basketball coach in the country.

With a record of 828-446, Gaines retired from Winston-Salem State University in 1993 as the winningest NCAA coach of all time before being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

That’s a class of coach that would seem unmatchable, but in fact, the Lions have had the pleasure of watching and learning from their Gaines for the last 25 years.

Some things are once in a lifetime, a fact never more evident than in this case: Corn has been, in the truest sense, one in a lifetime.