Jun. 4—A public tribute for former Carthage High School basketball coach Dan Armstrong is scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
“Open Gym: Dan Armstrong Legacy Tribute” will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. in the gymnasium at old Carthage High School, 714 S. Main Street, where Armstrong coached the Tigers for 17 seasons. Doors will open at 1, and entrance should be made on the west side of the building.
Armstrong died of a heart attack on March 4 at the family’s remote river house in Doniphan, Missouri. He was four months shy of his 70th birthday.
The Dan Armstrong Legacy Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, has been established to provide financial assistance to local youth to improve their athletic skills, enhance basic fundamentals and to support character development. It will also be used for grants for camp or clinic fees, instruction fees, equipment and uniforms. The foundation will be overseen by the Carthage Community Foundation.
Among the speakers will be Armstrong’s former players from Carthage and Sedalia Smith-Cotton, where he coached six years before coming to Carthage in 1983.
Armstrong grew up in Kansas City and graduated from Northeast High School in 1969. He played basketball at Morningside and UMKC before moving to Belgium in 1971 to play professional basketball.
After marrying Sally Shoemaker of Sedalia in 1975, they returned to Belgium for one year before returning to the U.S. and finishing his undergraduate degree at William Jewell. He also was an assistant coach there under John Hickman.
Armstrong and partner Scott Hettinger built and operated Overtime Gym for about 10 years. He coached one final year as an assistant for Missouri Southern coach Robert Corn.
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