Ron then changed majors, which required an additional year of school, “but once I made that move, everything else fell into place.”

His first teaching and coaching opportunity came at North Clay High School in 1987. He taught science classes and was an assistant coach for both baseball and basketball. The following year, he was not only the head coach of both sports, he was the only coach for both sports.

He spent two years at NCHS, compiling a 42-10 record and winning the school’s first-ever regional championship by defeating Teutopolis and St. Anthony. It was during that time he met Karla, who he married in 1990. They have one daughter – Abby, 27 – who is an occupational therapist in Collinsville.

Ron then took the head coaching job in Harrisburg to be closer to his hometown. Those proved to be two difficult years for him.

“When I arrived, they were right in the middle of a teacher strike, plus the previous coach had taken the school to court,” Ron noted. “I was teaching at the junior high, but coaching at the high school, which is also difficult.

“There was still a lot of loyalty to the previous coach and it just wasn’t a good time for us,” Ron added. “So after two years, the North Clay job opened back up and it worked out for Karla and I to move back.”

After posting a 9-40 mark at Harrisburg, Ron quickly returned to his winning ways in Louisville. He spent the next eight years there, going 143-75. He had only one losing season, but posted 25 wins in two different years.

In 2000, the head coaching position at Lawrenceville opened and Ron was hired. He spent two seasons there and his Indians teams went 13-14 both years.

“I really enjoyed my time there,” Ron admitted. “I enjoyed the community and made some close friends.”

But there were no openings for his wife, who is also a teacher, and he was driving 110 miles round-trip every day.

“I just couldn’t keep doing that,” he said. “So when the Effingham job opened, I applied and, fortunately, I was able to get it.”

And for the next 15 seasons, Ron guided the Hearts to a high level of success. He had only three losing campaigns and compiled a 268-154 record. His final five years were terrific. EHS went 107-35 and captured the Apollo Conference title each of those five seasons. He also captured regional championships in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

“We felt very comfortable here,” Ron said. “Our daughter was in fourth grade, so we made a commitment and bought a home. I was 38 and at an age I didn’t want to move my family. Effingham was a very good place to finish my career. I’m very happy that it all worked out.”

When opponents faced a Ron Reed-coached team, there were no surprises. They knew exactly what they were going to face – tough, hard-nosed defense.

“We always prided ourselves on defense,” Ron said. “It’s the thing we focused on the most. We wanted to guard people and work harder than the other team. I tried very hard to instill toughness and get the team to take pride in their defense.

“We also tried to do a good job of sharing the ball and working together as a team,” he added. “I always thought those things gave us the best chance to win.”

He came by that hard work mentality naturally.

“My grandfather and dad were both hard workers,” Ron recalled. “They instilled their work ethic in me. Observing how they went about their lives was a big factor in my life.”

Since he’s been out of coaching the last four years, Ron said he was surprised when he received a letter telling him he had been nominated for the Hall of Fame. He was nominated by Greg Lieb, the coach at Belleville Althoff.

“When I got that final letter about being selected, it was very rewarding,” Ron admitted. “When I got that letter, there were lots of memories came flooding into my mind. You remember past teams and fellow coaches. You make a lot of memories in 30 years.”

The ceremony will hopefully be held sometime this spring. But due to the COVID situation, nothing is for certain at this point.

Ron is still teaching biology and psychology at EHS, but this will be his final year. He plans to retire from teaching at the end of this school year.

He’s not sure what he will do, but he hasn’t entirely ruled out a return to coaching.

“The winters are long without it,” Ron said. “I miss the practices and being around the guys and the friends I had in coaching. I still go to several games, but you really start feeling old when you see former players’ sons out there playing.

“Karla (who teaches at Central School) has one more year before she will retire,” Ron noted. “Right now, I don’t have any specific plans for retirement. I might sub, I might help run some camps at the sports complex and I haven’t closed the door on possibly coaching again. There are different things I might do.

“The good thing about retirement is you get to choose what you want to do and it can be done where life takes you.”

And as for the Hall of Fame?

“It’s an honor,” Ron said. “When you start coaching, there’s so much passion and love of the game. I’ve had the good fortune to do it for 30 years and I’ve had so many good young men play for me and so many great assistant coaches to help me along the way. It all has to tie together.”