Bethany’s 2001 Class 3A state title team in boys basketball helped usher in a new era in Bethany athletics.

The squad will be honored Friday (Jan. 16) between Bethany’s girls and boys matchups with Western Heights.

The Bronchos’ title 25 years ago was hardly a surprise but it also wasn’t a safe bet, either. The championship came during a time of change in Bethany athletics. It came a few years after a new school, a new gym and football stadium were built.

Broncho athletics, who had never seen much sustained success over the years, went on the upswing.

TEAMING UP WITH FOOTBALL

Phil Brown, a 1972 Bethany graduate, knew he had to get the football and basketball teams to work together after being an assistant coach on late-’90s teams that struggled on the court.

When he became the head basketball coach, Brown sought out legendary football coach Mike Little, who started the Bronchos’ ascent on the gridiron after years of struggles.

“I said to Coach Little, ‘Hey, we’ve gotta turn this around and we’ve gotta support each other and we gotta get kids out for both sports and, make it work because we just don’t have enough athletes not to,’ ” Brown recalled.

Not every football player played basketball and vice-versa, but the difference was clear for both programs.

The football players “gave (the basketball team) a toughness and helped us learn how to win,” Brown said.

To cap the partnership off, Bethany won its first state football title two years later.

NO LONGER A HOMECOMING PUSHOVER

Schools used to schedule the Bronchos for basketball homecoming (During one season, Bethany played in six homecoming games). Brown’s first year as an assistant, the Bronchos won five or six games total.

“I kept going on with the kids my first year as head coach,” Brown said. “We don’t want to be (a homecoming opponent). We want to be the team people fear.”

The wins started piling up. The hoops squad won 20 games in a season and the football team won 11 games.

NEW LOOK BRONCHOS HAD POTENTIAL

Heading into the 2000-01 season, the Bronchos were coming off a successful campaign but had lost its two leading scorers.

The Bronchos morphed from a team built on speed and pressing on defense to a slightly slower team that could shoot.

“I thought we had talent. I thought we had potential. I just didn’t know with the competition out there, how well it’d be ’cause when you have a team that relies on shooting, which we did, you’ve gotta shoot well every night.”

In Bethany’s five losses during the championship season, Brown said the team struggled shooting-wise.

For Brown, it was that team’s ability to adapt that made them fun to coach.

“They were a team that, no matter what we did coaching-wise, they could adapt and make it work, even if the other team didn’t let you do what we wanted to do,” Brown recalled. “We could adapt to make things work. They were extremely smart basketball-wise.”

The Bronchos had veterans Trey Keoppel, Preston Simms, Aaron Toler and a young point guard, sophomore Tyler Martin. Senior Jarrod Gass was a transfer from Putnam City North who sat out the season before due to eligibility rules at the time.

BUMPS IN THE ROAD

One game that stuck out to Brown was a loss to that season’s 2A champ Mount Saint Mary.

“They were kind of our nemesis that year,” Brown said.

The Rockets and Bronchos were members of the Northside conference and built a rivalry. Bethany won a game on the road but Mount Saint Mary and star Eric Castro struck back just before the district playoffs.

“They just ran us out of the gym. Just a horrible night shooting and didn’t play well.”

The struggles continued in the first half of a district playoff matchup with Bridge Creek.

Bethany turned it around In the second half, going on a 19-0 run.

“I mean, just smoked them right out the gate, second half,” Brown said, “That kind of gave us the confidence to kind of keep moving forward.”

A 30-point win over Hulbert followed. Then, there was a 17-point win over Lindsay.

“We started saying, ‘Hey guys, we’ve got a good shot at making a good run at this,’ ” Brown said. “The guys kept challenging each other and listening to what we were saying as coaches and just started believing in each each other.”

The Bronchos made the state tournament for the first time since 1945. That ’45 team was coached by Simms’ grandfather, Leonard Simms.

THE TITLE GAME

Even with the playoff run, Bethany was an underdog against top-ranked Eufaula for the title. Brown knew the ninth-ranked Bronchos had to play disciplined against the faster Ironheads.

In the first half, a scouting miscue almost sunk the Bronchos. The report on Eufaula’s Sheldon Houston was that he wasn’t a great shooter and didn’t need as much defensive attention.

Houston responded with five 3-pointers in the first half, en route to 18 points for the game.

“I can remember going at halftime and the guys looking at me and they said, ‘I thought you said he couldn’t shoot.’ I said, ‘Well, everybody told me he couldn’t and I’d never seen him shoot. ‘ “

Still, Bethany trailed by just two points at halftime, 27-25.

The Bronchos took 40-38 lead as time expired for the third quarter on a half-court heave from Martin.

“(Martin) was a really good point guard that could handle pressure extremely well,” Brown said.

There was plenty of pressure in the final quarter. After going back and forth, Eufaula tied the game in the final minute.

Simms sank a 3-pointer and Gass added a bucket.

Eufaula passed the ball around for nearly 30 seconds, looking for a game-tying shot. Simms stepped in front of a pass and went the other way for a layup.

The Ironheads added a trey and had a chance to tie the game as time expired but the Bronchos held on for the win.

Simms finished with 16 points. Martin added 14 points and six assists.

2001 3A STATE BOYS BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
MARCH 10, 2001/BETHANY 57, EUFAULA 55

	1	2	3	4	F
Bethany (24-5)	8	17	15	17	57
Eufaula (22-3)	12	15	11	7	55

REUNION AND RECOGNITION

Brown is excited to see his former players. He said he sees some semi-regularly and others he hasn’t seen in 20+ years.

“They’ve gone their separate ways,” Brown said of his players. “They’re raising families. Their time is taken up. I’m sure they don’t get out and do as much as they would like to with friends and stuff.”

Brown said he’s not looking for personal recognition but for his players.

“Being recognized is not a big deal to me,” said Brown, who was an assistant on two NAIA national championship teams at Southern Nazarene. “Getting out in front of a crowd does not give me a thrill.”

However, Brown said he was happy when Bethany girls basketball coach Eric Sailer reached out to him to plan the event.

“I’m excited and I’m thrilled that the school is doing this for us. I didn’t really think a lot about (the anniversary) until coach Sailer contacted me.”

Brown pointed out that the boys basketball team have had success and made the state tournament since then (They were actually state runner-ups in 2002) but have yet to win another championship.

“I’m excited for these guys to get their due because they’ve done something nobody else has done.”

‘CHANGED FOR THE BETTER’

Brown said his alma mater has “changed drastically, and it’s for the better.”

Brown said positive changes were made to the school academically, athletically and the student “bought in.”

“It’s exciting. It just makes me proud to be at Bethany Broncho and I share that, wherever I go. I tell people, ‘I’m from Bethany.’ “

BETHANY STATE TITLES

SPORT	STATE TITLE(S) (CLASS)
BASEBALL	1955 (B)
BOYS BASKETBALL	2001 (3A)
FOOTBALL	2003 (2A)
CHEERLEADING (GAMEDAY)	2019 (4A)
BOYS CROSS COUNTRY	2023 (4A)
GIRLS BASKETBALL	2023 (4A), 2024 (4A)
VOLLEYBALL	2024 (4A)
GIRLS SOCCER	2025 (4A)