Dan Staggs
Former OHS tennis coach, Dan Staggs, will receive the Golden Plaque Award for distinguished coaching in the sport of tennis. Out of hundreds of coaches who have coached the sport over numerous years, Staggs will be the fifth coach to ever receive this honor.
He will be recognized during the State Tennis Tournament at Veteran's Memorial Tennis Center in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, June 2. The presentation is scheduled just prior to the class 2A singles and doubles tournament.
Staggs came to Ottumwa in the summer of 1958 to run the free summer tennis program. He lived at the YMCA and worked with kids from both the Catholic and public school systems.
After teaching in Avon, IL for three years, Dan and his family moved to Ottumwa for a teaching position. He started the boys high school tennis team in 1964 and the girls in 1965. He also started a summer tennis program. Interest in tennis grew and eventually the community built 10 additional public courts, turned a parking lot into 5 summer courts, and built 4 courts at The Ottumwa Country Club. Many people have fond memories of going to the courts during their youth when Dan provided summer instruction, balls, and a lot of fun times. He has coached continually for 55 years, currently as a volunteer.
Dan was a state runner-up in doubles, played and won state titles at Keokuk Junior College, and played number one singles and doubles for the University of Northern Iowa. He was selected to the Iowa Tennis Hall of Fame in 1982. He is a past member of the Girls and Boys Tennis Advisory Boards. In 2005 he was one of eight coaches selected for the National Coach of the Year. Dan has had 47 players play at the collegiate level and had 697 wins in his career.
The City of Ottumwa named 6 courts after him in 2006.
Today, he can still be seen on Staggs Courts giving lessons to young people, mostly for free. He has had teams finish as high as second, qualified more than 50 teams for state, coached a state champion in singles and mixed doubles and is considered a friend by almost every opposing coach he has ever faced. He is an example of a tennis coach that did it all for the love of the game and the young people that participated.
"Dan Staggs is tennis in Ottumwa," said Mike Egbert, OHS athletic director. "You can talk to any tennis people across the state and it'd be hard to find anyone that didn't know and respect Coach Staggs. We have been very lucky to have him in our community helping to get tennis to where it is today."
