"Coach" Billy Coleman Vining, Sr.

“Coach” Billy Coleman Vining, Sr., 95, of Arkadelphia, Ark. died August 15, 2025 in Little Rock, with his six children at his bedside. He was born on October 22, 1929 in Indian Switch (Eudora), Ark. and attended Eudora Public Schools where he was a standout athlete and the salutatorian of his graduating class. He caught a ride in the back of a pickup truck to Arkadelphia to enroll at Ouachita Baptist College (now university) in 1947. At OBU he lettered four years in basketball and football, being voted captain of both his senior year. As a student, Vining was senior class president, treasurer of Sigma Alpha Sigma, a member of Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities and a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps. He received a B.A. in Mathematics from OBU in 1951 (cum laude) and an M.S. in Physical Education from Peabody College (now Vanderbilt University), in Nashville, Ten. in 1961. He married his college sweetheart Ann Strickland on December 24, 1950 at her home near the Ouachita campus. This was only weeks after her infamous kidnapping by students from cross-town rivals Henderson State as she was the Tiger’s homecoming queen for the “Battle of the Ravine” matchup against the Reddies.

Upon graduation, Vining served with distinction in the Korean conflict as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army. He was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries sustained while leading his platoon in the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge. His story may be found in the Library of Congress Veterans History Project Billy C. Vining Collection https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.125498/.

At the age of just 24, he returned to Ouachita to coach athletics. He took the reins of the Tiger basketball team in 1954 and never let go, coaching from 1954-1989, and amassing a 555-382-1 record—making him the winningest basketball coach in Arkansas collegiate history at the time and one of the winningest in the US. Vining’s career included 26 winning seasons, six conference championships, six National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) District titles, and a top three finish in the national tournament. He earned five NAIA District 17 Coach of the Year Awards, three Area V Coach of the Year awards, and was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1979, the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Ouachita Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003. He is credited with developing the run-and-jump full-court defense still in practice to this day, and for holding the first basketball camps in the state of Arkansas. In 1990 he was named NAIA Athletics Administrator of the Year. Vining Arena on the OBU campus is named in his honor.

By 1965 Vining had garnered national attention as a coach and from 1965-1979 he led multiple US All-Star teams into international competition in Bulgaria, Russia, West Africa, Mexico, Panama, and Ecuador, coaching players such as Larry Bird, Irving “Magic” Johnson, and Sidney Moncrief. He was one of the earliest members of the US Olympic Basketball Selection Committee, receiving the recommendation for the role by legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden.

Civically, Vining served on the Arkadelphia Board of Directors and was an active member and past president of the Arkadelphia Lion’s Club. In his religious life, Vining decided to follow Christ at age nine and was baptized in the First Baptist Church of Eudora. After settling in Arkadelphia, he was a member of First Baptist Church for 70 years, where he was a deacon. He smuggled Bibles into the USSR with the US Team in 1977. He also shared his faith via the medium of basketball clinics and good-will teams on mission trips to Canada and the East African nations of Tanzania, Madagascar and the Comoran Islands. He was also an avid woodworker and used his talents to make furniture and gifts for family, friends and church.

He is survived by six children and their spouses: Charlotte Douglas (Rick) of Alma, Billy Vining, Jr. (Marsha) of Hot Springs, Amanda Morgan (Jim) of Hot Springs, Andrew Vining (Gina) of Russellville, Molly Wallace (Brent) of Arkadelphia, and Alonzo Vining (Tamara) of Fayetteville; by step-children Eddie Barnett (Leigh Ann) of Benbrook, Tex., David Kilgore of San Francisco, Ca., and Sue Ellen Thomas (Jimmy) of Fairfield Bay; by 22 grandchildren and their 13 spouses; by 38 great grandchildren; by two great great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews who adored him.

He was preceded in death by his wife Ann Strickland Vining and his second wife Carolyn Davis Vining; his parents Thomas Ebenezer Vining and Mary Maude Vining of Eudora; his infant daughter Polly Ann Vining; his brother Don Vining of Little Rock and his sister Ruth Young of Harrisburg, Ky; three half brothers T.C. Vining, Louis Vining, and Robert Vining and half sister Josie Vining; and by his grandson Tyler Morgan.

Visitation will be in the sanctuary of Arkadelphia First Baptist Church from 12pm-2 pm Saturday, August 23, followed by the funeral at 2pm at same. There will be a graveside memorial and burial after the funeral at Rest Haven Memorial Gardens in Arkadelphia. Military honors provided by the Arkansas Patriot Guard. The service will be live-streamed from the FBC Arkadelphia YouTube channel https://youtube.com/@firstbaptistchurch1114.

Pallbearers are his grandsons Shane Morgan, Cole Douglas, Matt Vining, Mark Vining, Drew Vining, Justin Vining, Will Wallace, Nate Wallace, Josh Wallace, Kaleb Vining, Noah Vining, Isaiah Vining, and Grayson Lindsay, with Hank Morgan representing his father Tyler Morgan. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Bill and Ann Vining Basketball Scholarship Fund at OBU.

Arrangements by Smith Family Funeral Home-Ruggles Wilcox Chapel. www.smithfamilycares.com.