Kickapoo High names soccer field after pioneering coach, beloved science teacher
Claudette Riley
The Kickapoo High School soccer field will now bear the name of its first varsity coach, Jose Domingo Florez.
The award-winning science teacher joined Springfield Public Schools in the late 1960s and was selected, in 1984, as the district's pioneering varsity coach in the sport.
At the school board meeting Tuesday, Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams — who was part of the naming committee — said there was virtually no discussion. Florez was the obvious choice.
"Florez's name came to the top pretty quickly. We didn't really kick around anybody else," said Williams, president of the Kickapoo Boys Booster Club. "... For those of you who don't know his history — (he was) a longtime science teacher in the district, started the soccer program in Springfield Public Schools, not just Kickapoo."
Following the remarks by Williams, the board voted 6-0 to name the field after Florez. The motion was made by board member Denise Fredrick, who referred to Florez as her "mentor teacher" and taught alongside him at Kickapoo.
"He was just terrific. He was so much fun to be around and he was such a great role model," said Fredrick, who ran for the board after retiring as a Springfield teacher and administrator. "He was much loved by everyone so this is a terrific thing and I'm just thrilled to be part of it."
Florez was born in 1935 in Barranquilla, Colombia and fell in love with soccer as a boy. He came to the U.S. in 1952 to attend the Christian Brothers University in Memphis and then Arkansas State University, where he met his late wife, Ruby.
The couple settled in southwest Missouri. Florez was hired as the first science teacher at Mansfield High. Four years later, he moved to Springfield's Glendale High.
In 1972, Florez was hired to teach at Kickapoo and was named Missouri Academy of Science's Scientist of the Year. He was also honored as one of the state's top science teachers.
The News-Leader reported in 1985 that he obtained a grant to create a 3-D Mentorship program at Kickapoo to pair students with area scientist to use cutting-edge technology and explore career options.
In 1984, Springfield adopted soccer as a varsity sport and Florez, long involved in youth soccer, was named Kickapoo's first coach.
"It meant the whole world to him. When you grow up in South America, especially in the 1940s, there really was just one sport," said Bob Florez, one of his four children. "There wasn't much money in it yet. It was pre-Pele."
Bob Florez said his father enthusiastically supported youth soccer as the sport grew in popularity in the Ozarks. He began coaching club soccer at Drury University in the mid-1970s but the coaching job at Kickapoo was the realization of a dream.
"He waited 20 years. I always wondered what gave him the patience," he said. "He was so passionate about the sport."
In 1991, Florez retired as a teacher and coach at Kickapoo and was replaced by Tom Davidson. For the next 10 years, he coached part-time at Central High, New Covenant Academy, Greenwood Laboratory School in Springfield. He also coached, for a time, in St. Louis and Columbia.
Davidson was the varsity soccer coach at Kickapoo until 2006, when he took the soccer coach job at Ozark High.
"Jose is the guy who got high school soccer started in the area," he said. "Without him, none of this would have happened."
For years, Florez attended the Kickapoo soccer games that Davidson coached, as a fan, but did not insert himself. Davidson, who sought Florez out, appreciated his approach and encouragement.
"He was just one of the people that you gravitate toward and he cared so much about the kids. You could tell right away," he said. "I look at him as this father figure who was in the background, willing to help out."
Davidson added: "It was such an honor for me to carry on the legacy that he started."
A few years ago, Davidson spearheaded the effort to name the Kickapoo soccer field in honor of Florez, who had fallen ill. He said there was high interest but talk of postponing a final decision until a project to improve Primrose Street, on the south edge of the field, occurred. That work is going on now.
Mark Fisher, Springfield's former director of athletics, was involved in the naming effort, along with Davidson and Phil Hodge, Kickapoo's current soccer coach.
Springfield experienced turnover in its director of athletics and Kickapoo principal jobs. For whatever reason, the proposal to name the soccer field did not go to the board until Tuesday.
The naming committee included Allison Miller, president of Kickapoo Girls Booster Club; Scot Phillips, Kickapoo assistant principal; Bill Powers, Kickapoo principal; Josh Scott, director of athletics; along with Williams, Fisher, and Hodge.
In fall 2016, with Florez ailing, supporters involved in the naming effort organized a ceremony at Kickapoo the evening the high school played Ozark, so Davidson was able to attend. Florez and his family were present.
Bob Florez said the event was special memory and meant a lot to his father. His father's former players attended along with area coaches.
"Our family was honored and dad was, too. They wanted something he could physically be at and see," he said.
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Florez died in June 2017 and nearly all his children — Chuck, Bob, and Rich Florez and Carmen Perkins — and many of his grandchildren, have been involved in soccer, as well as other sports, in the area. They have played, coached and officiated at either the high school and college levels.
Of the naming honor, Davidson said: "This needed to happen."
"The Florez family have been so great for soccer and they've been a big influence on soccer in the area," he said. "I'm glad to see the love Jose poured into soccer carried through his kids and grandkids."