William J. Fleming (1942-2019)

FLEMING, BOWEN

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 1/18/2019 at 18:56:44

William J. "Coach Bill" Fleming, 76, of Urbandale, Iowa, and formerly of Maquoketa, passed away on Thursday morning, January 17, 2019, at his home.

A celebration of Coach Fleming's life will be held at 10:30 A.M., Friday, January 25, 2019, at Faith Community Church in Maquoketa. Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 P.M., Thursday, January 24, 2019 at Carson Celebration of Life Center in Maquoketa, Iowa. Cremation will follow the services and a private burial will be at the Mount Hope Cemetery, Maquoketa, Iowa.

William James Fleming was born on March 14, 1942 in Waterloo, Iowa, to Logan Martin and Grace Angela (Bowen) Fleming. He was a 1960 graduate of Traer, Iowa High School and then went to Iowa State University where he played baseball and earned his teaching degree. He married Kathy Dawn Cox on October 4, 2014 in Bellevue, Iowa.

At an early age, Coach Fleming wanted to be a basketball coach and following his college graduation from Iowa State University, he took a job as a teacher with Central Community of DeWitt High School where he was named the Head Baseball Coach and Head Sophomore Basketball Coach. In 1967, he took a math teaching position in Maquoketa and became the Head Maquoketa Boys Basketball Coach. In his 33 years at Maquoketa, Coach Fleming and his teams won over 500 games, earned 6 state tournament appearances, 17 conference titles and 11 second place conference finishes. In 1983 after Maquoketa finished 2nd in the state tournament he was named Class 2A Coach of the Year. In 2006, he was inducted into the Iowa High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, and in the fall of 2018 was inducted into the Maquoketa High School Hall of Fame. Additionally, Coach Fleming was a member of the Iowa Basketball Coaches Association, National Association of Basketball Coaches, and had served as the Co-Director of the Iowa High School All-Star Basketball Game.

After Coach Fleming left Maquoketa, he continued his basketball coaching career at Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas from 2001 to 2011 where he served as an Assistant Coach under one of his former Maquoketa players, Rocky Lamar. Together they won a national championship in 2007 and appeared in four straight NAIA Final Fours. Following his ten years at Mid-America Nazarene, he was inducted into the University's Hall of Fame in 2012.
Coach Fleming's love for teaching the game of basketball did not stop when the season ended. It was year-round as he was often holding clinics, basketball camps, coaching schools and pushing athletes to get better during the off season. A couple of the camps he would organize and lead each year were, "Boot Camp for Big's" (2002 to 2007) and "Point Guard Academy" (2001 to 2017) at Grandview University in Des Moines. While in Maquoketa he had also held the Maquoketa Basketball Fundamentals and Skills Camp for many years which produced over 175 All-State players.

Coach Fleming was a coach, teacher, advisor, mentor and friend to many. He helped influence over 150 kids to become coaches. He touched the lives of students not only through his gift of coaching and teaching but also through his everyday lessons of preparation, organization and hard work. He spent countless hours with the players preparing and developing each team for games and potential game situations. He also did many humanitarian efforts selflessly helping others but always wanted to best be remembered as a basketball coach.

Those left to honor his memory include his wife, Kathy Fleming of Urbandale, IA; children Jefferson "Jeff" (and wife Katherine "Kit" Flanagan) Fleming of Houston, TX, James "Jim" Fleming of Fernandina Beach, FL, Jennifer "Jen" (Jeff Hines) Fleming of Colorado Springs, CO, and Daniel "Dan" (Caitlin) Fleming of Sarasota, FL; step-children, Valerie (Rick) Beck of Gillette, WY, and Angela (Mike) Clifton of Overland Park, KS; 10 grandchildren, Emily, Matt, Morgan, Cora, Gretchen, CJ, Ricky, David, Cole and Olivia; and a sister Mary Lou (Loren) Shultz of Portland, OR. He was preceded in death by his parents, and a brother David Logan Fleming.

In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, memorials may be directed to the Fleming/Streets Scholarship Fund established for graduating seniors and managers of the Maquoketa High School Boys Basketball program.

Online condolences may be left at www.CarsonAndSon.com.