Barton Community College head women’s basketball coach Darin Spence was coaching with a heavy heart this weekend after learning Friday of the death of Oklahoma State head women’s coach Kurt Budke and three others.
The four were killed in a plane crash Thursday afternoon in the Arkansas mountains as they were on a recruiting trip.
OSU women’s assistant Miranda Serna, 36, a New Mexico native, whom Spence also knew, died in the crash. The pilot, 82-year-old Oklahoma state Sen. Olin Branstetter, and his wife, Paula, 79, also perished.
Spence said he played and coached against Budke, a Salina native, who was a former standout at formerly Barton County Community College (1979-80 and 1980-81) before transferring to Washburn University to play on powerhouse teams for Bob Chipman (1981-82 and 1982-83).
“I met him back in 1982 and played against him when I was at Marymount College and he was at Washburn,” Spence said. “He’s from Salina and I know his family. We’ve played pickup games together and I’ve coached against him in the Jayhawk Conference. I’ve known him for a long, long time and he’s got a great family and he’s a good guy. He was a good friend.
“It’s just a sad, sad loss. I know his assistant coach, Miranda, who passed, too. I knew her really well from the coaching circles and being a New Mexico kid. She was one of those gals that always had a smile … this has been a tough day for me as well. We’re praying for his wife and his family.”
Budke graduated from Sacred Heart High School in 1979, the same year it won the state championship. He received all-state recognition after leading Sacred Heart to a 23-2 record and the Class 3A state title in 1979, averaging 24 points and 15 rebounds per game during his senior season.
Budke wound up as the Knights’ single-season and career scoring records leader, which still stands today. He scored 543 points as a junior, then broke his own record the following year with 545 points in his final season. He finished with 1,212 career points during a three-year prep career.
Budke received his master’s degree from Wichita State in 1985, one year after graduating from Wasbhurn. He spent time as an assistant coach at Washburn and Friends University before taking his first head coaching position at Allen County Community College in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, where he coached against Spence After two years at the junior college in Iola, he left Kansas for the first time and took the position at Trinity Valley.
During his nine seasons at the junior college level, Budke had a combined record of 273-31 (.898), the highest winning percentage in NJCAA history.
In 2003, he became the youngest coach inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame in a ceremony that also took place at the Bicentennial Center in Salina.