{"id":40759,"date":"2025-10-16T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/?p=40759"},"modified":"2025-10-14T16:36:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T21:36:24","slug":"neale-named-recipient-of-randy-bemiss-lifetime-achievement-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/neale-named-recipient-of-randy-bemiss-lifetime-achievement-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Neale Named Recipient of Randy Bemiss Lifetime Achievement Award"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kansas Wesleyan baseball coach Bill Neale was thrilled to learn he is the recipient of the 2025 Randy Bemiss Coyote Lifetime Achievement Award.
\nThe award is named in honor of the former KWU golf coach, who passed away in May 2017. It recognizes individuals who have made an impact on the athletics program over an extended period of time.<\/p>\n

For Neale, the honor is heightened on a personal level.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means a lot to me,\u201d said Neale who enters his 12th season at KWU. \u201cI was one of the last people with him before he passed away. I was there most of those days when he went in the hospital and spent a lot of time with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neale lost a close friend with Bemiss\u2019 passing, someone he respected and enjoyed being with. He remembers Bemiss as a unique and up-front guy.
\n\u201cHis honesty,\u201d Neale said. \u201cHe was blunt, to the point, and he was fun to be around. I mean, he lived a great life. He was in rodeos; he was a golf guy and professional gambler at one point. He had fun in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe used to tell me all the stories. I rode with him a few times to events and different things, and he would come to my office and just sit down and chat. He really cared about his student-athletes and ultimately cared about all the student-athletes in the SAC (Student Activities Center).\u201d<\/p>\n

Neale has built a stellar program at Wesleyan. His record is 352-229 and includes a 229-205 slate in the Kansas Conference. The Coyotes have surged the past five seasons, going 200-89 while qualifying for NAIA postseason play the last four years. The 2024 team was the first KWU team to compete in the NAIA World Series.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone around here knows how much Kansas Wesleyan means to me, and not just the baseball program,\u201d he said. \u201cI teach a lot of different classes, and I take my time to try to get to know kids in other sports. I see kids out in the SAC and say hi to football, volleyball, basketball players, golfers or whomever. I kind of bleed purple and gold now. I want to see every sport do well, I want to see everyone have the success that we\u2019ve been having.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neale credits those who have worked alongside him through the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019d be getting an award like this if it wasn\u2019t for the people that I\u2019ve surrounded myself with, whether it\u2019s GAs or assistant coaches,\u201d he said. \u201cCoach (Jonathan) Freemyer (now head coach at Ottawa) came here on very little to no pay. For someone with his experience and recruiting background and professional baseball background to come here was unbelievable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, right now I have coach (Bret) Ringer and coach Huff (Tyler Huffstickler) as full-time assistants who easily both could be head coaches somewhere else. They choose each year to stay here, and I think it\u2019s something to do with the program that we\u2019ve built that people want to be a part of this winning, and they want to be a part of the overall success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last season KWU shared the KCAC regular season title with Oklahoma Wesleyan, won the conference’s postseason tournament and was runner-up in the Upland, Ind., NAIA Opening Round Tournament.<\/p>\n

Consistency is the key, according to Neale.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned a long time ago, there\u2019s no just flipping the switch when you want to be good,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be great every day in the moment of what you\u2019re doing, whether it\u2019s in the classroom, it\u2019s in the weightroom or it\u2019s on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neale said he strives to be like Bemiss: \u201cJust being genuine yourself, being the person you are. I think Randy was a person who kind of wore his feelings on his sleeve, and that\u2019s me. I tell my players good, bad or ugly, you\u2019re always going to see the true me. I\u2019m not going to fake it, and I\u2019m not going to tell you what you want to hear. I\u2019m their biggest supporter, their biggest cheerleader when they\u2019re doing well, and when they\u2019re not doing well, it\u2019s not that I\u2019m mad at them, I\u2019m frustrated for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what Randy was like. He was the most genuine, blunt, honest human being there was, and I think that\u2019s what you need to be. I think that\u2019s what the kids need too.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":40760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150,153],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-athletics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNeale Named Recipient of Randy Bemiss Lifetime Achievement Award - Kansas Wesleyan University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/neale-named-recipient-of-randy-bemiss-lifetime-achievement-award\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Neale Named Recipient of Randy Bemiss Lifetime Achievement Award - 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