HESSER, ATTERBERRY, OTHER COACHES WITH LOCAL TIES HEADED INTO OCA HOF ON SATURDAY
Former Bartlesville Bruins basketball coach Steve Hesser will be inducted to the Oklahoma Coaches Hall of Fame this Saturday in Tulsa.
By Mike Tupa
July 24,2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
This is a fitting — albeit serendipitous — way to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the beginning of Bartlesville High School’s Basketball Golden Era.
It was in 1985 when a young energetic coach — hungry for success and hungry for a new job — named Steve Hesser landed in Bartlesville.
The rest, of course, is history.
Four decades later, Hesser is being inducted this week into the Oklahoma Coaches Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony and banquet is scheduled for Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at the Southern Hills Marriott Hotel in Tulsa.
Hesser isn’t the lone local coaching legend to be so honored.
Former Pawhuska athletic mentor Duke Atterberry and another Pawhuska High product Mike Corley will be joining Hesser as one of the newest members of the OCA HOF.
Another prospective inductee familiar to many area fans is Bob Craig, whose football coaching stops have included at least two area schools.
Bartlesville High School had been in existence (following the merger of College and Sooner high schools in 1982) for just three years when Hesser — who was in his late 20s — took charge in 1985 of the Bruin basketball team.
The team’s record in the three years prior to Hesser’s arrival had been 27-42, including an 0-3 mark in the playoffs.
During Hesser’s first season (1985-86), the Bruins burst to a 16-11 record while advancing to the state tournament.
By his third campaign (1988-89), Bartlesville became the Class 5A state champion while putting together a 20-9 record.
During Hesser’s seven seasons (1985-92) at Bartlesville, the Bruins accumulated a 147-47 overall record, a 29-9 mark in the playoffs, six state tournament appearances, three state titles (1988-89, 1990-91,1991-92), and another appearance in the state final (1987-88).
Bartlesville averaged 24 wins a year during his final four seasons.
Hundreds of long-time Bruin fans savor the sweet memories from that time of hardwood heaven for Bartlesville.
The old Bruin Fieldhouse (now known as the Phillips Fieldhouse) couldn’t hold all the people that wanted to see the home games. Accounts are told of how if people didn’t arrive during the girls’ junior varsity game — or at least certainly during the boys jayvee contest — they would be locked out, sometimes literally, from the gym.
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The old Bruins field house was always standing room only during Hesser’s era.
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The energy by Bruin faithful was electric enough to rival the output of the Hoover Dam. Bartlesville soon gained the reputation of a massive following to out-of-town games, traffic crowding the highway to Tulsa like a slow-crawling centipede.
Wherever they played, Bartlesville often brought more fans than the home team had.
Following the 1991-92 season, Hesser left Bartlesville so that he could coach on the college level.
A year later he returned to the high school ranks to become the head boys basketball coach at his alma mater, Stillwater High School, where he remained for several seasons, although not duplicating the success of his Bartlesville years. Still, he coached Stillwater to two state tourney appearances.
Among his protégées at Stillwater was future Major League Baseball star Matt Holliday.
Starting in the late 19990s he became the head men’s basketball coach at Drury (Mo.) University. To few people’s surprise he navigated Drury to the 2013 NCAA-II national championship. His Drury teams qualified 10 times for the NCAA-II national tourney.
His final career win-loss high school record at Paul’s Valley, Bartlesville and Stillwater added up to 262-142.
Hesser also has been no stranger to the Bartlesville Athletic Hall of Fame (BaHOF), which is overseen by the Bartlesville Sports Commission (BSC)
In 2011 the BSC inducted Hesser into the BaHOF as an individual. He was on center stage again in 2016 to help represent the 1988-89 Bruin boys basketball team. The same thing in 2023 when the 1990-91 Bruin boys basketball team was inducted.
Atterberry passed away in Pawhuska in 2021 and will be honored posthumously.
He made his biggest mark career-wise as a football coach.
A native Pawhuskan, Atterberry went on to play football in the early 1970s at Oklahoma State.
He would coach on the college or prep level in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. Some of his stops included Sand Springs, Pawhuska and Ada.
His son Bo coached several years ago at Bartlesville. Bo currently is the head football coach at Southeastern Oklahoma State. One of his players is Bartlesville High graduate Braeden Winters, who last season led the team in tackles (76), tackle assists (49), quarterback hurries (5) and was second in tackles for loss (8.5), and sacks (3).
In addition to working as a football assistant, Bo also served for a season or two as Bartlesville’s head track coach.
According to an obituary, Duke Atterberry waged a valiant battle against cancer prior to his passing at age 69. At the time of his death, he had multiple survivors living in Bartlesville and Pawhuska.
Among the athletes mentored by Atterberry was Bartlesville High School Athletic Director Thad Dilbeck.
Atterberry coached football at Pawhuska High School during Dilbeck’s time as a player there.
“He was the head coach my junior and senior years,” Dilbeck said. “He taught us the value of hard work, how to be on time and know how to act. He expected us to do those things. He instilled in us a high level of toughness. His coaching style and personality commanded the room — and our respect.”
Dilbeck and Corley — another OCA HOF inductee this Saturday — played football at the same time at Pawhuska.
Corley led Carl Albert High School to four state football championships while putting together an amazing record of 52-2 from 2017-2020.
He devoted most of his coaching career as an assistant, either on the college or high school levels. Some of his prep stops included Moore, Lawton and Carl Albert.
Craig served as the head football coach for both Pawhuska and Nowata. He has been coaching at Cascia Hall, which finished 9-2 last season and fell to eventual state semifinalist Checotah in the first round, 35-28, of the Class 3A playoffs.
The entire 2025 OCA Hall of Fame Class includes: Duke Atterberry (Pawhuska), Theodore “Ted” Clement (Muskogee), Mike Corley (Carl Albert), Bob Craig (Cascia Hall), Joe Gordon (Wagoner), Steve Hesser (Bartlesville), Harold Jones (Dale), Randall King (Broken Arrow), Steve Lykes (Piedmont), Rick Patterson (Sapulpa), Matt Surber (Tuttle) and Virgil Terry (Sallisaw). Being recognized for Distinguished Service is Randy Gipson (Northeastern State University).