There has to be a first time for everything.
Kim Mahn became the first athlete in De Soto High School’s history to have a number retired.
Mahn’s No. 40 was retired before the Dragons hosted Festus in a girls basketball game on Feb. 5.
Suffering from multiple sclerosis, Mahn was unable to attend the ceremony. However, members of her family and several of her teammates from De Soto’s Class 4A state championship girls basketball teams were on hand, as was Ron Rhodes, who was head coach of the two state champs and is the current coach for the Tigers.
Rhodes led De Soto from 1985 to 2001, then returned to coach the Dragons again from 2005 to 2010. Rhodes didn’t stay retired long, though, and has been coaching the Tigers the last five years.
Mahn was the unquestioned leader when De Soto won back-to-back state titles in 1988 and 1989. The Dragons slipped past Lee’s Summit 46-44 to win the crown in 1988, and beat Joplin 48-38 the next year.
“We were blessed we had a lot of talent come through at the same time, and we had that equalizer in Kim Mahn,” Rhodes said. “She solidified everything and made everybody around her a better player. She had some good pieces around her, but we would have never won (two state titles) without Kim.”
Playing a combination of wing-guard-forward, Mahn typically led the Dragons in scoring and is second in school history with 1,997 career points behind Jaime Miller (1993-1997), who put up 2,363 points.
“She was an extremely good shooter,” Rhodes said of Mahn. “She had a lot of range and she never took a bad shot. She was extremely talented handling the ball with special skills seeing where her teammates were and getting her the ball at the right time.”
Rhodes said he would sometimes bench Mahn for not shooting enough. She was always trying to let her teammates get more involved in the offense.
“If we played a tough team, she’d get her 20 to 25 points,” Rhodes said. “If we played a weak team, she’d make sure everybody else got scoring opportunities. She knew she could score any time she wanted to. When we got to districts and beyond, she was always our leading scorer.”
Rhodes remembers the championship game against Lee’s Summit came down to the final seconds when the Tigers missed a layup that would have sent it to overtime. Mahn made it back to the finals her senior year against Joplin. With the game against the Eagles in hand, Rhodes took Mahn out with 40 seconds left to bask in the adulation of her fans.
“I wanted to get her a standing ovation, so I took her out,” Rhodes said. “One of my statisticians said, ‘You’ve got to put her back in. She’s got 1,997 points.’ I didn’t do it, and she could have cared less about that. As long as she got the win, she was happy.”
Kim (Frischman) Kingsland played point guard her senior year for De Soto when the Dragons won their first title in 1988. Kingsland teaches physical education at De Soto Junior High and has been head coach and junior varsity coach of the Dragons. Her daughter, Kelsey Kingsland, graduated from De Soto in 2015 third in career scoring. Kelsey plays volleyball at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
Mahn and Kingsland were both Division 1 scholarship athletes. Mahn played for Oklahoma State University from 1989 to 1993. Kingsland played for Drake University for two years (1991-1992) before joining the St. Louis River Queens of the professional Women’s Basketball Association. Kingsland said she was paid $50 per game.
Kingsland and Deana Terry Roland, another teammate from the 1988 championship team, started the Kim Mahn Scholarship Fund and awarded the first scholarship to Madeline Ketcherside in 2010. Since then, Courtney Krodinger (2015), Emily Brewer (2016) and Krista Richardson (2016) have received scholarships.
The scholarship goes to De Soto girls who finish in the top 20 percent of her class, play high school basketball for four years and continue to play a sport in college.
When the Dragons’ 1988 team was recognized at the Mizzou Arena during the final four weekend in 2008, Kingsland said she was able to help Mahn onto the court. It’s one of the last times she’s had contact with Mahn.
“That was awesome she was able to do that,” Kingsland said. “I wish she could have been there (Feb. 5) because of the legacy she left on basketball and all of us. (Multiple sclerosis) really stinks. People can live with it without any symptoms but it hit her almost immediately.”
De Soto principal Mike Rickermann, athletic director Matt Deaton, Superintendent Josh Isaacson and assistant superintendent Clint Freeman organized the jersey retirement and established the criteria for future athletes.
For a De Soto athlete to have their jersey retired they must be first team all-Jefferson County Activities Association, sign to play sports at a Division 1 university and be recognized as a high school all-American.
“It’s a big honor,” said Rickermann, who graduated from Windsor in 1992. “You have to have good guidelines before you go through this process because there are a lot of great athletes who come through this school and if you don’t have high standards to retire jersey numbers, you don’t have a line to stand on. It’s an elite honor and recognition.
“Kim was the gold standard of girls basketball players in the whole area. When you look at her accomplishments compared with the other athletes, they don’t stand up to her end game.”
Rhodes, who has coached hundreds of basketball players, said Mahn is the most dedicated player of them all.
“She accepted all challenges,” Rhodes said. “Kim was all business. Her family was first, then homework, then basketball.”
Kingsland said she became a better basketball player because of the insistence of Mahn to always work on her game.
“I spent every second with one or two basketballs in my hand,” Kingsland said. “Yes, I was devoted, but Kim’s work ethic extended past convenience. I did not like getting up in the morning and she made sure I was there.”
De Soto girls basketball 1,000-point club
1. Jaime Miller (1993-1997) 2,363
2. Kim Mann (1985-1989) 1,997
3. Kelsey Kingsland (2011-2015) 1,422
4. Cindi Hanna (1988-1992) 1,409
5. Laura Robertson (1999-2003) 1,226
6. Connie Gillam (1987-1991) 1,127
7. Hannah Latham (1997-2001) 1,052
8. Kim Frischman (1984-1988) 1,042