People like Ryun Kasten.
Ryun started shadowing his father, Jim, at a very young age, and that path culminated in Columbia on Dec. 10 with Ryun’s induction into the Missouri Cross Country and Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Jim was there to prSesent the honor to his son. Ryun is the seventh cross country/track and field coach from Jefferson County to make that exclusive club, following Clark Wille (1990), Stan Nelson (2002), Dick Cook (2002), Jim Kasten (2010), Vince Bingham (2014) and Bryant Wright (2019).
The younger Kasten, the activities director at Seckman High, led Herculaneum’s cross country teams to eight state championships (five boys, three girls) between 2003 and 2011. In a sense he picked up where his father led off, with Jim piloting the Blackcat girls to state crowns in 2001, 2006 and 2009 – not to mention that Jim also coached football for many years and guided the Windsor boys track and field squad to a state championship in 1978, still the only state title in that school’s history, in any sport.
Ryun left Herky in 2012 and served as athletic director at Winfield and at North County in Bonne Terre before taking the AD post at Seckman in 2016.
“I felt like I was following in dad’s footsteps from an early age,” said Ryun, a 1997 Herculaneum graduate. “I would go to football practice with him every day. I fell in love with track and field and that transitioned into cross country. People throughout the years talked about dad and how he helped them and I thought, why would I want to do anything else?”
If there were a hall of fame for local public service, Jim Kasten would be in it. He’s Herculaneum’s city administrator and a member of the Dunklin R-5 school board, and formerly served on the Jefferson County Council and the Jefferson County Port Authority – all on top of his coaching career.
Being at Ryun’s HOF induction ceremony brought back a lot of memories for Jim.
“He was in elementary school when I got back to Herculaneum,” Jim said. “Eventually he played football for me. It brought back all of those memories when he was little and he said he was going to coach with me.
“I remember when he first started coaching, asking the kids if they wanted to be involved in a sport they could win at every day, and 20-some kids raised their hands. At that point, I knew he had what it took.”
Ryun said while coaching at Herky, he learned a lot about the responsibilities of an athletic director from Blackcat ADs Stan Helms, Andy Runzi and Robert Bradshaw.
“They didn’t micromanage,” Ryun said. “I could talk to them about life and I learned and grew from them and that’s the approach I’ve wanted to take. My way that worked for me at Herky might not work that way at Seckman. Our programs have had great runners and the kids are committed to it.”
The county’s long tradition of success in track and field goes back beyond living memory. Crystal City finished second (Class B) in 1939 and won the Class B crown in 1948 under a famous coach, Arvel Popp, best known in his “other sport” of basketball. The line continued with the remarkable back-to-back championships (Class C, 1952-1953) engineered by the late Adam McCullough at the all-Black Douglass School in Festus. De Soto won Class B state crowns in 1954 and 1956 under Jack Hunter and Popp put Crystal back on top in Class B in 1957 and 1959.
Cook coached the Crystal City girls track team to six state titles in the 1980s. Bingham, currently the head coach for cross country and track and field at Maryville University, has mentored local athletes in the county for decades with the Jefferson County Jets track club.
In cross country, the local line starts with Nelson, namesake of the annual invitational meet at Northwest. He founded the Lions’ cross country program in the mid-1960s and coached the boys to five state trophies, including runner-up finishes in 1971, 1972 and 1975. Wille led the Blackcat boys to seven straight state championships from 1977 to 1983.
Before Ryun Kasten, the latest local coach to enter the HOF was Wright, architect of the boys cross country dynasty at Festus, with 10 state titles that include an active streak of eight in a row. His latest team surpassed Wille’s Herky squad for the most consecutive state championships ever.
When I ask Wright which of his championship teams (he’s also got two girls state crowns on his record) is his favorite, he always responds with, “the next one.” The younger Kasten said his 2008 boys team that won Class 2 with 41 points and the squad the next season that finished second to Bowling Green stood out.
“The (2008) group were ultra-committed to being runners,” Ryun said. “That came before jobs, a social life, another sport. They bought in hook, line and sinker. The next year (2009) through injury and illness, we didn’t get there.
“The uniqueness of a sport like cross country and track and field is, if you put forth an honest effort, you’ll win that day. Do that enough times and you’ll have success as an athlete and in life. It’s something that can be carried over into athletics and everyday life. A kid who wins state is successful, but no different from a kid who couldn’t break 10 minutes on a mile when they first started and ends up running a five-minute mile.”
There’s yet another local coach on a hall of fame trajectory, also at Herculaneum. Potosi native Kyle Davis took over for Ryun Kasten in 2012 and immediately directed the Blackcat girls to their 11th state title that fall. The boys were second that year and had five trophies (top four finish) since then, before racing to the Class 3 championship last month. It’s the 13th state crown for the boys program, tying Herky with the West Plains juggernaut built by coaching legend Joe Bill Dixon.
Success runs (literally) in the Davis family, too. Kyle’s father, Steve, directed Potosi’s boys to seven state titles (including 2003, when Kyle was individual champion) and entered the state hall of fame in 2009.
Meanwhile, the connections just keep popping up. Wright’s nephew, Nate Wright, a freshman, was the No. 3 man for Herculaneum at the 2021 state meet. The proud uncle can well appreciate the Blackcats’ accomplishment.
“That’s what (Kyle Davis) wanted to do and he helped them tie the state title record with West Plains,” Bryant Wright said. “He is a great competitor as an athlete and a coach. He was a great coach to continue the process that Ryun left, of the county having great teams trying to beat each other. Everybody knew (Kyle Davis) would be a quality coach and now everybody realizes it. He got a state title and I know how that can change a program.”
Jim Kasten echoed Wright about the value of the local teams battling it out for supremacy, in the Jefferson County Activities Association and beyond.
“If you want to be the best, you run against the best,” Jim said. “We’re in a good area because we’re close to good competition. If we want a good meet, it’s a few miles to the other city or (just) go 30 minutes north or south. Once we got it rolling again (at Herky) in the early 2000s, we just competed against each other. It’s friendly competition, but there’s nothing better than beating your friends.”
For Ryun Kasten, the greatest reward of success in coaching comes not in the destination, not even in a hall of fame, but in the journey that got him there.
“It’s not that night of the (HOF) ceremony I’ll remember the most,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, it was special. But weeks and months before, reconnecting with former athletes and coaches on a personal level and sharing stories and memories was the best part for me.”