Linwood Sexton remembered as a mentor and friend to students and coaches

Joe Auer, then a 23-year-old assistant coach at Heights High, prepared for a strategic basketball conversation with the gentleman who approached him. What insight, Auer wondered, might he learn from this stranger in the hallway in the moments after a Heights-South game?

“This gentleman comes up and shakes my hand, and the advice he’s offering me is: ‘You want to make sure these kids get better tomorrow and you want to make sure they’re going to listen to you?’ ” Auer recalls. “I said ‘I’m sorry, I’m Joe Auer.’ He said, ‘I’m Linwood Sexton, and the key is make sure they get something to eat.’ ”

Sexton continued: “Make sure these kids have a great meal tonight after the game and make sure they have something to eat before practice. If they have a satisfied stomach, they’re going to be a lot more willing to listen to you than if they’re hungry.”

While that advice seemed underwhelming in the moment, its importance soon hit Auer, now the head coach at Heights and the City League’s career wins leader.

“That’s one of the greatest pieces of coaching advice I’ve ever received,” Auer said. “I try to do that as part of every game and every practice, snacks and meals. Basically — these are people. It’s not about Xs and Os, it’s about a human being.”

Mr. Sexton, 90, died Wednesday after a life full of those moments — honest, caring, practical and selfless. As an athlete at East High and the University of Wichita, he inspired with his speed and skills and gracefully handled the slights and cruelty of racism in the 1940s. After his football career ended, he served as a friend, mentor and fan for students and coaches throughout the city.

While Mr. Sexton, because of his football honors as a Shocker, is associated with athletics, his reach touched academic and community areas, as well.

“Everybody he met had value and worth,” said Eric Sexton, his son. “All of the people he touched … every one of those folks gave something to me, because he gave something to them.”

Mr. Sexton’s lone requirement from those he helped was this – help somebody else.

“That seems to be the theme of his life – how can I make it better than I found it?” Auer said.

Alvin Allen grew up with Linwood Sexton. He lived on Wabash St. and Mr. Sexton on Cleveland St. in Wichita, a neighborhood northeast of downtown.

“He didn’t have an enemy,” Allen said. “He was the best guy ever. He didn’t look for negative about you. He saw all the good things.”

Allen attended North and remembers Mr. Sexton as a fast and agile athlete, one almost impossible to knock down. He claims to have witnessed Mr. Sexton beat a pinto pony in a 65-yard dash at Lawrence Stadium.

“I wanted to be like him,” Allen said.

Mr. Sexton, with friends Charlie Gill and George Shaw, attended many City League football and basketball games. Coaches such as Auer and Ron Allen (son of Alvin Allen) expected them at big basketball games, a trio often seated near the top of the bleachers.

When Ron Allen, former coach at East, walked to the bench before the game, he always looked for Mr. Sexton. When they locked eyes, Mr. Sexton gave him the “I’m not worthy” bow with both hands.

“He would always try to make me feel like being in my presence was an honor,” Ron Allen said. “It would just tickle me, because that’s how I felt toward him. We had that real compassionate respect for one another.”

Mr. Sexton helped Ron Allen, then an assistant coach at West, meet Wichita State coach Eddie Fogler. Mr. Sexton created that introduction, Allen later learned, with hopes of getting Allen into college coaching. It paid off a few years later when Mike Cohen, who replaced Fogler, hired Allen at WSU.

“He was the ultimate role model and mentor for young, aspiring coaches, athletes, people in general, in this community,” Ron Allen said.

Mr. Sexton loved hustle and unselfishness. Teams that played without discipline bothered him. He felt it important to attend those games to support the athletes and coaches.

“He knew what it did for young people,” Eric Sexton said.

Mr. Sexton provided encouragement most of the time. When he saw teams that didn’t play together, he pointed out the pitfalls of a lack of cohesion.

Mr. Sexton, Allen said, didn’t allow him to wonder if a black coach received poor treatment from officials. Mr. Sexton, who played football for the Shockers at a time when racial restrictions kept him from staying in hotels with his teammates, batted aside those excuses.

“That would not be an issue for him, because he would take you back to issues he had growing up and playing sports that would blow your little issues out of the water,” Ron Allen said. “He didn’t dwell on issues that someone else would dwell on to make them think that was the reason a team didn’t succeed. You would have to be accountable for your team succeeding, and he stood firmly on that.”

Mr. Sexton, as halfback in a single-wing offense, led the Shockers in total offense in 1946 and 1947, helping them to a berth in the 1947 Raisin Bowl. That season, he led the Shockers with 702 rushing yards and 312 passing. He earned All-MVC honors in 1945, 1946 and 1947, despite not playing in all games. Mr. Sexton often sat out games in places such as Tulsa and West Texas State because of his race. On some trips, Mr. Sexton could not stay in the hotel or eat with his teammates.

In 1946, teammates vowed to bring Mr. Sexton the game ball from a trip to West Texas State, and did so despite objections from the home fans and the university. The Shockers autographed the ball and gave it to Mr. Sexton. In 1947, WU lost to Tulsa 7-0 with a conference title at stake, playing without Mr. Sexton.

Mr. Sexton is a member of the MVC Athletics Hall of Fame, the Shocker Sports Hall of Fame and the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.

After graduation, he taught elementary school for four years before going to work at Hiland Dairy in 1953 and remained there until his retirement. He also served on the Kansas Board of Regents, the Wichita State Board of Trustees and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Citizens Advisory Council on Civil Rights. In 2012, he was one of 13 to receive the Pioneer Award from the John McLendon Minority Scholarship Foundation.

This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 6:33 PM with the headline "Linwood Sexton remembered as a mentor and friend to students and coaches."