Winning runs in the family
SALINA — Rex Casner's wife and kids didn't hang around long after the Cheney girls basketball team, which Casner coaches, beat Holton on Friday afternoon to improve to 25-0 and reach today's Class 4A championship game.
They were out the door and on their way to Hays, an 80-mile drive, barely stopping long enough to offer him congratulations.
"I just hope my wife doesn't get a ticket,'' Casner said.
Casner would have liked to have been with them because his sister, Dixie Brewster, was coaching the unbeaten Argonia girls in the Class 1A championship game against South Gray and Ali, Dixie's daughter, is one of the Raiders' top players.
It's been quite a season for the most prolific brother-sister coaching act in the state's history.
"The beauty of text messaging is that I'll keep track of how Argonia is doing,'' said Casner, whose Cardinals survived a Holton rally for a 64-52 win.
The text messages from Casner's family were tense as Argonia ended up losing to South Gray in overtime 57-51, to finish 27-1.
Cheney, meanwhile, will meet Concordia in today's 4A title game but will be without 6-foot-3 junior Merissa Quick, who broke her left foot late in Friday's game.
Casner and Brewster grew up in Milton, a tiny town about 30 miles southwest of Wichita. They went to high school in Norwich; Casner graduated in 1982, his sister two years later.
"We both played a lot of basketball as kids,'' Brewster said Friday morning, a few hours before the Raiders' game. "When I was a freshman, Norwich made it to the state tournament. But that was the only time when I was there. The boys made it later.''
Brewster had the better basketball career, having played at Hutchinson Community College and Friends.
Casner didn't play college basketball. He graduated from Wichita State, then taught and coached at Kapaun Mount Carmel for one year and Southeast for three before going into business.
"We probably didn't think we were making enough money,'' Casner said of his career switch. "So I worked in manufacturing for 15 years and my wife stayed home with our kids. But I didn't love it. It was better money than coaching, but I've been at Cheney now for five years and this is what I love doing. I love the kids there. We have a great community, a great administration and great kids.''
All Brewster ever wanted to do was coach, so she pursued a degree in elementary education. But she couldn't find a teaching job initially and started coaching as an assistant at Garden Plain, where she stayed two years.
Then one of her dreams came true — she was hired to coach girls basketball at Norwich, proving that you can go home.
Her teams were great; in 11 seasons Norwich was 180-77. In 2003, Norwich finished third in the 1A tournament and was 25-2. Her reward? She was fired.
Brewster said she still doesn't understand why and that no reason was given. But it was a blow because she loved Norwich.
"The comments around the community was that people thought it was just time for a change,'' Brewster said. "I think some people thought my rules weren't fair or didn't feel like I was a quality coach. You sure can't please everyone.''
Brewster latched on in Argonia and has coached the Raiders to three consecutive unbeaten regular seasons and is 4-0, she said, against Norwich, a strong rival although the schools are in different leagues.
Brewster lives in the same farmhouse she and her brother grew up in, near Suppesville close to K-42. She and Rex's parents, Jack and Judy Casner, live just a few miles to the east.
Rex Casner and his family live in Cheney, so brother and sister don't see one another as often as they would like. Nor have they talked much about their special seasons.
"You'd think that all we would do is talk about basketball when we're together,'' Casner said. "But really, we don't talk a great deal about it. She's given me some great ideas and drills in the past and she's just a great coach and a great leader.''
Brewster runs a tight ship, she admits, and it can be an adjustment for players. But her success speaks for itself and the Argonia girls are 75-3 the past three seasons.
"She demands a lot out of her kids, but they respect her a lot,'' Casner said of his baby sister. "She's a Sumner County girl and those girls have taken on her personality. They're tough, tough kids.''
Casner and Brewster took their teams to state tournaments last year, too. But Argonia lost in the first round and Cheney was beaten in the semifinals in 4A, eventually finishing third.
They have talked about scheduling a regular-season game between Norwich and Cheney, but there hasn't been an opportunity. Yet.
"I've been able to see Cheney play a couple of times and they're good,'' Brewster said. "They have a lot of height and a lot of talent.
"It's too bad we can't play against one another. We'd like to. It would be a fun game.''
Brother and sister haven't competed against one another since those games of H-O-R-S-E on their farm when they were just kids.
Who won?
Casner was hesitant to say. Eventually, though, he acknowledged it wasn't him.
This story was originally published March 13, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Winning runs in the family."