SWISH ALL THE WAY: RITTER TO RETIRE AFTER SCORING BIG AS PLAYER, COACH, PERSON

BELL CITY -- Carl Ritter's career as an educator and coach has not brought him unusual fame or fortune, but he believes the rewards he has reaped are greater than anything he could have purchased with all the money in the world.

"I would not go back and do anything different," said Ritter as he sat behind his desk at Bell City High School during a recent sunshine-filled spring day. "I have gotten so much out of my coaching and teaching career. It's been a great experience."

Perhaps best known as Southeast Missouri State University's all-time leading scorer in men's basketball, Ritter is retiring after 30 years in the teaching profession, the past seven spent as Bell City's principal.

Ritter has spent the last 24 years at Bell City, coaching basketball from 1976-1993 and then coaching volleyball for the past six years. The school has asked him to continue as volleyball coach next year, but he hasn't yet made up his mind about that.

Although Ritter's coaching accomplishments are impressive -- he recorded more than 300 victories in basketball while leading the Cubs to third place in the 1981 Class 1A state tournament and compiled a 138-41-9 volleyball record while leading the Lady Cubs to the 1996 1A state crown -- he said he hopes he has left much more of an impression on his students than simply setting records or winning games.

"I just hope I've been a role model to someone, that somebody says, `hey, I want to be like Carl Ritter, not as a basketball player but as a person,' " he said. "Winning is important. Nobody liked winning more than me. But more importantly, I wanted to direct people the right way in life, because life is tough."

The Carl Ritter story began -- and has continued -- in Advance, where he has lived virtually his entire 59 years.

"I still live about 50 feet from where I was raised," he said. "I've always really liked it there and I never saw any reason to leave."

Ritter said he began playing basketball on an old dirt court at a young age, and it wasn't long before he became proficient in the sport.

"Back then, about all we had to do was play ball," he said.

A 1958 graduate of Advance High School, the 6-foot-2 sharpshooter earned all-state honors during his junior and senior seasons. Ritter attracted considerable attention from numerous colleges and originally signed a letter of intent with St. Louis University before a late coaching change by the Billikens helped direct him to Southeast.

"When I met the (St. Louis) coach, we didn't really see things eye to eye, and my dad was also in ill health," explained Ritter. "I have no regrets at all about going to SEMO."

Ritter enjoyed a spectacular career with the Indians under coach Charles Parsley, earning All-American honors in 1961 and 1963. In 1961, Southeast lost in the NCAA Small College Tournament national championship game to Wittenberg 42-38.

All told, Ritter scored 1,916 points during his Southeast career, a record that still stands. He also still ranks first on the school's records list for career field goals (668), career free throws (580), season free throws (180) and free throws in one game (18).

In 1994, Ritter became the first Southeast player to have his number -- 32 -- retired in a ceremony at Show Me Center. Fittingly, he swished a 3-pointer during the event.

"I wish they'd have had the 3-point line back when I was playing," said a laughing Ritter.

After working in various jobs outside the education field upon graduating from Southeast, Ritter decided to get into teaching. He spent one year at Leopold, three years at Zalma and three years at Matthews -- where he began to coach -- before settling in at Bell City.

Ritter, a member of the Missouri Basketball Hall of Fame, has coached various sports at Bell City the past 24 years. He naturally relishes the squads that gave him his most success but also cherishes the time he spent with teams that might not have won all that much.

"In 1981 we took a bunch of little guys -- nobody was taller than 6-foot -- and we got third in state," he said. "Then in 1996, I was fortunate enough to have a good bunch of girls and we won state.

"But I've had a lot of good kids. Any team of mine that worked hard and gave it all they had was special to me. I liked to win, but I could take a loss. To me, it was more important to teach kids the right way to do things."

One thing that does stand out for Ritter is the fact one of his two sons, Carl Jr., also coached a state championship volleyball team at Zalma during the 1990s.

"I've been told that we're the only father and son to both win state in volleyball," he said. "That's pretty special."

Ritter, who still goes to quite a few Southeast basketball games and is thrilled by the success the Indians have enjoyed recently, is surprised that some of his records -- particularly the all-time scoring mark -- have withstood the test of time so far.

"That (scoring) record has been there going on 40 years, which is hard to believe," he said. "But records are made to be broken and it'll be broken some day. But it's nice to have it while I can."

Ritter, still trim and fit, said he doesn't have any specific retirement plans, although he does look forward to the additional time he'll be able to spend with his wife Carol, sons Carl Jr. and Bubby and grandchildren Jared and Kacie, who both attend school in Advance and are active in sports. Jared is a freshman and Kacie is a sixth-grader.

"I'm going to watch my grandson (Jared) play basketball at Advance and I love to hunt and fish, so I'll do a lot of that," he said. "I like gardening with my wife, so I'll do that. And I'm going to be available to help the school wherever I'm needed."

After all, he's been helping Bell City in numerous capacities for nearly a quarter of a century. There's no reason for him to stop now.