Angie Wise’s 32-year coaching career has been rather unique in that her only two stops along the way have been at Crane and Clever.
She’s also on a short list of coaches over the years who have coached both the Lady Pirates and Lady Jays, former SWCL rivals who still maintain a healthy rivalry in non-conference matchups.
As retirement beckons for Wise at the end of this school year, it’s not surprising as she reflects on her career that a Crane-Clever matchup ranks at or near the top of her most cherished memories from her career.
“Perhaps the biggest moment for me was when our Clever team won a district championship in 2014 against against my former school,” Wise said. “We were down 21-13 in the third set. It seemed like the season was coming to an end. But we started to roll and came back and won the district title.”
Wise started coaching at Crane in 1989. She did a little bit of everything for the Lady Pirates, coaching volleyball, basketball, softball, golf, track and even archery.
Crane claimed seven SWCL championships and two District titles in volleyball under Wise. She took one volleyball team and one basketball team to the State Quarterfinal round.
But after 23 years at Crane, Wise made the bold move to Clever. It was a bit of a surprising move, as well, with Wise initially serving as an assistant for the Lady Jays to Teresa Hanafin.
“Clever was a great move for me,” Wise said. “It was a promotion to a bigger school and a long-time rival coach’s (staff). Teresa gave me a shot. I was able to teach elementary physical education in the area I loved.”
Wise coached at the junior-high level at Clever for three years, with her teams posting a 98-2 record.
When Hanafin stepped aside from coaching to assume Clever’s athletic director’s job in 2014, Wise was an easy choice to take over.
The Lady Jays have won three District titles over the past eight years.
Wise’s list of All-State players she has coached over the years include her daughter, Kenna, along with Meredith Hyde, Lexie Tennis, Lindsay Peebles, Taylor Menzies, Abi Menzies, Harper Little, Carly DeBriyn and Kylie Wenger.
Angie has savored the chance to coach Kenna, currently a senior.
“It has been so nice to be able to coach Kenna,” Angie said. “She has grown up in the gym and had very successful volleyball and softball careers. It means the work to me that she loves sports and has been very talented.”
Kenna falls in line with her mother. Angie was a standout as a prep at Marionville and upon graduating in 1984 earned a dual-scholarship to play softball and basketball at Missouri Southern. Once she became a Lady Lion, incredibly she also joined their volleyball team.
Wise was part of conference championship teams at Missouri Southern in softball, volleyball and basketball. The Lady Lions’ 1986 softball team finished fourth nationally and is due to be inducted to Missouri Southern’s Hall of Fame next month.
Wise, a catcher and center fielder, received All-Conference and All-American honors in 1987 and 1988.
All along, she had her sights set on continuing to be around sports.
“I knew I wanted to coach since I was in the ninth grade,” Wise said. “I’ve always loved sports. Coaching has pretty much been my life. Now, I’m looking forward to finishing my career with my daughter and hopefully I’ll be watching her play some college ball.”
