“It’s not that I’m leaving, I’m just turning the page to a new chapter,” expressed admired educator and coach who is making the switch from Blue Devil to Trojan. Cordell High School former history teacher and head baseball coach, Bobby Blackburn, has recently been named the new head baseball coach for Canute High School.
“This was just the perfect opportunity for my career. It just felt right and it was the right time. It was a career choice and I will be coaching fall, spring and summer baseball. I’ve always wanted to do that and I’m looking forward to it.”
What is your favorite classroom memory at Cordell?
“It’s going to sound cliché, but my students. I can’t just name one. I start thinking about this class and that class. What I think I’m most proud of, I’m sure there are some that disagree, I’ve always tried to make an impact and effort for all my students to feel like I cared about them. It didn’t matter if they played athletics or not, when they came in my room I wanted them to know this is where they belonged.”
What is a memory that sticks out with baseball?
“33 years it’s hard to pick out but, probably the first thing that comes to mind is when we had won the district championship for about 12 years in a row and had a streak going. On this particular year, I wanna say maybe 2011 or 2012, we split with Hinton in the district championship at Cordell on Thursday and had to come back on Friday to play the necessary game to go on to the Regional Championship and after three innings we were down 21-01, and we came back and won that game 23-22. There are several memories but that one is pretty tough to top. That’s why I stayed in Cordell for so long because that was the mentality and spirit. That was the kind of kids that I was fortunate enough to coach because they cared and they weren’t gonna let it stop on their watch.”
Blackburn has been with Cordell since 1990-1991 and the shoes he left behind will be mighty big to fill. Blackburn was inducted into the Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2013 and named Cordell’s Teacher of the Year in 1997. The list of his achievements throughout his career is astounding, but the impact Blackburn has left in the lives of his former co-workers, students, and athletes in unparalleled.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to have good ball players that have allowed me to achieve those accomplishments. The wins, and states, ya know those are nice but I think the thing I’m most proud of is the level of consistency. We averaged 20 wins a year the better of 33 years. We had a struggle the last two years but we still averaged wins. Like I said at one time we had a District Championship streak of 15 years in a row. There’s not many schools that can say that.”
From one Washita County school to another, the students and athletes of Canute are in the hands of greatness, not just on the field, but in the classroom as well. There is no doubt Blackburn will continue to enrich the minds of many students and pave the way for incredible athletes.
“I would want Cordell and Canute both to know that this is the right thing at the right time for everyone. Everything just opened up and felt right. I don’t have an ill feeling at all. I walked out of there proud. I feel like 33 years made a great impact on me and hopefully I made an impact on it. I’ll always root for Cordell.”
We wish Coach Blackburn all the best of luck in his new adventure.