VIDEO: Sen. Moran Speaks on the Senate Floor to Honor Hill City High School Coach Keith Riley

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) this week gave remarks on the Senate floor to honor Hill City High School basketball coach Keith Riley on his retirement after 58 seasons of coaching, teaching and serving the local community.

"I pay tribute to his career, not just as a coach on the basketball court and the track field, but also as a teacher in the classroom," said Sen. Moran. "His success was the result of his genuine interest in the well-being of the students who walked the halls of Hill City High School. Whether kids played for him or simply took his industrial arts classes, Coach Riley sought to help them achieve their full potential. Like so many educators, he cared about his students, and they knew he cared."

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Click HERE to Watch Sen. Moran's Full Remarks

Sen. Moran's full remarks as delivered:

"Madam President, the residents of Hill City, Kansas, a county seat town in Northwest Kansas, will experience something new next winter: a new boys basketball coach will be on the sidelines for the Hill City Ringnecks. After 58 seasons as the head coach of Hill City High School, Keith Riley has officially retired.

"Today, I pay tribute to his career, not just as a coach on the basketball court and the track field, but also as a teacher in the classroom. His success was the result of his genuine interest in the well-being of the students who walked the halls of Hill City High School. Whether kids played for him or simply took his industrial arts classes, Coach Riley sought to help them achieve their full potential.

"Like so many educators, he cared about his students, and they knew he cared. He freely gave his time to kids who asked to spend an extra hour in the evening shooting hoops or a Sunday afternoon in the spring learning to pole-vault.

"When class projects were due at the end of the school year, he stayed in the woodworking shop late into the evening so his students could apply that last coat of varnish.

"Under his leadership, Coach Riley's team won more than 800 games and 3 State titles--plus another 6 track and field championships--and his students won class projects; they won competitions there.

"In those seasons where there was less success, his expectations for his players remained unchanged. Talent wasn't required to play hard and do the fundamentals well.

"Teaching basketball over decades required him to be a student of the game himself. He would watch KU practice under Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Bill Self and take those ideas home to Hill City from Lawrence. He learned from other peers at coaching clinics and befriended many of them.

"His own work ethic and that of his players would result in him being inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2018. But for Coach Riley, personal accolades were far less important than the success of his kids, in high school and beyond.

"Many of his players went on to become teachers and coaches too, no doubt running the same plays they learned from him. His assistant coaches became head coaches and won State titles on their own. Those who pursued other professional paths also credit Coach Riley's impact on their lives.

"For Coach and his wife Merriel, his players were like their boys, in addition to their sons Brian and Geoff both who played for him. Players from his first year as coach still call him to check in, or if they are in town, they drop by his house.

"He has always credited any success to those who played for him. I lived briefly in Hill City shortly after Coach Riley won his second state basketball championship. The Mid-Continent League was known for its football towns, like Smith Center and Plainville and Norton, but under Coach Riley, Hill City was definitely a basketball town. You knew where most of the community would be on Tuesday and Friday nights during the winter.

"While Coach's voice will no longer ring out from the sidelines, the gym in which he spent countless hours teaching kids the game he loves appropriately bears his name. Keith Riley Fieldhouse boasts many State title banners, won over nearly six decades, but his true legacy can be seen in the lives he changed along the way.

"Coach Riley, congratulations on a legendary career, and I wish you and Merriel all the very best in your retirement."

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