Ex-high school basketball coach Bobier dies at 71

Ed Koch and Spencer Patterson

Friday, Oct. 19, 2001 | 10:01 a.m.

In the early 1980s at a Southern Zone AAA boys high school basketball playoff game, Valley High coach Bill Bobier and Las Vegas High coach Sherill Stephens were in their usual stormy sideline demeanor during a nip-and-tuck battle.

"I walked off the court at halftime feeling like a ping pong ball," said Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, who was a referee of that game.

"Coach Stephens (now a high school principal in Arizona) was fiery and coach 'Bobs' really knew how to work the officials -- and he was not afraid to yell at us. But, after the game was over, he never held a grudge and would always stop to say hello."

Bobier, who holds a Southern Nevada record of coaching Valley to four straight state titles and with 604 career victories is the winningest high school basketball coach in Nevada history, died Thursday. He was 71.

The cause was cancer.

Services are pending for Bobier, whose Viking squads won state crowns 1980-83. Short and portly in stature, Bobier often wore sharp, professional dark business suits when he coached games.

During his 30-year career, Bobier amassed a 604-211 (.741) record. On percentage, he is second only to South Tahoe's Tom Orlich, who was 521-177 (.746) over 25 years. Joe Stein, at Rancho and Western, compiled a 564-229 (.711) mark to trail Bobier in career victories.

Bobier, who retired from coaching in 1986, in later years often would attend local high school games and report to Ratner, the chief of officials, on the progress of young, promising referees.

"I saw him at the funeral of his daughter-in-law Susie Aldershoff less than two weeks ago, and he told me about his health situation, but, even then, he thought he was going to beat it (cancer)," Ratner said.

Larry McKay, Clark County athletic director, who also officiated Bobier's games and worked with Bobier in administering the Holiday Prep Classic and Adidas Big Time tournaments, remembered Bobier as a coach who demanded the best from his players

"He was a disciplinarian, an old-school coach, but he was fair and honest, and he always played the game the way it should be played," McKay said.

"(His teams) were known for their defensive pressure and their ability to run down the court. They never had size -- if they had a 6-foot-5 kid that was a lot -- but they always had success. He demanded that."

Al LaRocque, Durango basketball coach who coached against Bobier when LaRocque was at Western, said Bobier, "was sort of like the godfather of high school coaches. He was an icon here, and there's a void now that he's gone."

"Coaching-wise, he's probably most famous for his sideline demeanor. He was very demonstrative with his actions."

At a 1996 Valley-Clark High old-timers game, ex-Valley and UNLV star Freddie Banks said of Bobier, who was on the bench for that game: "He was a great coach who taught a lot of us how to play. He made me more disciplined. His yelling and screaming made me a better player."