Legendary basketball coach Ed Kershner, who led 1982-83 state-champion Osceola Kowboys to their only undefeated season, passed away Wednesday in his Oviedo home after battling health issues for several years. He passed on his 81st birthday.
“I’m sure there are many others who could say this. but I owe Coach Kershner my career. He’s the reason I am a coach today,” current Osceola Coach Steve Mason said. “I grew up watching Osceola basketball, but when I went to high school I wasn’t good enough to play for the Kowboys. But when I was in college, I knew I wanted to become a coach.
“I contacted Coach Kershner and told him that and he was so encouraging. He would invite me to watch practices and games then he would spend as much time I wanted answering my questions about coaching.”
Mason said Kershner offered that same support for more than 40 years.
“When I started my second stint at Osceola this past April, Ed called me and we spoke for an hour about the heritage and tradition of Osceola High School basketball and how I was now the keeper of that tradition.”
Nate Alexander spent 13 years coach basketball at Osceola, including seven years as head coach where he compiled a 155-46 record and won two state championships, and he shared Mason’s admiration, appreciation and respect for Kershner.
“My first year at Osceola (as an assistant), I was a glorified ball boy. Even though Coach Kershner had already moved to Oviedo, he was extremely close friends with (then Osceola Coach) Larry Brown. Through camps, visits and clinics, they would be together and I always made sure to stay within earshot so I could hear what he was saying. Coach K’s willingness to share basketball strategy and coaching philosophy with some punk head coach he did not know was incredible. He would sit for hours and answer my questions.”
Thanks to offering advice whenever sought, Alexander called him “the master.”
“When you get an opportunity to talk to someone who has won that many games, you better take advantage of it,” Alexander said. “And he was always more than willing to share that experience and knowledge.”
Kershner was an all-state basketball player in his native Indiana and went on to play at Florida Southern College. He began his coaching career in Indiana but moved back to Florida in 1980 to take over the Osceola program. He coached the Kowboys for 11 seasons.
His 1982-83 team, led by Frank Ford and Jimmy McCrimon, is still considered one of the best in Florida history. Those two averaged more than 25 points a game during a perfect 37-0 record that led to the Kowboys’ first — and only, for 35 more years — state championship.
Ford would go on to star at Auburn, and Markus Paul, who became a football All-American at Syracuse and win five Super Bowl rings as an NFL coach, also starred on that team.
While at Osceola, he became one of the state’s leading advocates and mentors for coaches – serving on numerous national and state committee. He was the main force behind the creation of the Florida Association of Basketball Coaches; where continued to serve that organization for his entire life.
In 1981 he created the Great Florida Shootout, which attracted elite teams from around the state and country while funding scholarships for area students. It became the preeminent holiday high school hoops tournament in the Southeast during the 1990s and 2000s, once it was embraced and operated by the Kissimmee Rotary. He led Oviedo to a tournament title before it ended in 2015.
“That tournament definitely raised the profile of high school basketball in Florida,” Mason said.
After his coaching stint at Osceola, Kershner coached at Oviedo High, School, leading the Lions to a 27-4 record and a Class 7A state championship in 2014, until retiring in 2017 with a career 901-377 record, the most wins by a high school basketball coach in state history.
A member of several sports hall of fames, Kershner coached the East squad in the first McDonald’s High School All-Star game and became the first coach from Florida to be inducted into the National High School Basketball Coaches Association “Court of Honor.”
“Outside of Osceola County, Coach Kershner may be remembered most for his stint at Oviedo, but the Kowboys always held a special place in his heart,” Mason added. “Through the years, he was always kept up with what was going on with the Osceola program and certainly set the stage for later successes we enjoyed.”
