Physical education teacher and drill team coach Gussie Davis from Texas has been credited with creating a “living art form.” Photo credit: Kilgore College Rangerettes

Every once in awhile I come across the story of a pioneering teacher that I feel I simply must share. One of them is Gussie Nell Davis, a physical education teacher and drill team coach from Texas who is credited for creating a “living art form.”

Gussie was born in Farmersville, Texas, on Nov. 4 1906. As a child she was trained to be a concert pianist. However, after she began her education at the College of Industrial Arts, now known as Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas, she changed her major to physical education. Later she earned a Master’s degree from the University of Southern California.

Gussie inaugurated her career as an educator at Greenville High School in Greenville, Texas, in 1928. There she worked as a physical education teacher and pep squad direction. During her tenure there, she developed the first “dancing” pep squad in 1929.

Because of her success at Greenville, Gussie was hired to develop a similar program at Kilgore College in 1939. She developed a dancing drill team known as the Kilgore College Rangerettes, and established a performance genre that has served as a model for drill teams around the nation.

During Gussie’s 40 years as Director of the Rangerettes, her team traveled all over the country and internationally, representing Texas and the United States in South America, the Far East, Europe, and elsewhere around the world. The Rangerettes have been featured at numerous football bowl games across the nation, on national television, in movies, and on hundreds of magazine covers.

For this trailblazing work, Gussie earned many honors. She was named Honorary Citizen of Fort Worth in 1965. She received the International Citizen Citizenship Award in 1969, the Cotton Bowl Association 25th Anniversary Participation Award in 1974, a State of Texas House of Representatives Certificate of Citation, and a Distinguished Alumnae of Texas Woman’s University in 1978. She was also inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame. In 1996 she was named posthumously to the TDDTEA Texas Drill Team Hall of Fame, and in 1999, she was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. Kilgore College named the Rangerette Residence on their campus in her honor.

Gussie Nell Davis retired in 1979. She passed away Dec. 20, 1993, from respiratory complications. She was interred in Farmersville Cemetery in Texas.

To learn more about this trailblazing educator and coach, click on this link to the Kilgore College Rangerettes.

Former high school health and physical education teacher Matilda Mossman became an award-winning university basketball coach prior to her retirement in 2021. Photo credit: Tulsa University

Many outstanding college coaches launched their careers as physical education teachers in one of America’s public schools. One of these is Matilda Mossman, an award-winning high school basketball coach who also served as the former Head Basketball Coach for the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Matilda was born on Aug. 7, 1956 in Campbellsville, Kentucky. After her graduation from high school, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Physical education in 1970 and her Master’s degree in Education in 1980, both from Western Kentucky.located in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

After earning her degrees, Matilda launched her career as a health and physical education teacher at Normal Community High School in Normal, Illinois. She also served as the girls basketball coach there. She worked at the school from 1994 to 2001.

The next year, Matilda relocated to Norman Oklahoma, where she served as the assistant girls basketball coach at Norman North High School. That year, her team completed the season with a 22-4 record and advanced to the Class 6A state semi-finals.

The next year, Matilda was named the Head Basketball Coach at Norman High. She served in that role from 2002 to 2011. During those years, her teams logged an overall record of 191-53 for a winning percentage of nearly 80%. During her tenure, Matilda’s teams qualified for the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Athletic Association (OSSAA) Class 6A State Tournament in the last eight of her nine seasons, and they won eight straight regional championships. In fact, Matilda led Norman High to the state title in 2005, and runner-up in 2010.  For her efforts, she was named the Conference Coach of the Year three times, while earning Regional and District Coach of the Year honors twice.

In 2011, Matilda was appointed Head Basketball Coach at the University of Tulsa, where she served ten seasons. She took over a five-win team and in just her second year won a conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. She retired from coaching in 2021.

“My entire life has evolved around being a basketball coach. And I have had the time of my life!” Matilda declared at the time of her retirement. “Mark Twain once said, ‘Find a job you enjoy doing and you will never work a day in your life.’ That is certainly what I have done,” she concluded.