Blue-Collar Faith: Coach John Mayberry on Work, Calling, and Women’s Basketball

In this episode of the Lifework Podcast, Dr. Stan Norman sits down with Coach John Mayberry, head coach of the Williams Baptist Lady Eagles, to trace an unlikely journey from inner-city Hot Springs, Arkansas to the sidelines in Walnut Ridge. Coach Mayberry shares stories of growing up in a blue-collar home, learning the value of hard work from a dad who never complained and a mom who logged 30+ years at the hospital.

He talks about church buses, zebra cakes, and a youth pastor with a basketball goal who introduced him both to the game and to a clear presentation of the gospel that led to his conversion in high school. You’ll hear how he fell in love with basketball late, honed his game in gyms all over Hot Springs, and eventually found his way to Williams, first as a student–athlete and now as the head women’s coach.

This conversation is a rich picture of lifework—how God uses family, work ethic, church, and sport to shape a calling that serves student–athletes today.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to this edition of the Life Work Podcast. Today we are delighted to host the coach of our Lady Eagles basketball team. Welcome, Coach Mayberry, to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Delighted to have you. It seemed the only right thing to do. We had your counterpart, Coach Austin, representing the men's basketball team, and we needed to get the head coach of the Lady Eagles, the women's basketball team on here. And you guys had a pretty good year this year, didn't you?

SPEAKER_01 0:28

We did, we did. Very uh not necessarily unexpected, but we graduated a lot, and so we kind of didn't know how things were gonna go at the beginning of the year.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

So did the team exceed your expectations? Absolutely. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Um I didn't know, you know, when you graduate about 90% of your offense, you don't really know where that's gonna come from. And so the Lord definitely blessed us and and uh kept us in the hunt.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

So now you are in the lum, correct?

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

What year did you graduate from this fine institution?

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Well, it depends on who you ask, but 2008 pretty much is I was done. I was finishing up a class. I had a correspondence class at that time. I I had missed a class on a rotation, and so I was having to take it somewhere else and let me transfer it in, and and so um it was I think on paper technically it's 2009.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Well, just to confirm my fluttering heart, you did graduate. Okay, okay, we're good on that.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

I was done in 08, but uh it was my transcript uh from that class that got sent in after graduation, and so um it was technically 09, I think, on paper.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Okay. Well, let's start with the beginning of the Mayberry journey. Where's home for you? Where did you grow up?

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Uh Hot Springs, Arkansas. I've been there all pretty much all my life for the bulk of it, or here. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

You grew up in hot springs or outside?

SPEAKER_01 1:52

No, in hot springs. So I was inner city type of what you whatever you would say compared to hot springs. I mean, that's not inner city like St. Louis or anything like that, but inner city hot springs. Uh I went to all Hot Springs School District, uh, Langston, Hot Springs Middle School, Hot Springs High School. So the whole time.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Okay. So tell us a little bit about your family. Growing up in Hot Springs looked like what for you?

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Uh my dad was very um, he wasn't military, but his dad was military. So he was very blue-collar. My mom worked for the hospital. I mean, she worked there for 30 plus years till she retired. Um, my dad worked for West Ark Oil. Uh, he drove, which mainly for a long time, and he drove a gas truck um for them for Texaco. I say West Ark Oil, most people know Texaco. Yeah. Um, so he did that, and then he uh had got sick. He's been a diabetic, I mean, since he was 20, and so uh for all my life that I knew. Um and so he was having some some really big issues with it, and uh he had passed out driving with his blood sugar. Oh no. Um and so uh fortunately he was in a personal vehicle and not in a gas truck. And so once that kind of happened, then he transitioned over and they worked with they put him in a gas station. Actually, he ran a Texaco. And so one of the ones, the main thing he did was a U-Haul service Texaco. So it wasn't like they basically had gas, Coke machine, chips, and U-Hauls. So uh the purpose of the of the service station was U-Haul rentals.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Diverse portfolio here, candy bar or a trader, take your pick. So he uh that was about it.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

So okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Any siblings?

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Uh no.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

So the uh that explains absolutely everything.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

You're an only child, only child, yeah. Okay. So the uh I had some I have some cousins that I grew up with really close, my mom's side that was from Hot Springs. Um, and most people would have thought he was my little brother. I mean, he has an older sister who lives out now, like in uh Arizona, but um me and him ran together. He's two years younger than me. I mean, we were together all the time. I mean, it was one of those things where during the summer we'd spend a I'd spend a week at his house, and then we'd aggravate each other, and our parents would be like, all right, it's time to go, and then I'd go home for two days, and then he'd come to my house and spend a week. So it's just kind of we like the same stuff as kids and and so it was fun.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

So grow up in church?

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Uh no, uh I did not. Um I I no drug problems of either way. Like I never was drug detroached and I never had you know outside drug problems. Um I don't think I've ever heard it described that way. But my parents were very encouraging of me going to church. Um I had a neighbor who uh his his stepdad uh was active now uh is actually um where Champion is located, but it used to be Second Baptist. Okay. Um and Second Baptist had split and was Hot Springs Baptist. Um and now um the um um I can't even remember the name of the church now with the split. But anyway, before that, his stepdad was the band director for the school that Second Baptist had at the time, and so they attended that, and so a lot of times I would do stuff with him, or he was a couple years older than me, uh, but his mom was very like, okay, Johnny can stay the night, but he's got to go to church with us. And so um it was never an issue to go. Um, and then there was a local church who had a very big bus ministry. Um, it was a um non-denominational church, but they really like, I mean, the old school yellow school bus that was painted white, and they would go pick up all the kids they could pick up and fill the bus up and take. Um, and basically they started bribing kids with snacks. Like it was like, hey, come and you can win prizes and get snacks and come to church and come to study school.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Let me just interrupt. If you did that today, you would be arrested. It would be arrested. Driving a big white van around and inviting kids on with candy.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

And yeah, and that's exactly um, and so I thought it was fun. And then like if you if you brought somebody with you, then like you got additional, like, and they didn't just give you like you know, one zebra cake, like they give you the whole box of zebra cakes. And so I always thought it was cool to try to bring like my cousins or my neighborhood friends or whoever would go with me so I could get like four or five boxes of snack cakes.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

So have you ever tried that strategy with recruiting basketball players? Uh I try to feed them when they come for sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Like I do try to feed them. If you come, you get one box. If you bring a friend, you get two. So but no, it was uh um they always encouraged me to go. Um, they wasn't necessarily active in their uh as far as in church. Uh my family has always grown up as as believers. Um now uh my dad uh came to salvation later on in life, but it was uh uh never uh they knew it was a good thing and they trusted God and and things like that, and um they never discouraged and always pushed me to go.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

So when did you come to place your life to come to faith in Christ?

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Okay, so I was older, I was in high school, uh it was somewhere between my ninth and tenth grade year, and what had happened was I had some neighborhood friends, um the twins, and they were they had started going with another girl we went to school with, had invited them to come to church, and the youth pastor at that time, Mark Smith, was he was kind of a younger guy. Um him and his wife were at Waschitah, and the church had hired him. Um, I mean, I was, I mean, you're talking 14, 15, 16, 14, 15, I guess, on that side. Um, but he was 23, 24. I mean, he was at Washitaal, and his wife was at school at Henderson, and but he was very much they invited me to come, and he was very much um active, like I was into sports and things like that. And so we just kind of hit it off, and he was kind of a uh more of a big brother type. Um the church was Lake Shore Heights a Baptist church. It was very at that time, it was very uh broken up, a lot of senior adults, not too much in the younger age, and there was some, you know, uh preschool type kids there, but a lot of times they were grandkids who um the grandparents would just take, you know, they might be with the grandparents, but there wasn't too much when I started at the at the church in youth, there was five girls, uh five high school girls, and that was it. There was no guys. And so when the twins invited me, I invited a childhood buddy of mine to come, and we were like the first seven. And so we were the first two guys, and from there, over the next couple years, we grew to, you know, running 25 to 30, pretty average on Wednesday nights. Okay. Um, but it was more of my first experience with that was kind of the trend, you know, where shut group started changing from the old projector and music to, you know, actually somebody playing the guitar and leading worship in youth group. So they're in the 90s, and uh, you know, there was a lot of uh Stephen Curtis Chapman and uh that kind of stuff uh was being played. Um, some of the older uh um more alternative rock.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

I have news for you that is not older from where I'm sitting. So when was the what was the occasion of your conversion?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

So we went to church camp um that summer at uh Spring Lake, which is still there, the associational church camp, uh still there. And uh we had uh uh a service, you know, normal service during the week. And so we had come out of that, and normally we had about a 15-minute like break, snack, popsicle, whatever, and then we went to church group devotion. So it was like around nine o'clock that night, and we're in our small group, church group devotion. And through that, um, he basically he led us through the Roman Road, salvation, the plan of salvation. Like for me, that was like one of the first times like I can remember that I heard like the gospel presented step by step. This is what you have to do, this is the way it works, and it's that easy. Like, I can't, I don't have a clue what was preached about in the service or anything like that. I just remember sitting there and I crying in the bleachers the whole time. We were at our group was on the volleyball. There was a still there, there was a sand outdoor volleyball court and the bleachers that sat right there. That's where we met. Um, and that night there was me, um, my my buddy that went with me, me, him, and let's see, there was three or there's three of us that night, or four of us that night, um, that accepted Christ. And then one of the twins, their sister, was not there that night. She came the next night or the next day. She was there, she was out for something, and and she came and she accepted uh Christ the next day. So there was like four of us that night, if I remember, I'd say four, maybe five. But at that time, we were probably taking around 15, you know, to camp. So 15, 18.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

So you're about 14, 15 years old? Yeah, okay. High school. So mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Between the night we were high school because ninth-twelfth for us was high school. Okay. So that's not necessarily the case now, but back the way it should have been.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Yeah, shouldn't it be through twelve was a good one? That's what it should be. That's what God intended for it to be. Yes, sir. All right. So let's circle back around to your parents. Your dad's working for Arco. Uh West Arco West Arco Texas. And your mother's working at the hospital. Okay. Okay. So looking back on your parents and the way they worked and what they did for work, what did you learn? How did that shape your understanding about work? When when they went to work, what were you thinking? How did that impact you?

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Um well, that's all I knew. Like I just knew, I mean, I played sports and stuff growing up, the boys and girls club and even for school. Um, but that's we just I in all honesty, like my mom obviously was hard work, but she was also the one who, like, okay, if I'm sick, she stays home. Like, you know, my dad, uh full transparency, like very disciplined in his work ethic and how he is. Like, um, I mean, he would be gone, you know, whatever, six in the morning, six a.m., he's off to work. Even when he at a period of time he transitioned and he started working for the city of Hot Springs. Um, and so he would be, you know, 6 a.m. he's headed to to work, um, you know, drink a cup of coffee, whatever, for a few minutes with the guys, and then it's just work. Uh, I can remember, um, especially when he, as I got older and he went to work for the city of Hot Springs, he worked for like sewer and lift station. Um, I can remember him getting off work, getting at home around 5, you know, 4:30, 5 o'clock, and getting a call, main sewer break, something break, and he's turns right back around, goes right back out, and may work till 9, 10 o'clock. I mean, there's times I can remember him, you know, he'd come home, shower and be in bed, something happened, he'd just get right, never a complaint, never an argument. Like, I can honestly remember, you know, my dad never complaining about work ever. Like it was just what you did, and um I mean, he worked hard. And even outside of that, like he worked hard at like a lot of odd jobs, like random. Like, even when he he would come home and he'd work in the yard, whatever, for a couple hours, or he was mowing grass for somebody. I mean, he had several yards uh for different people he mowed and kept up with them outside of that. And it was kind of we didn't necessarily grow up uh rich by any means, or even I mean, we were towards the backside of that. But what I can say is we spent our money well, like there wasn't waste like with things. And I grew up learning the value of money and and what you had to appreciate what you had, and you took care of your stuff, and you know, it's crazy now that I'm I can't even remember how old I am. Sometimes I forget it. So at 42, I've pulled out toys for for our oldest Kobe that I've had when I was a kid that are I mean, I mean a kid like second and third grade, like old Ninja Turtles and G.I. Joe's that are still in excellent condition.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Well, of course they are, because I know this about you. You tend to collect and accumulate.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

And and it's been but that's what they taught me. Like it was just that's what you did. And so um working always came easy for me. And I started at a young age working at 15 and help, but I even earlier helping my dad cut grass and do stuff. And it was kind of funny because we used, I tell people, we use all that money was extra money, so that went strictly to hobbies like deer hunting and so uh camping and fishing and some of the things we did, and um, but my it's funny I joke with people, I said uh my my dad had the envelope system before Dave Ramsey ever said anything about that.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Yeah, yeah, a lot of people did. So sports, doing what you're doing now had to start sometime earlier in your life. When did you start getting into athletics? And did you play a lot of sports? Were you focused on one? How how does that look?

SPEAKER_01 14:54

No, I I did I uh early on, I grew up playing t-ball, you know, like a lot of kids do. Um, and that was probably five or six. I can't really remember where we started, the boys and girls club, but I moved into played soccer and I was pretty good. And um, but I played baseball and soccer growing up, to be honest with you, people don't realize this, but I only ever played basketball. I was probably in like the seventh, sixth grade, maybe, and I hated it. Like really and part of it was because I wasn't any good, and I was short and little, and I was playing on a really good team that was good, and I got to play a little bit because they blew people out, but it was probably fifth or sixth grade because it was boys and girls club before school ball started. Um, but I hated it, but my parents just like were because they they wouldn't let me quit. You're not gonna quit, you'll finish it out, you don't want to play, then you don't have to ever play again. And so like basketball was never really something I was interested in. Like, I was really good at soccer, I was really good at baseball, um, and I got really good at certain things in football that I could do really good. And so I played football up through like junior high. And then when I got to high school, I was still really little. And so I was like, Yeah, I'm not doing this anymore. Ninth grade was high school, but they still played junior high. And so once I came out of that ninth grade year and I was still like five, five and 125 pounds, I was like, Yeah, like it's no, I'm not doing this anymore. So, but I played corner and some safety, so it wasn't too bad.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

So, when when did the pivot happen?

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Um, basketball was with Mark, to be honest with you, like he was very competitive and he grew up playing, and so he put a goal. We had an area outside of the church, he put up an outdoor goal, and so we play all the time. I mean, every day. I mean, we go up on Friday night, like at eight o'clock at night, and we're playing on the outside goal, like, and so we just played all the time, and he was so competitive. Like, for me, I wanted to beat him. And um, so then I started playing more with him, and then I started playing church league. We had a church league team that some of us were on with him and a couple of uh our pastor and a couple of people from the church. So I started playing with him, and then it was just kind of something from then on, like I just fell in love with like the idea of getting better at it, and so like my goal was to get really good because a lot of my friends who played and even played for high school, like I wanted to be able to play with them and and not look awful, that makes sense, and so that was really it.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

So and so when did you achieve that goal of not looking awful?

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Well, so most people don't know. So I graduated high school in 2000, but I didn't come here until 2004, and so I went to the junior college there at Hot Springs for a little bit, and then I just started playing like all the time. Like I would get up at five in the morning and I'd go play at the church at First Baptist um with um you know Wallace was the Wallace Yamucci was the recreational pastor there, um, and um John McCallum uh who recently was retired, that you probably know. I mean, he was playing all the time, and so um we would I'd go and I'd play with those older guys in the morning, and a lot of them would, you know, shower and clean up and go straight to work, you know, straight to their eight o'clock job. And um, so from then I'd go home and and shower and I'd go over to National Park and go to my classes, and then I'd play again at lunch. And when I left there, I'd go to work. Um at the time was Gene Lockwood Sportsmart, a sporting goods store that was there. And then I'd go to work, and then when I left work around six, then I went straight to the YMCA and I played at the YMCA until they closed at nine. And it was the same cycle every day. Like the only time you didn't really play was Friday. And so Friday you went to Doc L's house, which is a doctor that he has uh his uh family, their Lake Hamilton area, but he invited kids. He had a gym in his house, a really nice indoor gym in his barn. Wow. And he opened that up to kids, which he still does to this day, and then he has a half court um and he put a light out there, a half court behind his doctor's office that he opened up. And so a lot of times the older guys would be at the doctor's office, and then the high school kids would be out at his gym. But it was kind of funny. There were certain times of like Sunday afternoon, there were certain times certain groups showed up to play. And so um your Lake Hamilton, your lakeside, your uh Mountain Pine kids played like at this time of the day in the afternoon, your Hot Springs kids showed up later on at night.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Like So did you play in high school?

SPEAKER_01 19:16

No, and so did not, and so I never did, and when I came here, kind of what had happened is I just played a lot in the murals, and I just um still loved it, and I still just did stuff to be better at it all the time. Um, and so and then I went and talked to Coach Ryder my sophomore year about playing, and he was kind of leery of me at first because I didn't play high school, and there were some guys on the team that I had gotten close with and I played a lot with of pick up, and they would after season would invite me to come in and scrimmage and he saw me play some, and some of those guys were talking to him about me. And so he invited me to come work out at the uh that next year at the beginning of the year with him, and then that was it.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

And so Well, what I want to do is I want to put a pen in it right now, and I want to pick this up in our next episode. Are you good with that? Yeah, all right. Thanks.