Wiggins mourns unexpected death of coach, principal. ‘He cared so much about those kids.’
The Wiggins community is mourning the death of Kevin Conard, a coach and administrator who occupied many roles and touched plenty of lives during his time at Stone High School.
Conard, who was the school’s athletic director for the past year, died Wednesday at age 44, leaving behind his wife, Crystal, and three children.
Conard served for over a decade as the Tomcats’ baseball coach before taking on the job of assistant principal at the high school. This past summer, he was tabbed as the school’s athletic director.
It was at the baseball field around lunch on Wednesday when Stone baseball coach Sean Miller last saw Conard, who died while cutting his grass at home
“We were at the field fixing boards, and then he left. He went back to work,” Miller said. “A few hours later, he went to go cut grass and died.”
The Stone High baseball team’s home playoff game against Purvis was originally scheduled to take place Thursday night, but Game 1 was postponed until 7 p.m. Friday in Wiggins.
One of Conard’s two sons, Gehrig, is a junior on the team who is having one of the best campaigns of any pitcher in the state. He has thrown three no-hitters this season and has a 9-1 record with 0.66 ERA in 11 appearances.
Gehrig, who has verbally committed to play at Jones College in Ellisville, also plays football as a linebacker for Tomcats coach John Feaster.
“I feel bad for him because I know for him, the things he accomplished this year are a testament to his father,” Feaster said. “It was his father who introduced him to baseball. I just know how much he loved his dad and respected his dad. He’s a hard-nosed guy, but I know this is going to be a very trying time.”
Conard’s daughter, Alexis, was a freshman member of the Stone girls soccer team this past season. His youngest son, Kasen, is wrapping up his second grade year.
Friends offer condolences to family
Once word spread throughout the Wiggins community of Conard’s death, a crowd gathered Wednesday night at the family’s home to offer condolences.
“I had to park a half mile down the street to get to the house. There were people everywhere,” Miller said. “You could tell he made a big impact on kids’ lives. He was a really good guy, an upbeat guy. He worked his butt off. When you think of a coach and a good coach, he’s one of the guys that comes to mind.”
East Central High School softball coach Kyle Long worked on Conard’s staff at Stone High in the 2000’s, and the two developed a close friendship.
“Those were three unbelievable years,” Long said. “He taught me so much about hard work and baseball and being a good person. He taught me a lot about building a program. He’s one of my best friends. I’m just heartbroken.”
Whether they met him five years ago or 20 years ago, those who worked alongside Conard couldn’t help but like the guy.
“When he was an assistant principal, he’d come down to my room and he’d say, ‘Take off and go fishing tomorrow.’” said Todd Miller, the recently retired Stone boys basketball coach. “He’d take you fishing. He would do anything in the world for you. He was that kind of guy. He’d give you the shirt off his back.”
Long received a text message from Conard this past Saturday congratulating him for winning Class 5A South State, and it’s hard to imagine no longer being able to pick up the phone and call his friend.
“If I called him from Canada and said I needed something, he’d jump in his truck and come help me,” he said. “It didn’t matter how well he knew you. He was literally somebody who would help anybody.
“He cared so much about those kids. He cared so much about Stone County. He was Stone County baseball and in my mind he is still Stone County baseball.”
Kevin Conard leaves legacy at Stone High
It was Conard’s work ethic that put the Stone baseball team in position to consistently reach the postseason, and it also allowed him to succeed in whatever job he took on.
“Kevin was never the best athlete in high school,” Todd Miller said. “Kevin had a chip on his shoulder, therefore his team’s philosophy was that it was going to outwork you. His teams would practice 3-4 hours. I don’t know how they did it. His philosophy was that he was always going to outwork you, and that carried over into being an assistant principal and an athletic director. He just tried to outwork everybody.”
The scene at Stone High School on Thursday was described as a somber one.
It’s very unbelievable,” said principal Adam Stone. “He’s not going to walk in my office today and talk about the ball games going on over the next few days. You don’t realize what you have until you don’t have it anymore.
“You just don’t think it’s real. He was my Pee Wee basketball coach. We’ve been together a long time, since I was 12 years old.”
Even with those who knew him just starting to grieve the loss of Conard, Stone and Sean Miller believe it’s important to move forward with what has been a special baseball season so far.
“(Gehrig) was wanting to play today,” Stone said. “It’s one of those things where we’ve got to rally behind him and play.
“I know this, Coach Conard would want us to play. He wouldn’t want us to stop on behalf of him. That’s just how he was.”
This story was originally published May 13, 2021 at 3:26 PM.
