For the past 19 years, Bob Curtis has felt at home.

During his 19 years at Community R-6, the girls basketball head coach has led the program to eight district titles in the past 11 seasons and has spent nine of those years as the principal of the high school and middle school. Before that, however, Curtis was the athletic director and was rehired for that position starting this year.

Curtis spent at least three years as Community’s athletic director but had to step away when he took over as the principal. The district hired Bob Davies from Kansas to be the new principal, which gave Curtis the opportunity to settle back into his home within his home at Community.

“This is my home,” Curtis said. “I’ve coached the whole time I’ve been here. The thing I want to see as the AD, if I can help in any way, is to continue to make our teams as competitive as we possibly can at our level.”

His daughter, Jocelyn, is a junior that plays for Curtis on the court and is also involved in softball. Curtis’ twins, the son Bronson and the daughter Bristol, will be sixth-graders. 

“I always really enjoyed that type of work,” Curtis said. “It’s no secret that I’m a sports guy. All of my kids are involved right now so I will be attending a lot of those events.”

An athletic director has all sorts of tasks such as maintaining relationships and contacts with officials, coaches and other athletic directors. They also prepare schedules, athletic facilities and ways to improve the department. According to Curtis, work doesn’t get much better than these responsibilities.

Curtis said it truly doesn’t feel like a job and has been more than willing to lend a hand over the years. Last year, for example, he was at baseball games doing various tasks to help out the then-athletic director Trenton Pummill, who left for an assistant athletic director position at Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis.

“Getting fields ready, and trying to figure out equipment and what is needed, I’ve always enjoyed every season and what sports are taking place and how I can help with those coaches and with those teams,” Curtis said. “I’m a fan and a student of the game regardless of what it is. When I have my own time, I’m definitely still wrapped up in sports.”

Even though Curtis will be subtracting one role as the principal, he admitted that he will be adding one to his duties as the boys golf head coach. Community hasn’t had boys golf for a few due to participation numbers, but this spring, it will be one new addition to the department early in Curtis’ follow-up run as athletic director. The previous coach, current Mexico mayor Vicki Briggs, was a science teacher at Community for 29 years but also devoted a lot of care to the golf program until her retirement in 2014. 

Curtis has a golfing background, winning a state championship as a player at Sturgeon before playing at Central Methodist University in Fayette and coaching at the beginning of his 24-year career in education. His son, Bronson, plays golf so there will be interest from his household, but Curtis said there will be enough interest at the high school level for possibly a varsity and junior varsity team. 

“I want that program to hopefully take off and get it reenergized,” Curtis said. “When (Briggs) retired, there really weren’t a whole lot of kids that were playing at that time. At the same time, someone who really put a whole lot of energy and effort into that retired. I feel like we’re going to have plenty this next spring.”

Curtis doesn’t take over officially as athletic director until this month so he said the crucial meetings with the likes of the booster club and the new superintendent Chad Harter still need to happen to decide future steps for the department. What Curtis does know for sure is that it will be a busy year for the district.

Community will be the host for conference tournaments, meets and other functions throughout this year, including the art competition. The Central Activities Conference has held an art competition for the past couple years that involves students receiving prompts of what to draw or paint for several hours of a certain day before submitting those works to be judged by an art department. 

“Not only will we host all of those events, but we will have our meetings at Pig Up and Go in Mexico with all of the ADs and coaches,” Curtis said. “Our all-conference and all-district meetings, we’ll be slating those there in Mexico. We’re excited about that.”

Curtis loves that his district and the others in the conference offer all types of events for the students. Ultimately, he said that’s who they do all of this for and why he wants to give much effort until his retirement. 

Because of the students, Curtis said he wants to make sure everyone finds “their niche” and will look for opportunities to expand such as scheduling more contests and upgrading facilities. To sum up, it is to make sure everybody’s home is the best it can possibly be. 

“We hope to have big numbers out participating, and at the same time, put the best product out with good coaches teaching them the sport and just having fun at it, and at the same time, being competitive,” Curtis said in response to how important Community is to him. “We talk about the uniform that you wear and playing for that uniform. I think our kids are proud of where they go to school.”