COYOTE PRIDE
COLEMAN PAYS IT FORWARD WITH POSITIVE ACTIONS Phil Coleman ’68 has spent his life helping others achieve their personal best, emphasizing the importance of positive actions, optimistic attitude and servant leadership. His motivation to inspire others, he acknowledges, came from his experiences and mentors at Kansas Wesleyan.
motivational speeches at the Salina Rescue Mission and has served on the fundraising committee to build the Museum of Scouting. He has provided more than 1,000 pro-bono motivational and leadership seminars to various organizations in Salina.
Coleman, originally from Goddard, KS, was recruited by Coach Ken Cochran to play baseball and basketball. He was also active in the Varsity Club, was a resident assistant and worked part-time in Shriwise Dining Hall. The baseball program was coming off a 20-year hiatus, and the team won the KCAC Championship in 1966. The basketball team won back-to-back KCAC titles in 1966–67 and 1967–68. Coleman was inducted into the Kansas Wesleyan Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986 and again in 2006 with the 1966 baseball team.
In addition to giving back to the local community, Coleman makes Kansas Wesleyan a priority. He has been a host family for student-athletes, provides one-on-one and group mentoring to students, coaches and teams, supports the Coyotes by his presence at home athletic competitions, helps students and Kansas Wesleyan employees find rental property (he started Coleman Rentals 40 years ago), provides financial support to purchase meals for athletic teams during breaks, and has funded items for the Pep Band, Nursing faculty and students and numerous athletic teams. He has also provided significant gifts to the Student Activities Center and the Graves Sports Complex and is a member of the Pioneer Society.
“ Part of my mission in life is to help others. I’m in the business of teaching that, and I apply it to myself. If each one of us were to do a minimum of ten acts of kindness a month, we could make the good a lot better.”
“Athletics is in my blood,” said Coleman. “The valuable lessons learned in athletics—winning, losing, mental toughness, success strategies, overcoming tough times, helping others, not quitting—are essential to living a successful life.” These have been familiar themes in Coleman’s more than 2,000 motivational presentations he has delivered during the past 40 years through his Champion Seminars business. “Part of my mission in life is to help others. I’m in the business of teaching that, and I apply it to myself. If each one of us were to do a minimum of ten acts of kindness a month, we could make the good a lot better.”
Coleman teaches people the art of positive actions in his seminars, and he practices what he preaches. He volunteers monthly at five nursing homes, prepares meals and provides 22
Coleman served for nine years on the Kansas Wesleyan Board of Trustees, spent a decade as the Alumni Association president, has been a member of the Hall of Fame and Night with the Yotes committees, and he has served on the fundraising committees for the Student Activities Center and the Graves Family Sports Complex. Coleman received the Gerald Lilly Award at the annual Night with the Yotes dinner and auction on August 20, 2016. The award is presented to a person who exemplifies outstanding dedication and commitment to Kansas Wesleyan athletics. Coleman and Lilly enjoy watching many athletic competitions together. “I am honored to receive this award, named for a good friend and fellow supporter of Coyote athletics. Kansas Wesleyan did a lot for me. I enjoy paying it forward by staying actively involved on campus. Eighty percent of my blood is purple!”