| Title: | Head Basketball Coach |
In nine years of coaching, Bob Kivisto became the all-time winningest coach in the history of the Independence Community College men’s basketball program—a mark that still stands to this day.
From 1982-91, Kivisto recorded an incredible mark of 227-80, which included two 30-plus win seasons. His Pirate squads won seven Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division championships. They also won the Region VI championship in both 1983 and 1984 to land a spot at the NJCAA National Tournament in Hutchinson. During his tenure at Independence, Kivisto coached five NJCAA All-Americans.
A top-notch defensive specialist and the starting point guard at the University of Kansas on its 1971 Final Four team, Kivisto was an All-State basketball player for four consecutive years at East Aurora High School in Illinois, where he established a national record with 52 points in a game as a freshman. He earned First Team All-American honors.
In addition to Independence, Kivisto was the head coach at Pratt Community College. Before that, he was an assistant coach for six years at Quincy (Ill.), two years at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and two years as the freshman coach at KU.