Eldon Becker
Coach/Athletic Director/Professor
Induction Year: 2010
Born August 13, 1937 to George and Helen (Regehr) Becker. Graduating from Inman High School where he played basketball, Eldon attended Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas where he was a member of the 1956 basketball team that became the first Bethel College team in history to win a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship. Eldon married his wife Joan and after working for Hays High, came to Dodge City Community College in 1969 when the football program had been canceled, drawing ire from the community and the students (a float in a parade was decked in black with game-dressed football player lying in a coffin). Football was restored and Becker began his career at Dodge City Community College, starting by teaching physical education and running the intramural sports program. He then completed his Master's degree from Fort Hays State University in 1973.
During his 30 year tenure at Dodge City Community College, from 1969 to 1999, Becker taught every sport, from badminton to his first passion, basketball, and coached a fair number of teams. "I was a jock of all sports and a master of none," he joked. He is probably most remembered for the expansive reach of his sports officiating program. In the last 23 years Becker was at DC3, his officials called 10,453 basketball games, 1,260 football games, and 329 volleyball matches. The record occurred during the 1994-95 school year with 707 basketball games officiated for 21 schools. In a single day, 32 DC3 students were sent out to call basketball games. Becker was also the DC3 Athletic Director for a time.
Eldon was inducted into the Kansas State High School Activities Association Hall of Fame in 2000, received a lifetime achievement award from the Southern Plains Iroquois Activities Association, and was honored in 2014 with the naming of Becker Hall, a dormitory named in his honor on the campus of Dodge City Community College.