Jerry Cullen
Football Head Coach
Induction Year: 2022
Jerry Cullen took over the Dodge City Community College football program in 1979 and would guide the Conquistadors for the next 10 years on the gridiron. He came to Dodge City after seven years as an assistant coach at Fort Hays State University.
Cullen would lead the Conquistador football team from 1979 to 1990 coaching 105 games during his tenure picking up 47 total wins over his ten years, while claiming a Conference championship and playing in two bowl games in the process. He left the Conquistadors as the winningest coach in Dodge City Community College history, a record that still stands today.
His best season came in 1983 when the Conquistadors would claim the Jayhawk Conference title and finish 8-3 that season. The 1983 season also saw the Conquistadors play in their first ever bowl game in school history as the Conquistadors took on Coffeyville in the Kansas Jayhawk Classic Bowl. Two years later Cullen led the Conquistadors to another very successful season as they finished with a 6-5 record, and played Dixie State College in the Roaring Ranger Bowl in Texas. The season in between those two was also exceptional as the Conqs recorded a 7-3 record in 1984.
During his 10 seasons at the helm of Dodge City football he coached seven All-Americans with six of the seven earning first team honors and the other picking up second team honors: Willard Goff (1981), Mark Morgan (1982), Kenneth Reed (1983), Mike Beal (1983), Mike Hicks (1985), Robert Delpino (1985), and Kenny Wilhite (1989). During his tenure he coached a pair of former NFL players and Dodge City Community College Athletics Hall of Famers, Robert Delpino (Los Angeles Rams/Denver Broncos) and Steve Tasker (Buffalo Bills), he also coached former Kansas State University head football coach and Dodge City Community College Hall of Fame member, Ron Prince.
The impact that Cullen had on the field is secondary to the impact that he had on his players off the field. If you talk to his former players, the phrases you hear the most are “He changed my life!” and “I would not be where I am today without Coach Cullen.”
