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30 • GCU MAGAZ I NE
GCU
Alumni
Lindsey said. “They looked good in the tryout.”
Both were in Phoenix to stay. Helton’s teams
at Isaac won six state championships and 10
Basketball Congress International titles, and
his players included Darren Woodson, who also
played football and became a star safety for
the Dallas Cowboys, and Gerald Brown, who
later played for the Phoenix Suns. A picture
of Woodson hangs on the wall of Helton’s
study — “To the best coach in America,” the
inscription reads. Sullivan became a school
administrator and was superintendent of the
Cartwright School District in Phoenix. All
because of a road trip that no travel agent could
ever dream up.
Chemistry lesson
Ernst’s path to Grand Canyon was more
conventional — he was playing at Mesa
Community College and then transferred
over with several teammates. But he feels just
as indebted for what playing ball at Grand
Canyon did for his career.
“We were very, very close-knit,” he said. “It
was one of the things I learned that helped me
there at that time – how important chemistry
was, how important kids getting along was.
That’s always been a stress I’ve had in coaching is
trying to make sure that I create that chemistry.”
He clearly has succeeded. Ernst’s teams at
Mountain View High School in Mesa have won
eight state championships, and Helton got to
see his fellow Lope’s coaching acumen first-
hand — he was a referee for years (often doing
games with Sullivan) and officiated many of
Ernst’s games.
“Gary is a good fundamental coach,”
Helton said. “Very good disciplinarian. Very
structured. Well organized. Team basketball.
Really, really good coach. I respect Gary a lot.”
Ernst doesn’t have an Indiana background
— he grew up in Farmington, N.M. — but
his roots also are deeply entrenched in
fundamentals. Some coaches win simply
because they have great players; Ernst wins
because he has made a habit of turning good
players into great teams.
“We tell the kids that this coaching staff
is old school,” he said. “We really push the
fundamentals, offensively and defensively.
I think chemistry is huge. Our parents
provide dinner once a week for our players
at somebody else’s house, and I just think
that has a huge impact on our chemistry. You
don’t have to have the most talent as long
as the kids appreciate each other and value
each other.”
Ernst, who played on the 1969-70 Grand
Canyon team that became the first in school
history to go to the NAIA district playoffs, and
Helton both speak fondly of playing in the old
North Gym. “It was a little crackerbox, but it was
full,” Ernst said. “It was a great home court.”
And they also take great pride in what the
University is doing today.
“It probably means more now than it did
back then — not to me, but to other people,”
Ernst said. “It has more relevance. To see the
growth of the school is pretty prideful. This is
my school.”
Helton’s love of GCU is so deep, it’s
downright dangerous. He lives only a few
blocks from campus and drives past the
University regularly …much to the dismay of
his family.
“Every time I go by there, I’m looking to
see what’s going on, I’m so interested,” he said.
“They say, ‘Dad, you’re going to wreck. You need
to let somebody else drive when you go by this
school because all you want to do is gawk.’”
Maybe the best legacy of a coach is inspiring
others to walk in the same footsteps. Helton
did exactly that for Dan Nichols, now an
associate athletic director at GCU. Nichols
wasn’t sure if coaching was for him until
Helton convinced him to be his successor at
Isaac, and Nichols went on to become the head
coach at GCU.
“I owe a lot to J.C. He’s one of the two
biggest mentors I’ve had in my life,” said
Nichols, who still has lunch with Helton
regularly. “Every guy, whether you have a
father you can talk to or you don’t, you need a
couple people in your life that will turn things
for you. J.C. got me to realize that coaching
probably was something I should be doing.”
There no doubt are a lot of former players
who would say the same thing about both
Ernst and Helton. That’s what it’s all about.
And that’s how good legacies never end.
J.C. Helton
VIDEO
Gary Ernst and J.C. Helton tell stories of traveling to away games in the
infamous “white limo” – watch the video at
news.gcu.edu.