Dr. Jason E. Holmes born 1947 is the eldest of four children. As far back as he can remember, two great loves powered his days, reading and sports. All four Holmes children were nurtured by Mother’s love of music and Dad’s love of sport.

Before attending first grade, because in rural Missouri there was no kindergarten, Dr Holmes stay at home mother, an aspiring elementary teacher, taught him to read with Dick and Jane. No television, but serial radio programs, grandparents who told stories and a dad who put the boys down for the night with patented ‘Holmes made stories’, which always featured the Holmes boys, informed, entertained and persuaded him.

Dr. Holmes love of the spoken word and stories morphed into reading books. He prized ‘Little Golden Books’ from grandparents or Mom and Dad on a grocery trip to the supermarket in Poplar Bluff. ‘The Little Engine That Could’ and ‘Dumbo’ brought stories in a new format. He practiced reading the stories out loud at nap time, rainy days or whenever he craved a story.  

Dr. Holmes’ father, a visionary Physical Education teacher/coach, introduced the two Holmes boys to the rigorous joy inherent within athletic competition. Those earliest memories in gyms and on baseball fields imprinted sights, sounds, smells, and a feeling of excitement. Both boys competed hard. In the backyard, in the park, on the playground, in the gym, all the way through Varsity college athletics. The Holmes boys played to win.

Dr. Holmes served in the First Air Cavalry Division, Vietnam.

Dr. Holmes began his teaching career in 1972. His first job was at his old high school. Over seven years much changed. In the Spring of 1965, when he graduated from Normandy HS, few knew of Vietnam. In 1972, the War occupied print and electronic media.

Two television series set in high schools from the seventies, connected his classes and basketball teams. ‘Welcome Back, Kotter’, inspired his afternoon English classes, which met in the Chemistry Lab, to call themselves the ‘sweathogs’. ‘The White Shadow’, followed a new white basketball coach in a racially mixed high school.

1972 marked the beginning of Title IX. The landmark legislation corrected the unfair access to school sports for girls. At that time no one truly grasped the impact of Title IX. Eventually, Dr. Holmes also coached High School girls to Varsity championships. For more than twenty years, he coached during all three-seasons.

Dr. Holmes served as a public speaker, a curriculum developer and presenter for classroom teachers. He was an adjunct professor of Education in several universities.

Dr. Holmes feels a passion for golf. His favorite golf companions include friends from high school, college, work, the Army, his sons, and grandchildren.