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Event to Celebrate Bill Epperly’s National Coaches Hall of Fame Honor

Friends and family are hosting a celebration at 7 p.m., Friday, May 12 inside the Flathead gym

By Dillon Tabish
Bill Epperly is recognized during the crosstown basketball on Feb. 23, 2017. Greg Lindstrom | Flathead Beacon

The community is invited to celebrate Bill Epperly and his remarkable coaching career at an upcoming event at Flathead High School.

Friends and family are hosting a celebration at 7 p.m., Friday, May 12 inside the Flathead gym in recognition of Epperly and his induction into the National High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Attendees are encouraged to come early to get a good parking spot.

Epperly, 79, is a beloved local figure who has mentored young athletes and coached different sports for 49 years. This spring he was named to the national coaches hall of fame.

Epperly first arrived in Kalispell in 1966 and became an assistant basketball and football coach and head track coach. He left in 1971 before returning in 1979, where he remained a teacher and coach until 1993.

As an assistant, he has been a part of an incredible 13 state championships. As head mentor, Epperly has won two state basketball championships and finished second twice. In 2000, he began coaching the boys’ and girls’ high jump at Flathead, where he has had 24 state placers.

A two-time Montana Coaches Association Boys’ Basketball Coach of the Year (1982 and 1989), Epperly was inducted into the MCA Hall of Fame in 1990. He was a 1993 nominee for National High School Basketball Coach of the Year and was inducted into the Kalispell Legends Wall of Fame in 2005.