The newspaper in question has been touched by time, a brown and brittle reminder about how the news we once consumed came to us in columns and inches instead of captions and reels.

Here’s what the December 7th, 1984 edition of The Murray State News tells us: that movie theaters near the university were running Beverly Hills Cop III. Druthers Restaurant on North 12th Street was running a 2-piece chicken dinner for $1.99. And the Lady Racers basketball team was running its offense through a scrappy and dependable guard named Melody Ottinger.

If you’re a Prairie person, you know this former Division I standout as Melody Owsley, the longtime girls’ varsity basketball coach, physical education teacher, and Middle School advisor.

In the paper’s write-up about its women’s team there is a succinct – yet poignant – sentence from head coach Bud Childers that stands out:

“Melody is doing a fine job of taking her shots, feeding the ball to the open girl, and is the real leader on defense.”

In other words, Melody Ottinger did whatever was necessary to help her team achieve success.

Building a Powerhouse

When Owsley took over the Prairie girls’ basketball program before the 1990-91 season, things were in pretty rough shape. One simply has to look at the archives to understand how rough. Athletic Department records for girls’ basketball date back only to 1980-81 despite the fact girls were competing for Prairie in the seventies. We know this because of pictures like the one in the 1978 yearbook, a black and white snapshot showing the team in plain numbered jerseys – no school name, no logo – with striped skirts and knee-high socks. Several of those early seasons have a question in mark in the head coaching column. One season entry contains only a conference record. As such, best anyone can tell, in the ten BMO years (Before Mel Owsley) for which there are known wins and losses, the Hawks “official” record was 52 and 107.

As Sandy Freres, legendary Prairie Athletic Director told the Racine Journal Times in 2016, “When we brought Mel in, I said to her, and this is quote, unquote, ‘Melody, we have probably one of the worst basketball programs going on in the state right now. ‘You’re going to have to be patient, but you’re going to make a change in the culture.'”

More prophetic Prairie words have never been spoken.

Change the culture Owsley did, to the tune of 345 career victories, seven conference championships, and 10 regional titles over the next 26 seasons. She was named the Racine County Coach of the Year six times and six of her players would go on to earn Division I scholarships. In 2004, she led the Hawks to the WIAA Division 4 State Championship. While the Hawks have gotten close in recent years, 2004 remains the only girls basketball title in school history.

“I’ve had a lot of coaches and she’s one of the ones who made a lasting impact because she cares about the whole individual and not just the player,” Liz Biland ’04 said in 2016. “She’s going to leave such a legacy at Prairie that it’s unreal.”

Whatever It Took

Melody Owsley did it all at Prairie. She taught physical education for 35 years. She served as a trusted Middle School advisor, routinely offering eye-opening insight to her advisees about the benefits of a Prairie education. She coached basketball for 26 seasons. Even when she stopped coaching varsity she couldn’t stay away – the following year, in an effort to teach the game to Prairie’s younger students, she was running camps and workshops in Primary School.

“This has been a special place in my life,” says Owsley. “Not only did Sandy Freres, Dick Zimmerman, and Kevin Pearson take a chance on a young 25-year-old to teach physical education, but to also build the girls’ basketball program from the bottom up. I saw Prairie as way to give back to students by teaching them sports. The school has positively impacted the lives of our two children, Courtney and Zachary. From the beginning I recognized the quality of education Prairie could give students; the kind I didn’t get growing up in a public school in Indiana.”

When talking about a coach’s legacy, wins and losses will always be crucial to the discussion; however, the most inspirational motivators and leaders aren’t the ones worried about producing the best winning percentage. They are they ones worried about producing the best people.

“She changed our program,” Freres said following Owsley’s decision to step away from varsity coaching in 2016. “Twenty-six years later, we have a solid program that’s respected. More importantly, she instilled such a work ethic and sense of confidence into young women.”

Work hard. Believe in yourself. Hold dear the opportunities given to you.

These are the maxims of Melody (Ottinger) Owsley, a coach and educator who did whatever it took to ensure her students were set up to achieve lasting success.

We look forward to celebrating Melody and the rest of the 2025 Hall of Fame inductees on Saturday, June 14th. Click here to register for the Alumni Weekend Celebration and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.