He still has the coaching itch.

Former Owensville Dutchgirl head basketball coach Steve Tappmeyer proved that earlier this summer.

Approved by the Union R-11 Board of Education in early June, Tappmeyer was named the next varsity head girls basketball coach at Union High School.

“I thought it may have been fun but I have not been able to get them to do too much this summer,” Tappmeyer said. “It has been frustrating. They all play one or two other sports and those coaches had summer schedules planned before I took the job.”

In spite of this obstacle, Tappmeyer will have a full circle moment or two come this winter.

Coaching current Dutchgirl head basketball coach John VanLeer during his time in the mid 1980s at East Central College (ECC), Tappmeyer’s Union Lady Wildcats will face VanLeer’s Owensville Dutchgirls at least once during the upcoming winter season.

“John played for me at ECC in the mid 80’s. We have always been close,” Tappmeyer said. “He would bring his boys and teams to my camps over the years. I always pull for him. Playing against friends has never been my favorite thing but I will pull for him every other game.”

Leaving the Marquette Tournament, VanLeer’s Dutchgirls will be in the Union Girls Basketball Tournament during the middle of January where they could possibly match up with Tappmeyer’s Lady Wildcats.

They will for sure face each other in late February during Four Rivers Conference (FRC) play.

A member of Jerry Buescher’s 1974 state championship team, Tappmeyer continued his basketball-playing days at East Central College and Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) in Cape Girardeau.

Upon graduation from SEMO, Tappmeyer was an assistant men’s basketball coach at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville before leading ECC’s mens basketball team from 1986-88.

Returning to northwest Missouri, Tappmeyer led the Bearcats from 1988 until 2009.

Racking up 408 wins in Maryville, Tappmeyer made two NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearances, nine playoff appearances, four Midwest Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) regular-season titles and four MIAA Tournament titles.

He was then inducted into both the Northwest Missouri State and MIAA halls of fame.

One year later, Tappmeyer moved from the MIAA to the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) where he was the men’s head basketball coach for the University of Missouri - St. Louis (UMSL).

Leading the Tritons to three winning seasons during his time from 2010-13, Tappmeyer earned a GLVC co-coach of the year award and a NABC Midwest Region co-coach of the year award.

Tappmeyer then returned to his alma mater to serve as the Owensville High School athletic director from 2013-16.

Also in 2016, Tappmeyer coached Owensville Dutchgirl basketball to their second MSHSAA Show-Me Showdown appearance at the time leading them to a 55-48 victory in the third-place game over Incarnate Word.

A pair of faces familiar to area basketball fans will be joining Tappmeyer on the bench as assistant coaches.

Reagan Rapert, daughter of current UHS Athletic Director Pat Rapert, will bring her knowledge of the game in which she scored over 2,000 points in high school between Melbourne, Arkansas and Union.

Joining Tappmeyer and Rapert on the bench is fellow assistant coach Jett (Bouckaert) Mullally.

Mullally was a former standout softball and basketball player at Sullivan High School before playing softball collegiately at Jefferson College in Hillsboro and Lindenwood University in St. Charles.

“We have two good young assistants who have played in Reagan and Jett,” Tappmeyer said. “I thought it would be fun working with them and get out and take a shot at it.

Editor’s Note: Partial information for this story was used with permission from a June 8 story by Bill Battle in the weekend edition of the Washington Missourian.