Dwain Bean perhaps didn’t know it at the time, but when he began coaching golf at Denton High in 1972, he would eventually leave a lasting impression on the entire landscape of golf in Denton ISD.

“Golf had always been pretty good in Denton, they always had a foundation for good golf,” Bean said. “When I took over, that was the time when golf was getting really big across the state.”

Bean coached golf in the school district for 29 years, and he helped build and maintain a successful foundation for the Denton ISD golf programs to follow through his influence on former players and coaches, along with his creation of the Denton Invitational, which many coaches consider among the top tournaments in the state.

DRC/Al Key

Guyer golf coach Roddy Adams, left, retired Denton and Ryan coach Dwain Bean and Ryan coach Trey Peden hang out at the Denton Country Club. Both Adams and Peden played for Bean in their high school days and look at Bean as a mentor.

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A couple of Bean’s former players, current Guyer coach Roddy Adams and Ryan coach Trey Peden, have followed in Bean’s footsteps as successful coaches, and they continue to meet the demand of a sport growing in popularity.

“Dwain Bean had a huge effect on the golf programs,” Peden said. “Two of the three programs are run by a couple of his former players, so he certainly left his impact.”

Bean, a former running back for North Texas and a member of the North Texas Athletic Hall of Fame, coached boys and girls golf at Denton High and later at Ryan when it opened in 1991 before coaching both schools starting in 1995 when Denton High reopened. When he retired in 2000 after nearly 30 years in the Denton ISD golf ranks, Bean had captured 18 district titles and advanced to the state tournament a dozen times.

“He is a unique individual,” Adams said. “Bean is excellent working with young people, I would say he is a really good disciplinarian, but he also has a way of communicating with teenagers.”

Adams, who graduated from Denton in 1979, played under Bean and witnessed his coaching style and ability to coordinate and organize tournaments. Adams was an assistant coach with Bean in the mid-1990s and took over the Denton and Ryan programs upon Bean’s retirement in 2000. Adams later became Guyer’s head coach when the school opened in 2005.

“He [Bean] is a real kid-oriented person,” Adams said. “He knows golf, there’s no doubt about it. He taught me everything I know about running tournaments. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be near as good as I am about running tournaments.”

Peden graduated from Ryan in 1998, playing golf under Bean. He was an assistant coach under former head coach Tommy Blair at Ryan for two seasons then became the head coach in 2005.

Peden points out the Denton Invitation as an example of Bean’s knack for development and his influence on others in the sport to keep the tournament, which Adams now runs, a success.

“Roddy has done a great job with the Denton Invitational, which has become a huge tournament in the state of Texas,” Peden said. “The way Dwain Bean had it set up, in my opinion, it’s one of the best run tournaments I’ve been a part of.”

Bean created the Denton Invitation in 1974 when his team needed to participate in an event after his Denton team was denied a spot in the annual Fort Worth Rec Tournament, an event that doubled as a golf tournament and a track meet.

“It was out of necessity,” he said. “We need tournaments for kids to participate in around the area.”

Bean recalls the circumstances that led to his decision to form the tournament.

“We were supposed to play in the Fort Worth Rec Tournament, and we got ready to go over and play,” Bean said. “They called and told us that we weren’t allowed in unless we had a track team participating. Our track team wasn’t going, so we didn’t get to play.

“From that point on, I just decided, ‘Well I can’t count on that,’ and so I kind of formed the whole tournament.”

The Denton Invitational quickly became a popular event. Among the major draws of the tournament was a chance for teams in Class 4A Region II to play at Eagle Point Golf Course, which held the regional tournament. Teams wanted the opportunity to experience competitive play at Eagle Point and prepare for their regional tournament.

“A lot of the teams wanted the opportunity to play at the regional site,” Bean said. “I never needed to find any teams – they were calling me to play.”

Adams, who played in the Denton Invitation in 1979, took over as tournament director when Bean retired. Adams faced a dilemma in 2001 just days before the tournament was scheduled to start.

Adams received a phone call the week before the Denton Invitational from Coleman Gulley, who was at the time the head golf pro at Eagle Point, saying that the golf course was shutting down.

With 30 teams slated and no golf course, Adams scrambled to find a solution, which he did.

The first round of the tournament that year was held at Sherrill Park in Richardson, and then the second round was split with the top 12 teams advancing to play at Denton Country Club, which Bean coordinated, while the remaining 18 teams played at Firewheel in Garland, which Adams and Blair ran.

“Running a tournament in three different cities in two days was pretty amazing,” Adams said.

Eagle Point closed down permanently when UNT began construction on its new athletic facilities.

The Denton Invitational moved to Robson Ranch and Denton Country Club in 2002, and the field was capped at 28 teams. The format also changed from having consolation and champions divisions for the second round to instead slating all 4A teams at Robson Ranch and 5A teams at Denton Country Club.

The tournament still attracts a majority of 4A Region II teams as the regional tournament followed a similar path as the Denton Invitational, moving its site to Robson Ranch.

Despite all the changes it’s undergone, the Denton Invitational remains one of the premier high school tournaments.

“It’s just a really well-run tournament,” Peden said. “You can tell in the first few minutes in the coaches meeting that he [Adams] has got it real organized.”

When Eagle Point closed, the Denton ISD golf programs needed a place to practice. Adams found that some of the other courses in the area were willing to accommodate.

“Due to the generosity of Robson Ranch, Lantana, Oakmont Country Club and Denton Country Club, we had places to practice,” Adams said. “If those four places hadn’t opened up their doors like they did, we wouldn’t have golf programs.”

Adams emphasizes the importance of these golf courses and their personnel and head pros in accommodating the Denton ISD golf programs.

Each year the interest and popularity of golf continues to grow, Adams said. The three Denton schools each have 20 or more players every season, which is more than twice the amount of most teams in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Golf is a growing sport, and I think Denton has seen its share of that,” Peden said. “It’s grown quite a bit, and the interest and the support has really been what’s made that happen.”

While the talent in Denton remains, three high schools tend to spread out that talent.

“When you have three high schools, it kind of depletes the talent,” Bean said. “And it [talent] kind of runs in cycles.”

Perhaps the best span of golf in Denton occurred in the mid-1980s with the girls team at Denton High.

Buffy Klein is the only state champ in Denton history, winning the girls 5A title in 1984. The Lady Broncos made five straight trips to the state championship from 1982 to 1986 behind solid players like Klein and Kathy Moore, who placed second in 1986 and earned a third-place result as a medalist in 1987. 

More recent notable golfers from Denton include Ryan’s Kelly Kraft, who graduated in 2007 and is currently having a standout season as a freshman golfer at SMU.

While standout golfers continue to move through the Denton ISD programs and changes occur from an increasingly popular sport, the tradition built by Bean and upheld by his predecessors will perhaps always remain a constant.

BRAD McDONNELL can be reached at 940-566-6869. His e-mail address is bmcdonnell@dentonrc.com.