Former Miami Central, NMB boys’ basketball coach ‘Irv’ Baulkman dies at age 79
It didn’t matter who was on the court or what age they were, if Irvin Baulkman was on the basketball court, he’d let everyone know who the best free throw shooter was.
“He could hit those [shots] blindfolded,” Miami Norland basketball coach Lawton Williams III said. “‘Fall back, baby!’ That’s what he used to say.”
Something else was always clear whenever Baulkman was in the gym — who was in charge.
Baulkman’s staunch, disciplinarian style, and prowess as an educator, led to him becoming one of the top coaches in Miami-Dade County history, and one who provided a positive influence on many who followed.
Baulkman, affectionately referred to as “Irv,” and who led Miami Central High to its lone state boys’ basketball title and successful seasons at North Miami Beach High, died recently from what was believed to be natural causes.
He was 79.
Whether it was on the basketball court or as a school guidance counselor, Baulkman spent his career teaching.
Williams has won seven state championships during his ongoing coaching career at Miami Norland High — the most of any coach in Miami-Dade County history.
Before any of that, Williams got his coaching start at NMB as an assistant on Baulkman’s staff.
For years, Williams has referred to Baulkman as “his mentor,” often mentioning him on the days of those memorable triumphs.
“He was like a walking clinic,” Williams III said. “He taught me how to deal with kids, how to run a practice, and how to be steadfast in what we were doing. But he also taught me not to take myself too seriously. We’re just high school basketball coaches. We don’t have to think we were out there curing cancer or something.”
Baulkman was born in Bainbridge, Georgia, on Feb. 8, 1947. When he was nine months old, his mother and Baulkman’s aunt, Elizabeth Screen Warthen, brought him to Miami. After Baulkman lost his mother at age 9, he was raised by his aunt and her eight sisters, living in the Downtown/Overtown community.
Baulkman attended high school at Miami Booker T. Washington and went on to college at Tuskegee where he shined as a student-athlete. Baulkman has since been inducted into the athletic halls of fame of both schools.
Baulkman decided to pursue a career in coaching in 1969 at Charles R. Drew Junior High School. During that time, Baulkman also earned a Master of Education degree from Ball State University.
Baulkman was hired at Miami Central High School in 1972 and turned the Rockets into a state powerhouse. His crowning achievement came in 1978 when he led Central to the Class 4A state title, a run that was capped by an 87-82 win over Pensacola Washington and featured wins over Hollywood Hills, Miami Killian and DeLand along the way.
Baulkman was named the Miami-Dade Basketball Coach of the Year that season and in 1981 when he again led the Rockets to the state championship game.
Baulkman coached at Central until 1986 and later became the coach at North Miami Beach, where he went on to win Coach of the Year honors again in 1992 and 1993, leading the Chargers to multiple playoff appearances.
“He taught us preparation. If you prepare you give yourself a chance to be successful,” said Damon Wilcox, who played for Baulkman during his years at North Miami Beach High and was the first sophomore in the school’s history to start on varsity. “He left no stone unturned. Staunch disciplinarian, but through his teachings you couldn’t miss the message.”
Wilcox, who also went on to become a coach in Miami-Dade County, coaching with the legendary Charlie Funk at Archbishop Curley and later at Miami Edison as its girls’ basketball coach, got to know Baulkman off the court.
That was where the disciplinarian let down his guard and showed his sense of humor.
“As intense as he was, he was a light-hearted, caring person once you got to know him,” Wilcox said. “He had a lot of little sayings, like ‘kill a mosquito with an axe, if it’s still breathing, hit it with a sledgehammer.’
“Once you got past that shell, he’d give you the shirt off his back if he could, as long as you did the right thing. When I got my first coaching job, he was the first person to congratulate me, and he sat with me and just talked basketball and strategy for hours. Strategy and Xs and Os, I learned all of that from Coach Baulkman.”
Baulkman coached at NMB until he retired in 1999.
Along the way, Baulkman coached with a style not seen much anymore these days, in which team play and discipline were paramount.
“All the time. He always said that job you do, you do things your way, and don’t let nobody change you,” Williams said.
Wilcox said: “He was a straight shooter and he wasn’t a sugar-coater. It was his way or the highway. He wasn’t going to bend and wasn’t going to conform.”
In 1972, Baulkman married Margaret Josephine Purcell, who was also an educator and one of the founders of the Dade Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. They were married for 47 years. Although they had no biological children of their own, they served as parental figures to countless student-athletes, nieces and nephews.
Baulkman served as president of the Miami Tuskegee Alumni Association and was a chairman of the State Basketball Coaches Association as well as a member of the National Association of Black Basketball Association and a lifelong member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, where he and Williams’ father became friends.
Baulkman lived in Miami until the time of his passing. According to his niece, Nia Daniel, his house’s walls were filled with trophies from his coaching career.
“He helped raise me so I called him my ‘uncle daddy.’ Out of his nephews and nieces, I was the closest to him, and he was also a mentor to me,” said Daniel, who works as a bondsman in Miami, and was a graduate of Miami Killian and the homecoming queen her senior year. “He was a straightforward person. If he told you something, that’s what it was and always right on the money.”
MEMORIAL SERVICES
A viewing for Baulkman will be held Thursday at Richardson Mortuary (4500 NW 17th Ave.) in Miami from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. followed by a wake. A homegoing service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday at The Church of the Incarnation at 1835 NW 54th St. in Miami.
