Gretna’s winningest basketball coach also enjoyed reading

Sometimes the late coach’s players at Gretna High School would tell him they had to practice and didn’t have time to read. He sometimes asked them, “Which is more important?”

There was no doubt about the answer. He believed that great leaders are always great readers.

“He would talk to some of his basketball players about books they should read and pester them until they actually read them,” said his wife, Jenny Feeken.

Feeken died last December of cancer. His family founded a nonprofit organization, For Feek Forever, in his honor. The group’s planning committee, made up of close friends, honors Brad’s love of reading with a silent book club event.

The first Read for Feek will take place on November 10th at Heavy Brewing in Gretna. Family sessions are from 11am to 12:30pm and from 1:30pm to 3pm. An adult session lasts from 4 to 8 people. Advance tickets are required and cost $10. Tickets and more information can be found at forfeekforever.org.

Molly Boukal, who runs Silent Book Club Sarpy-Nebraska, helps organize the event, which also includes a book swap.

Feeken taught for 25 years and coached for 21 years in the Gretna School District. He won Class B basketball titles in 2016 and 2017.

Jenny said that Brad, who taught seventh grade reading, devoured young adult books over the summer so he had reading suggestions for everyone in his classes.

He also built an extensive library in his classroom.

“I’ve had so many parents say to me, ‘My child hated reading before he was taught,’” Jenny said. “He had a gift. There aren’t many people who can work with high school students, and he was great at it.

Jenny shared his passion for reading. One time he let her read one of his favorites, “11/22/63” by Stephen King, and she let him read “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens. He tolerated her suggestion.

He was infamous for putting sticky notes in books. Jenny and their daughters, Rylinn and Maylee, read “Pound the Stone” by Joshua Medcalf and found many highlighted pages.

“It’s really fun to look through and see the pages he liked,” Jenny said. “I would send passages to senior basketball players as they finished their season just to encourage them. That was good for me and good for the boys too.”

He also passed on his love of reading to their son John, 7.

The Feekens held a 3-on-3 basketball tournament in his memory in March, but Jenny said the Nov. 10 event is for book lovers. Proceeds will go to Gretna schools and other Nebraska districts that need help purchasing books.

“I think he would have really enjoyed an event like that,” Jenny said. “He loved to get together and talk about books.”