Johnny Mason really can’t explain it.

Regardless of what sport he is coaching, winning championships has generally become a common denominator.

“As far as a secret, I don’t have one; I just work hard and I give the kids a chance to succeed and it’s up to them from there on in,” Mason said.

He’s been applying his coaching magic for quite some time now.

As Northside’s head boys’ basketball coach for 15 seasons, Mason guided the Grizzlies to several conference titles, and in 2007, won the state championship, which had been the Grizzlies’ last title until winning it again this past March.

But Mason has also found success coaching softball and baseball, guiding a number of youth teams to championships.

He’s added two more titles to his impressive coaching resume. Mason, who is the coach of the LeFlore County Outlaws 18-and-under travel baseball squad, recently led the team to both the Oklahoma and Arkansas United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) state championships, with the Outlaws repeating their Arkansas state title.

It’s the ninth straight year Mason has guided the Outlaws, a team consisting of players from LeFlore County who are now in or were in high school.

“This team kind of evolved from a seven- and eight-year-old team and we’ve kind of kept it together all the way up, and I think that’s what probably makes it kind of special, we’ve had seven or eight kids on this bunch that have played with us since they were six or seven years old,” Mason said. “For them wanting to be this successful and willing to hang together this long, that’s kind of rare in modern-day travel baseball.”

The Outlaws consist of just 10 players. Six are from Poteau (Carson Cheek, Dawson Perry, Clay Cross, Bryson Myers, Rece Ward and Ben Klutts), two are from Panama (Jacob Mantooth and Rowdy Downs) and one each from Wister (Ethan Billings) and Howe (Brant Denton).

They went 18-2 for the season. In their past three tournaments, they combined to go 11-0, including winning the Arkansas and Oklahoma USSSA titles as well as a tournament in Broken Arrow, Okla.

The Outlaws are also ranked fourth in the nation among high school travel squads.

“A lot of teams in that top 10 are playing that elite travel ball, playing in Kansas City one weekend and California the next, the week after that in Atlanta, Ga.,” Mason said. “We don’t do that, we don’t travel like that, we stay within a 150-mile radius, but it’s nice to be ranked up there with those super teams.”

There’s also a family connection with Mason coaching the Outlaws. One of the team members, Clay Cross, is his grandson.

“One of these kids is my grandson, so it’s kind of natural for me to be involved through him, but they’re all kind of my grandsons now,” Mason said. “It’s kind of a family-oriented deal but at the same time, we’re real competitive and I tell you what, that senior high division is a tough division in travel ball.”

Although Mason ended up coaching basketball at Kimmons Junior High before going to Northside, he actually grew up with a baseball background. Mason played American Legion ball for Fort Smith Kerwin’s (now Fort Smith Sportsman).

He also got involved in softball through his two daughters, Kelly and Karri, both of whom played the sport.

Mason guided Karri’s youth team, called the Fillies, to several state titles as well as a national title in 1993. He helped coach Kelly’s team, Wheels, which also won state on several occasions.

Then in 2005, Mason coached another team called the Fillies, this one featuring his granddaughter Kylie Cross, to a USSSA world championship.

“If you add up the number of games that I’ve coached, counting school ball and my kids and grandkids, if I had a dollar for every one of those, I would be a millionaire, I promise you that,” Johnny Mason said.

“When my two girls started having boys, I kind of gravitated towards the baseball side of it. Kelly’s oldest son is Clay and he plays on the (Outlaws), so I’ve had him when he started early. ... It’s been a gradual evolution from girls’ softball to boys’ baseball.”

Mason began coaching the Outlaws in 2007, the very same year he won state in basketball while at Northside.

“They’re an unusual group,” he said of the Outlaws. “We don’t have to worry about picking a kid up from some other team, we don’t operate like that, we go with the kids that have been with us all year long and they’re a real tight-knit group. They enjoy being around each other.”

When pressed about what sport he enjoys coaching the most, Mason — who retired as Northside’s coach following the 2009-10 season and currently resides in LeFlore County outside of Cameron — says it’s a dead heat between two of those.

“I’m still a basketball guy, I still love it but I tell you what, baseball ranks right up there with it,” Mason said. “I would say it’s a tie (between baseball and basketball).
