BRADENTON, FL -- For 45 years, this has been John Harder’s life. 

It’s all that he’s known. 

Basketball is in Coach Harder’s blood. It seeps through his veins and helps pump his hoops heart.

“I love this sport so dearly,” Harder said. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do without it.”

This is Harder’s final season. The final buzzer.

This legend is getting quite the send off. Southeast showered him with love at his final regular season home game, with a gym packed with former players, friends and family. Even his 92-year-old mother, a woman who has never missed one of her son’s games, got in on the celebration with the ceremonial tipoff.

“I was coaching all night long,” Harder said. “I would have liked to have sat in the stands and enjoyed it a little bit.” 

Coach Harder has a way of drawing you in. He’s a Chicago Cubs and Bulls fan. The Illinois native and Army vet has taught social studies courses at Southeast since he arrived in 1983. That’s also when he took over the girls basketball program. Two years later the Noles won the Class 3A state championship.

“When you think about the camaraderie he taught us about being team members and about just having fun and teaching us about being discipline,” said Chontelle Bullock, a member of the 1985 state championship team. “As I look back I think about how he has shaped us to be adults going out into the community and out into our positions in the world. And we just thank him because he really made it fun.” 

Harder added another state title in 1990 and again in 2014.

“I’m going to miss it terribly though,” Harder said. “I mean, I’m going to have a hard time, this has been my life."

Coach Harder wears his heart on his orange and blue plaid sleeves. He wore this jacket in the 1985 state championship game and it quickly became part of the fabric of his basketball life. Old school attire, old school in his approach to the game.

“It was always simple fundamentals, nothing crazy,” he said. “They kid me all the time about using the same plays I used in 1985. I don’t know any other plays and those always worked so if it’s not broke.” 

This season is Coach Harder’s final buzzer. He’s left a lasting legacy. Whoever replaces him, has some tough saddle shoes to fill.

“I’m beyond words when it comes to a career of 45 years,” Harder said. “It’s time to take a new adventure.”