Just call her Cheekie: Lady Tribe assistant softball coach has walked an amazing road

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Kennett assistant softball coach Linda Cheek (right) congratulates Jordan Wagster after Wagster reached base in a game at Senath earlier this season. Cheek just completed her second season coaching alongside her daughter, Kennett head coach Laurie Vaughan. [Click to enlarge]

Cheek, who is in her second year as Kennett High School's assistant softball coach -- assisting her daughter, Laurie Vaughan -- has racked up an impressive list of accomplishments in her lifetime, not to mention winning some big battles.

After raising three children to adulthood, Cheek began playing college softball when she was in her 40s. She established herself as one of southeast Missouri's top photojournalists. She has overcame breast cancer and other illnesses and now, when most others would have stepped back and enjoyed retirement, is coaching alongside her daughter.

"I know without a doubt that my life would not be complete without the unbelievable role model God granted me when he chose Linda Cheek to be my mom," Vaughan said. "I do thank God every day that he made her so strong so that no matter what obstacle she has been faced with she has come out on top. My mom is one of the most courageous and inspiring persons and anyone who as had the privilege to know her has been blessed by God."

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Cheek's story picks up in earnest in the early 1990s, when Vaughan, her youngest daughter, got a scholarship to play softball and basketball at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff.

Like many women who grew up in the pre-Title IX era, Cheek did not get the opportunity to play collegiate softball as a young adult, but seeing her daughter compete at TRCC stirred something in her.

"She wanted to know if I would be upset if she tried out for the team and played alongside of me at TRCC," said Vaughan. "Most kids are looking to get out from under their parents and go elsewhere to college, but I was all for it. She is my best friend and I knew that she was more than capable of playing fastpitch at the college level. I told her that I thought it was a great idea."

With her husband Teddy's and Vaughan's support, Cheek tried out for the team and made it, eventually earning a partial scholarship.

"It was one of the most amazing times for me," Vaughan said. "I loved having my mom with me on the field. It was such a joy to watch her face light up every time she put her cleats and glove on. She truly has an amazing gift. I know without a doubt that I would not be able to do any of the things that she accomplished at TRCC when I am that age. She was 45 years old and competing with 18 to 20 year olds.

"The rest of the softball team was supportive as well. They looked to her as a mother figure off the field and the motivator on the field. How could a player fresh out of high school complain about having to work so hard and do so much when another player twice their age is doing the same thing without complaint? She was and still is an inspiration to women everywhere. She and I had nicknames given to us while at TRCC by the players. She was Mama Cheek and I was Baby Cheek. It just fit."

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After finishing up at Three Rivers, Cheek became a full-time staff photographer at the Daily American Republic newspaper in Poplar Bluff, becoming one of the area's best photojournalists. But it was during her time at the DAR that she was dealt a serious blow.

In March 1999, Cheek found a lump in her breast and had it removed along with 16 lymph nodes.

When doctors found the lump and 11 of the nodes to be cancerous, they recommended Cheek undergo a bone-marrow transplant and extensive chemotherapy. After Cheek fought her way through both procedures, she returned to work at the DAR.

Former Daily Dunklin Democrat sports editor Kyle Smith worked alongside Cheek at the DAR for several years, both before and after her illness.

"Cheekie always had a smile on her face," Smith said. "She loved to be active. I'm sure it was hard for her to remain upbeat during her illness, but when she saw someone she knew she always found a way to smile and let you know she was glad to see you."

But Cheek's trying times weren't over yet. In 2001, she developed Guillain-Barré syndrome -- a disease that attacks parts of your nervous system and shuts it down -- and also fought Bell's Palsy and internal shingles, and retired from photojournalism.

But, the story doesn't end there.

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In 2006, Vaughan's husband Jim was hired as the boys' basketball coach at KHS. Not long after that, Kennett needed a softball coach and hired Laurie Vaughan. When Vaughan needed an assistant coach, she turned to her mother.

"Even though she won't admit it, she is truly one of the strongest women that I have ever met and I am so proud to be able to call her mom," said Vaughan. "Many others would have given up. She fought through the pain and it eventually subsided. Due to her surgery for breast cancer, she lost feeling in her right arm and hand. Her hand is still swollen today. She is not able to do many of the things that she once was able to do, but that doesn't slow her down."

Last spring, with a lineup featuring several freshmen, the Lady Tribe finished 13-4 and won a share of the Bootheel Conference title. Later in 2007, Kennett played its first-ever fall schedule and finished 10-9 against some of the area's best competition before going 12-1 this spring and winning the conference title outright.

Overall, KHS softball has compiled a 35-14 record in the Vaughan-Cheek era.

"I feel as though God has brought us both back to the softball diamond in hopes to be an inspiration to young ladies," Vaughan said. "Coach Cheek sure is. I do believe that our players look up to Coach Cheek and respect her and her abilities as a player and a coach. As for me, I have thoroughly enjoyed being alongside my mom once again on the field.

"It is great working with her. She has so much knowledge about the game that I feel like I am still learning from her. We can just look across the diamond at each other and know what the other one is thinking about. Sometimes, actually quite often, we will finish each other's sentences. We are still able to joke with each other about our differences of opinion, but more often we are thinking on the same wavelength."