The Brinckmeyer Mustang Pride Scholarship Fund
Thank you to to the donors and friends of Mike and Cody Brinckmeyer who honor the couple's story through philanthropic support for UNC students.
This scholarship is in celebration of the lives and contributions of Mike and Cody Brinckmeyer. The Brinckmeyers were born and raised in Oklahoma where Mike earned a basketball scholarship to Phillips University. As Cody tells it, Mike was injured during a summer job after his first year at Phillips and it limited his ability to play basketball. So they left Phillips and Mike worked at Aero Commander building planes for the Eisenhower administration. After five years in the factory, Mike decided he really wanted to coach, so he went back to Phillips where he coached baseball and received his teaching degree in 1960.
His first teaching job brought Mike and Cody to Fort Morgan where Cody worked at the Chamber of Commerce and Mike taught high school social studies, coached football, basketball and baseball. Subsequently, Mike was appointed Athletic Director, earned his Master’s Degree from Phillips University, and eventually transferred to the junior high school to teach 9th grade social studies and coach girls basketball.
One of his many baseball players, Alan Lebsock (FMHS class of ’70), remembers that Mike demanded hard work in the classroom as well as the ball field. He also remembers the impact the couple had on his life as “true partners in life as they were gracious, respectful, and kind to each other.” Coach Brinckmeyer helped Lebsock earn a baseball scholarship to Adams State where he earned a college degree and met Dianne, his life partner of 42+ years. Lebsock asserts, “Were it not for coach, I likely would have never met Dianne.”
The friends of the Brinckmeyers who established this scholarship met Mike and Cody in 1979 when they moved to Fort Morgan and became members of the same Baptist church where Mike was a deacon and Cody coordinated the nursery.
“As junior high students, Mike and Cody introduced us to volleyball and basketball and we loved them for it,” said one of the fund's donors. “Mike was a student of the game, emphasizing fundamentals and discipline. He was hard on us and pushed us to be better athletes and students with a very direct coaching style and firm hugs of encouragement. As we moved on to high school where Cody was the library secretary, Mike became the assistant girls high school coach and coached us through graduation in 1986.”
Mike and Cody both retired in 1987 after 27 and 24 years of service to Fort Morgan schools, respectively. After retiring from the schools, Mike served as District Court Bailiff and as an instructor at Morgan Community College. In 1991, at the age of 58, Mike died on the golf course playing another sport he loved. A year later, Cody moved back to Kingfisher, Oklahoma, where she grew up.
Mike and Cody were pillars of the Fort Morgan community for over 30 years and touched the lives of so many students and athletes during that time. Although they did not have children of their own, they set an example of commitment and caring that many of the fund's donors have tried to emulate in raising their own children, coaching youth teams, and giving back to their communities. It is with that spirit in mind that the scholarship was established by friends of the Brinckmeyers to commemorate their commitment to Fort Morgan youth and community.
"We hope that scholarship recipients will benefit from this legacy of dedication and maintain a lifelong commitment to giving back."
Have any questions?
Contact the UNC Foundation at (970) 351-2551 or opening.doors@unco.edu.
