Samuel Miranda

Memorial services for Samuel Clayton Miranda, 78, Lawrence, will be at 3 p.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church in Lawrence. Inurnment will be at 11 a.m. June 5 in St. John’s Cemetery in Collinsville, Ill.
Mr. Miranda died Thursday, May 28, 2009, at his home.
He was born Jan. 18, 1931, in Collinsville, the son of Lawrence and Carolyn Clayton Miranda.
Mr. Miranda graduated from Collinsville High School in 1948. He played varsity basketball three years and was voted the 1947 Prep Player of the Year for the St. Louis area. He was named first team All State and was chosen as a member of the first team All State Tournament team in 1948. He was inducted as a player into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1973.
He graduated from Indiana University in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science in physical education and a minor in speech. He received a master’s degree in physical education from Southern Illinois University in 1959.
He lettered in basketball at Indiana University from 1950 to 1952. He was named second team All Big Ten in 1951 and first team Little All American in 1951 and 1952. He was selected to demonstrate ball-handling skills in a General Mills educational sports film in 1950.
Mr. Miranda was selected to tour with the College All Americans and the Harlem Globetrotters during 1952, playing 15 exhibition games across the United States.
After graduating from college, he served two years in the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Lee, Va.
He began his basketball coaching career as an Illinois high school coach in Galatia in 1954. He then coached at Vandalia from 1955 to 1956 and Kankakee from 1957 to 1961. He led his Kankakee teams to the Christmas tournament three times and the state tournament in 1960.
In 1962, he began his college coaching career at the University of New Mexico as an assistant coach. The team was co-champions of the Western Athletic Conference in 1963 and runners-up in the NIT tournament at Madison Square Garden the same year.
He was the assistant coach in charge of recruiting at Kansas University from 1964 to 1976. During the 13 years coaching with Ted Owens, the team won the Big 8 Conference in 1966, 1967, 1971, 1974 and 1975 and the Big 8 Christmas Tournament in 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970 and 1974. The team won the Jayhawk Classic in 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973 and 1975. They played in the NIT tournament in 1968 and in the NIT championship game in 1969. In 1971 and 1974, the teams were the Midwest Regional Champions and played in the Final Four.
He taught Basketball Theory at KU and through Continuing Education. After retiring from coaching basketball, he was the sales manager in the retail division at Maupintour Travel Service for 17 years.
His main interests were spending time with family and friends and talking with former players and coaches. He was a member of the Chicago Daily News All State Board.
Mr. Miranda married Pollyanna Mink on Dec. 24, 1952, in Columbia City, Ind. She survives, of the home.
Other survivors include his mother, Dorothy Miranda, Collinsville; a sister, Sue Anna Popov and her family, Collinsville; four daughters, Joanna Margaret Glaze and husband Lawrence, Kansas City, Mo., Sueanna Elizabeth Budde and husband Chip, Wichita, Sarah Clayton Snedeger and husband Charles W., Baldwin City, and Laurie Kathleen Allen and husband James, Morris, Ill.; and nine grandchildren, Benton Clark, Emily Elizabeth and Margaret Miranda Glaze, Ashley Clayton Snedeger, Albert John “Jack,” Grace Kathleen and Samuel Lawrence Allen and John Lawrence and Luke Douglas Budde.
He was preceded in death by a sister, Margaret Emily Miranda; and a granddaughter, Miranda Elizabeth Glaze.
The family will meet friends following services at the church.
The family suggests memorials to the Westminster Bell Choir at First Presbyterian Church in Lawrence or a charity of the donor’s choice, sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary.
Online condolences may be sent at warrenmcelwain .com, subject: Miranda.