Rocky Lamar

'Jon "Rocky" Lamar Lamar attended Maquoketa High School, where he played basketball for coach Bill Fleming. He then got a scholarship to play basketball for Mid-America Nazarene College (which would later become MidAmerica Nazarene University). He set school career records for free throw percentage and assists per game.

Lamar who graduated in 1976 and later earned a master's degree in Educational Administration from the University of Kansas, started his coaching career at the high school level. Following a three-year stint at Central City, Iowa, he found himself on the coaching sidelines at Blakesburg, Iowa, where he stayed for five years. Under coach Lamar, the team won 13 conference championships (1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2016) and earned 19 NAIA national tournament invitations (1992, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020).

On January 29, 2022, Lamar recorded his 800th career win and was the winningest active coach in the NAIA with a total of 803 career victories when he retired in February 2022.

In 2008, the floor at Mid-America Nazarene's Bell Family Arena was named Rocky Lamar Court. Lamar was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 2014. He is the founder of the Rocky Lamar Fundamentally Driven Basketball Camp'', held in the summertime.

Honors

Small College Basketball National Awards Special Recognition (2022) 2022) MidAmerica Nazarene University Athletics Hall of Fame (1984)