Beggs High basketball coach Brent Giddens doesn't just lounge around when he's not teaching or coaching. He moonlights as an Elvis Presley impersonator - and a very good one at that.
Photo courtesy of Brent Giddens
Brent Giddens is two different people.
Monday through Friday he serves as an outstanding teacher and boys basketball coach at
Beggs (Okla.). He's a quiet, unassuming guy.
Beggs superintendent Cindy Swearingen told MaxPreps, "He will make eye contact, but it's like 'Do I have to look at you?'"
Giddens away from school.
Photo courtesy of Brent Giddens
However, on weekends, Giddens transforms into a robust rock-and-roll singer, shaking up swooning ladies throughout the Tulsa, Okla., area.
In just one and a half years, he has become a superb Elvis Presley tribute artist.
The 38-year-old Giddens grew up in
Cleveland (Okla.), which often is called the "Cradle of Coaches." He idolized his neighbor, Conley Phipps, who was Cleveland's all-time career scorer in basketball. Phipps came back from college to coach Giddens in his senior year. Giddens, who graduated in 1991, finished No. 2 on the Cleveland scoring charts.
Phipps, who now is an assistant basketball coach at Oral Roberts University, noted that coaching his former neighbor "was fun. He was a really good player, hard worker and very coachable. His basketball IQ always was real high. It doesn't surprise me what he has done."
Giddens at school.
Photo courtesy of Okmulgee Daily Times
Recalling Giddens as quiet and reserved, Phipps admitted he was "kind of shocked" when he heard about his friend becoming an Elvis tribute artist. "I went and saw him last winter and he was fantastic. He sounds just like him. You've got to put on a show and he really does."
Giddens played a year and a half of college basketball and graduated from Northeastern Oklahoma State University in 1996. Though his basketball career was uneventful, Giddens' life was shaped during his college years.
Becoming a coach was easy, because, he said, "I think I knew that probably most of my life. I thought Conley was the greatest thing since sliced bread. When you coach, you never play your last game. You just go to the next year."
Because his playing career was slipping away, Giddens took up the guitar in college and began playing country music with a local band.
"I was trying to find something other than basketball, so I wouldn't go crazy," he explained.
After serving one year as an assistant coach at
Berryhill (Tulsa, Okla.), Giddens launched a 15-year career as a head coach. Included was a highly successful 10-year tenure at
Morris (Okla.) where he twice took teams to the state tournament. Then Beggs came calling with an offer of good athletes, great facilities and a strong wish to restore its tradition, which included four state titles.
His career record is 254-112.
In August of 2010, the quiet coach from Beggs took a brave step which has changed his life forever. He walked to the karaoke stage at the Marriott in Tulsa, picked up a microphone and sang "An American Trilogy."
Giddens readily admitted, "I was more nervous doing that than I ever was as a player or coach."
After he sang a couple songs, he asked one of the onlookers, Connie Meadors, for a wig. Meadors, who is a master instructor in hair and makeup, told him, "I'm not giving you anything until I hear a couple more songs."
A past president of the worldwide "Burning Love Fan Club" and a lifetime Elvis lover, Meadors said, "He has an extremely beautiful, mellow voice."
After the show, she was convinced enough to ask him if he wanted to be an Elvis tribute artist.
"I thought that would be fine - if I just looked like him, " Giddens recalled.
She promised, "I'll make you look like him."
Meadors, who has worked with such celebrities as Rod Stewart and Wynonna Judd, continues to help, encourage and push Giddens to enter contests whenever possible. Since launching his second job, Giddens has invested thousands of dollars in outfits, a sound system and more to be an authentic Elvis.
He has saved $250 by growing his own sideburns. He says that Elvis groupies are called "sideburns chasers."
Surprisingly, he has not received too much razzing from others in the coaching fraternity, because he does come off as a legitimate Elvis.
He did recall one "near incident" last year when he received his second technical foul and only the second ejection in his career during a game at
Preston (Okla.). Preston supt. Mark Hudson - a personal friend - told him later, "I wanted so badly to get on the microphone and say, 'Elvis has left the building.'"
Giddens' second career caught Swearingen by surprise.
"It did shock me," she conceded. "They are at totally opposite ends of the spectrum (in personalities). He is just the ultimate performer. He does well enough to make it on the national level."
Giddens did a fundraiser for the school last year. Swearingen told the story: "He had a bunch of white scarves and was giving them to the women. They were all swooning. His last one was gold. He put it around my neck and kissed me on the cheek. He told my husband, 'Sorry, dude, she's my boss.'"
He has to be careful to give a few scarves to his young daughters, ages 5 and 3.
"They say I'm the new Elvis," he related. "If I don't give them a scarf, it's bad news."
He actually has a third job, too. He has formed a band called "Elvis and the Time Travelers." They play vintage country and rock (VCR) from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Incredible as it sounds, he also does great imitations of Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard. He has been told he sounds even more like Cash than Elvis.
Swearingen insists that his moonlighting does not conflict with his teaching or coaching.
She praised, "He's a great teacher. He's got the respect of the students. We wanted pride brought back. We want them to look (dress) the part. He's really taken that to the next level. We don't want to lose him as a coach or teacher."
Giddens' confidence grows daily. He pointed out, "I've gotten to the point now that I'm not nervous. I don't need a shot of whiskey (before performing)."
Even though he still does not have a manager, Giddens is making inroads. He won the Elvis Extravaganza regional contest during the Oklahoma State Fair and will be competing for the national championship in February in Tampa, Fla. A $50,000 prize awaits the winner.
"He's going to finish in the top three," Meadors predicted. "It's endorsed by Graceland and sets a whole new standard for him. It shows his quality. He could get a recording contract."
Before then, however, he has a special date (Jan. 8) to perform at a casino in Joplin, Mo. That's Elvis' birthday.
"I'd love to do it full-time," he admitted. "I think it'd be the best job in the world. It beats the heck out of being Brent Giddens."
Students and staff at Beggs High School might disagree with the latter statement. They're quite happy, after all, with the quiet, unassuming coach who makes a positive impact in their lives every day.
Visit
Brent Giddens' website or the
Elvis Tribute Artist, Brent Giddens Facebook page.
