Wichita Prayer Breakfast

Coach Bill Courtney is motivated by his belief in people and Christian faith to serve at all levels.

Courtney is a Memphis-based entrepreneur who built Classic American Hardwoods from a $17,000 startup into a 130-employee, $80 million company with operations in the U.S., China, and Vietnam. He is also a nationally recognized speaker, bestselling author of Against the Grain, and volunteer football coach whose work at Memphis’s Manassas High School was immortalized in the Oscar-winning film “Undefeated”. Bill is motivated by his belief in people and Christian faith to serve at all levels.

In one of the most underserved neighborhoods in Memphis — where young men are statistically three times more likely to be dead or in jail than employed or in college — Courtney’s volunteer coaching helped produce an 18-2 record and sent 31 out of 32 seniors to college in his final two seasons.

More recently, Courtney co-founded Army of Normal Folks, a national movement and podcast built on the conviction that we’re able to solve even the biggest challenges when Americans come together to help one another in our communities. The movement recently joined the Stand Together philanthropic community and has launched six service clubs across the country, including one right here in Wichita at ANFWichita.org.

Courtney has keynoted for Nike, FedEx, St. Jude, Frito-Lay, Firestone, and the U.S. Olympics, and has appeared on Fox News, CNN, and ESPN.

We invite you to join us as we celebrate the Wichita Prayer Breakfast’s belief in prayer and relationships as key to the transformation of ourselves and our city.

Bill Courtney, keynote speaker, 2026 Wichita Prayer Breakfast. Volunteer football coach whose work at Memphis’s Manassas High School was immortalized in the Oscar-winning film “Undefeated”.

Since 1963: More Than a Breakfast

In 2025, Damon Young, CEO of Lead Wichita, sat down with three individuals who carry the memory of the Wichita Prayer Breakfast — Richard Coe, who attended his first Wichita Prayer Breakfast as a teenager in the early 1960s and provided leadership for it from 1981 for about 15 years; Jon Rolph, CEO of Thrive Restaurant Group; and Pastor Nick Martineau of Hope Community Church. Damon asked them to walk him through the history of the Wichita Prayer Breakfast. See his summary of that conversation and a link to the full recording here: Wichita Prayer Breakfast History Part 1.