Robert Hughes (basketball)

Robert Hughes Sr. (born May 15, 1928 in Bristow, Oklahoma, United States) was the United States' all-time winningest high school basketball coach from 2005-2010, and is currently the winningest boys high school basketball coach in the United States.[7] He was passed in wins by Leta Andrews of Granbury High School in Granbury, Texas, who compiled a national record 1,416 career victories in girls high school basketball before retiring in 2014.[8]

Robert Hughes, Sr.
Personal information
BornMay 15, 1928
Bristow, Oklahoma, United States
NationalityUnited States
Coaching career1958–2005
Career history
As coach:
1958-1973I.M. Terrell High School
1973–2005Dunbar High School
Career highlights and awards
5 Texas State Championships
1963, 1965, 1967, 1993, 2003[1][2]
1993 Texas Basketball Hall of Fame inductee
2003 High School Basketball Hall of Fame inductee
2003 NHSCA National High School Coach of the Year
2010 Morgan Wootten Lifetime Achievement Award[3]
2017 Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame inductee[4][5]
Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame[6]
Career coaching record
PVIL373–84 (.816)
UIL960–163 (.855)
Basketball Hall of Fame

Biography

Hughes joined the Army after high school. At 6'6" he was recruited for a special unit that just played basketball; it was the first integrated team Hughes ever played on.[7] When he left the Army, Texas Southern University offered him a basketball scholarship. Playing for coach Edward H. Adams, Hughes was an All-American at Southern.[9][10] In 1955 Hughes met his wife, Jacquelyne Johnson, while playing in a tournament in Memphis,[7] then was drafted by the Boston Celtics, but he did not make the team.[9] He started playing for a barnstorming team, the Harlem Magicians later in 1955, but a ruptured Achilles tendon, forced him to give up playing basketball.[7] He returned home to Oklahoma and went to the University of Tulsa, graduating in 1957.[7]

Coaching career

Hughes was hired by Douglas Aircraft as a mechanic after graduating from Tulsa, and worked there until his former coach at Texas Southern called to ask if Hughes had ever considered coaching. Hughes wasn’t initially interested, but Adams persisted and Hughes was hired at I. M. Terrell High School, in Fort Worth, Texas (an all-black high school) during segregation.[7] Hughes led Terrell to three PVIL state championships and one runner up in the five years from 1963 to 1967.[1]

After segregation ended and I.M. Terrell was shut down in 1973, Hughes began coaching at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in the Fort Worth Independent School District. At Dunbar, Hughes won two state titles, finished as state runner-up three times, and took the team to the final four 12 times between 1977 and 2003, including ten final fours in the 17-year run between 1977 and 1993.[2]

Between Terrell and Dunbar combined, Hughes won five state basketball titles, and retired in 2005 as the all-time winningest high school basketball coach, passing Morgan Wootten in 2003.[11] "If you can't work hard and put out the best, you probably need to go home to your mama," Hughes was known for telling his players.[4]

Hughes was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on March 31, 2017.[5][12][4]

Personal life

Hughes' wife of 57 years, Jacquelyne Sue Hughes, died July 1, 2014.[13]

Hughes' son, Robert Hughes Jr., took over head coaching duties at Dunbar after Hughes Sr. retired in 2005, and is the current coach at Dunbar High School.[14] He has two daughters. One, Carlye J. Hughes, was ordained the 11th Episcopal Bishop of Newark in September 2018.[15] Another daughter, Robin L. Hughes, is the dean of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Education, Health and Human Behavior.[16]

Hughes resides in the Stop Six neighborhood of southeast Fort Worth.

In anticipation of Hughes' induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, filmmaker and former Dunbar basketball player, Mike Byars created a feature length documentary 5700 Ramey Ave: The Story of Robert Hughes to chronicle Hughes' career.[17]

gollark: Wrong.
gollark: Regardless, he approaches.
gollark: Thanks!
gollark: It might be Brin (dog) actually.
gollark: Yes.

References
  1. "PVIL State Championship Results: Basketball". pvilca.org. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  2. "Boys Basketball State Archives School Search: Dunbar". uiltexas.org. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  3. "The Morgan Wootten Lifetime Achievement Award: Previous Winners". Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  4. Humphrey, David (April 1, 2017). "Dunbar's Robert Hughes voted to Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Archived from the original on May 17, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  5. "Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Announces 2017 Enshrinement Ceremony". Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. August 24, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  6. Townsend, Brad (February 14, 2014). "Texas Black Sports Hall of Fame: FW Dunbar legend Robert Hughes among inductees". Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  7. Hall, Michael (January 1, 2004). "Duke of Dunbar". Texas Monthly. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  8. "Leta Andrews retires with 1,416 wins". ESPN.com via the Associated Press. March 1, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  9. Melton, Marcia (2016). "Stop Six: A Brief History of a Fort Worth Community". TCU Magazine. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  10. HBCU Sports (December 17, 2009). "Classic Named for Former TSU Basketball Standout, Robert Hughes". hbcusports.com. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  11. "Dunbar's Hughes becomes winningest HS coach". ESPN.com via the Associated Press. February 11, 2003. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  12. Engel, Mac (April 1, 2017). "The fighter can rest — Robert Hughes is a Hall of Famer". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Archived from the original on May 17, 2020. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  13. "Jacquelyne Sue Johnson Hughes, 1936-2014". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. July 4, 2014. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  14. Zarate, Eric (March 22, 2018). "Watch this Dunbar basketball flashback from 1977 state tournament". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  15. "Carlye J. Hughes ordained 11th bishop of Newark". Episcopal News Service. September 24, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  16. "Robin Hughes named dean of SIUE School of Education, Health and Human Behavior". advantagenews.com. June 11, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  17. "Documentary chronicles rise, achievements of Fort Worth basketball coach Robert Hughes". FOX 4 News Dallas-Fort Worth. April 5, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.