Granbury Coach Inducted into National High School Hall of Fame
By Sheila Henderson, Assistant Athletic Director | Monday, August 15, 2011 12:28 PM
Granbury girls' basketball Coach Leta Andrews stands with UIL Executive Director Charles Breithaupt and Assistant Athletic Director Sheila Henderson at the 2011 State Basketball Tournament. Andrews was honored for her record at the girls' tournament.
Photo by Darryl Beasley
Leta Andrews, the basketball coach at Granbury High School, has a long list of honors. She’s been inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the Texas High School Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of fame. She’s been named the National Walt Disney Teacher of the Year for Coaching and National Coach of the Year. She’s received the Morgan Wootten Award for Lifetime Achievement in Coaching.
And now she has one more distinguished accolade: She’s been inducted into the 2011 National High School Hall of Fame.
Andrews joins a notable list of individuals including Earl Campbell, Sandra Meadows, Tom Landry, Ty Detmer, Michael Carter and Robert Hughes, a few of the Texans who have been honored with this prestigious award.
But when Andrews heard she was going to be inducted, her first reaction was “this is no big deal,” she said.
She didn’t think the award was any bigger than anything she had won in the past.
“When I actually got to Philadelphia, I sat down and begin to cry because I had taken this honor for granted,” Andrews said. “I had to take a step back, rethink and humble myself to what this all meant. I was embarrassed at myself for taking things so lightly.”
Andrews said she realized that she was in the company of some truly outstanding coaches, officials and former athletes.
“Only a handful of individuals had won this award from Texas, and I was now one of them,” she said. “I thought I had been in big things, but this was a mighty nice and awesome production. I was so appreciative and blessed to be in the company of such great individuals. This moment caused my heart to warm, and I will forever be grateful.”
The National High School Hall of Fame was founded in 1982 by the National Federation of State High School Associations to honor high school athletes, coaches, officials, administrators and others for their extraordinary achievements and accomplishments in high school athletics.
The Hall of Fame was organized as a means of recognizing, preserving and promoting the heritage of interscholastic sports and fine arts in the United States.
No one coach —male or female—has won more games than Andrews. She won her 1,334th game on Dec. 7, 2010, surpassing the previous record held by Robert Hughes formerly of Fort Worth Dunbar. Coach Andrews will enter her 50th season as a high school basketball coach and teacher at the start of the 2011-12 school year.
Coach Andrews started and will likely finish her career at Granbury, where the city’s water tower proudly proclaims Andrews as “The Nation’s Winningest High School Coach.”
As a player, Andrews help to lead Granbury to the 1954 and 1955 state tournaments. As a demanding and no-nonsense coach, Andrews’s dedication and love for her players, work ethic and kind heart have made her an icon in Granbury.
Andrews said she wants young coaches to know that “you must put in the time and hard work to be a success. There are no shortcuts.”