© by Ray Sanchez 09.10.16
Ceremonies are scheduled to be held Saturday, Sept. 24, at 11 a.m. at Bowie High School with a visitation to follow in the school cafeteria.
What a fitting gesture. Richardson is one of Bowie’s, and El Paso’s, greatest treasures. He excelled both as an athlete and a coach.
Following is a quick glimpse at his career:
• He was outstanding in Little League baseball then earned all-district honors at Bowie High School in baseball, football and basketball.
• He played basketball for UTEP when it was known as Texas Western College and was a standout there, too.
• He took over the basketball coaching reins at his high school alma mater, Bowie, in 1968 and won 190 games and lost only 80.
• He coached at Western Texas Junior College and won the national junior college championship in 1980 with a 37-0 record.
• Tulsa University beckoned in 1981 and he became the first coach to win the National Invitation Tournament in his first year.
• In the 1990s he took the University of Arkansas to the Final Four three times and won the NCAA championship in 1994 against Duke.
• He was named National Coach of the Year in 1994 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.
• He was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.
• He is the only head coach in the country to win a Junior College national championship, the NIT and the NCAA Tournament.
RICHARDSON HAS received many other honors but he says he appreciates the one at Bowie High for what he calls a special reason. “After all,” he says, “Bowie High is where I got my start.”
He told me that he’ll definitely be at the Bowie High event in his honor but that it will be a short visit. His said his wife is suffering from spinal problems and he wants to stay close to her. He’ll be arriving in El Paso the day before the Sept. 24 event and leave back to his home in Arkansas the day after the event.
TRIVIA QUESTION: Man O’War lost only one horse race during his legendary career. What was the name of the horse that beat him? Answer at end.
LAST WEEK I told you about one of El Paso’s most beloved high school principals, R.R. Jones at El Paso High School.
There’s another late principal who belongs in that same category, Jefferson High School’s H. R. Moye. He was so loved by his students that they named a golf benefit golf tournament in his honor after his death. It’s the Moye’s Boys Foundation Golf Tournament that raises money to help elementary, middle school and high school students in the Jefferson High School area. This year the tournament is scheduled for Oct. 14 at Underwood Golf Course.
AND DID YOU know that there will be a party for El Paso High School classes of the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s on Friday, Oct. 7, at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino from 6 to 10 p.m.? Wow, right up my alley. I attended El Paso High School in the 1940s and then I covered high school sports for the El Paso Herald-Post in the 1950s and 1960s. What great memories I have of those years.
The party is part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the school’s present building.
Price is $25 per person. You can contact Sandy Aaronson for more information at sandyaaronson@gmail.com
TRIVIA ANSWER: Believe it or not, it was a horse by the name of Upset.
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