Dunbar basketball, Coronado golf among Lubbock ISD Athletics Hall of Honor inductees

The Lubbock ISD Athletics Hall of Honor will hold its 2022 induction ceremony at 6 p.m. on Saturday at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center.

Due to COVID-19 delaying the past two ceremonies, the ceremony will induct all members of the 2020, 2021 and 2022 classes, totaling 15 players, coaches and teams.

The 2022 class includes Coronado track and cross country athlete Mindy Sullivan Mammen, Estacado track and field athlete Laquinta Manahan, Monterey boys basketball athlete Grady Newton, Dunbar boys basketball athlete William Malone and the Lubbock High girls gymnastics teams from 1989-90 and 1990-91. The two teams will be inducted as a pair.

One significant member of the 2021 class is the 1965 Dunbar boys basketball team, who won the state championship that season. Coached by Curtis Gipson, the Panthers recorded a 27-2 record, winning its championship just a year after moving up from AA to AAA. Dunbar’s team that season was led by its three all-state players in Clarence Hawkins, Tommy Ricks and Quincy White.

Dunbar battled racism and segregation all throughout the 1950s and 1960s, with its 1965 team winning its fifth state championship in the Black Prairie View Interscholastic League. The PVIL was separate from the white University Interscholastic League and did not play games against each other, meaning Dunbar was barred from playing other Lubbock teams.

Reminiscing on their times of inequality, White is now glad he and his teammates are is gaining equal recognition alongside UIL teams with their induction.

“It’s always an honor to be inducted,” White said. “We had a great basketball team in the 60s, and the school tradition was already winning championships. Any recognition is always going to be appreciated.”

The Dunbar players lived in a Black community in East Lubbock, separated from the rest of the city. Despite this, the community had strong self-support, operating its own youth groups and Boys Clubs, which is how White met the rest of his future teammates in 1953.

Even though high schools were segregated, white and Black players played against each other during the summer in pickup games. But when the school year began, it was back to segregation.

The Black community in East Lubbock didn’t have similar resources to the rest of the city, and had to take station wagons to the PVIL state tournament in Houston. But, White believes the togetherness of the community was strong, and that Dunbar was the one that put Lubbock on the map.

“Nothing came easy for us,” White said. “But you can’t just sit around and wait for things to come knock on the door. You got to prepare yourself for the different obstacles that you're going to face in life.”

Rounding out the 2021 class are the 1981 Monterey state champion girls basketball team, Coronado volleyball coach Brandi Cantrell, Estacado football athlete Larry Miller and Lubbock High football coach Weldon Chapman, who will receive a posthumous induction.

The 2020 class includes the 2000 Coronado state champion boys golf team, coached by Barry Voss. The Mustangs were the first LISD school to win a state championship in golf.

Voss was just in his second season as Coronado’s boys golf coach after coaching its boys basketball team from 1985-99. He moved to the job to maintain his security at Coronado, a place where he’d been working since 1974 as a student teacher.

“I didn’t want to pick up my family and move somewhere else just to coach basketball,” Voss said. “And, I really enjoyed Coronado. I enjoyed the atmosphere and everything that went on there. There’s great camaraderie there.”

Voss coached Coronado’s golf team until 2012, and considers himself blessed to have been a coach for as long as he was. He’s especially proud of seeing how well kids are doing after they leave Coronado, especially the ones from that 2000 team.

“God blessed me during my 37 years of coaching, and opened many doors for me,” Voss said. “I’m proud of these guys on the state level, but what makes me the proudest is running into athletes that I’ve coached in the past… and seeing how successful they’ve become and the contributions that they’ve made.”

Also included in the 2020 class are Ricks, Monterey girls basketball athlete Kriss Ethridge, Lubbock High football athlete Greg Lott and the 1970 Estacado state champion track team.

Lubbock ISD Athletics Hall of Honor induction

Saturday, 6 p.m. at Memorial Civic Center

Class of 2020

2000 Coronado boys golf team

1970 Estacado track team

Tommy Ricks, Dunbar High School boys basketball player (1962-1965)

Greg Lott, Lubbock High football player (1961-1964)

Kriss Ethridge, Monterey girls basketball player (1978-1981)

Class of 2021

1965 Dunbar High School boys basketball team

1981 Monterey girls basketball team

Brandi Cantrell, Coronado volleyball coach (2001-2004)

Larry Miller, Estacado football player (1967-1970)

Weldon B. Chapman, Lubbock High football coach (1931-1939)

Class of 2022

1989-1990, 1990-1991 Lubbock High girls gymnastics teams

Mindy Sullivan Mammen, Coronado track, cross country athlete (2000-2002)

Laquinta Manahan, Estacado track and field athlete (1994-1997)

Grady Newton, Monterey boys basketball player (1970-1972)

William Malone, Dunbar High School boys basketball player (1958-1960)

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Dunbar basketball, Coronado golf among Lubbock ISD Athletes Hall of Honor inductees