HALL OF FAME SPOTLIGHT, PART II: Coaches, radio announcer had profound impact on inductee

(Note: This is the second of a three-part feature on Bartlesville Athletic Hall of Fame inductee-to-be Terry Hughes.)

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Terry Hughes remained a busy young man during his prep years in the 1970s at Sooner High.

At the same time he was absorbing lessons from sports and his coaches on which he would build his own career.

He recalls with awe how his Spartan basketball coach Joe Holladay instilled a spirit of winning — not only of winning but of the hard work, toughness and total commitment it required.

“Looking back, especially after coaching all these years, Coach (Holladay) did a remarkable job just getting us to the state tournament our senior year,” he said.

Hughes and Holladay are about to have something else in common.

A few years ago, Holladay accepted induction into the Bartlesville Athletic Hall of Fame — which is where Hughes is headed this coming fall as a member of the Bartlesville Sports Commission Class of 2022. Also joining Hughes as new inductees will be former College High sports legend Rickey Jackson, Adams Golf Course Director of Operations Jerry Benedict, former Bartlesville High catcher Lisa Harvey and the 1982 Bartlesville High softball team.

Another one of Hughes former coaches, Tug Baughn, also is a BaHOF member.

Hughes and Baughn’s paths originally crossed as athlete and coach in the setting of American Legion Baseball.

During the summers, he didn’t exactly wile away his hours watching “The Mike Douglas Show” and swallowing snack cakes.

He honed himself into a valuable asset — on a team of valuable assets — for the Doenges Ford Indians, which were led by Baughn, with Carl Brooks and Bob Korthase as his coaches.

Hughes & Co. would pounded out perhaps the greatest three-year run of the Indians — 168-36, two Oklahoma American Legion state championships and two successful appearances in the American Legion Mid-South Regionals — from 1976-78.

The 1978 team came up just a win shy of playing for a spot in the American Legion World Series.

“The main thing that Tug taught me was how to play smart baseball,” Hughes said. “I remember his little talks at the beginning of the year on how to run bases.”

Brooks had a double impact on Hughes.

Not only did Brooks assist in Legion ball, he also served as the Sooner High head coach.

Prep baseball practice began the Monday after the state basketball tournaments.

Being that Hughes was still upset about losing at state, he didn’t come into baseball with full focus on the diamond.

“I would have to admit it took me a long time to make the transition,” Hughes said. “I moped around the first four weeks of spring baseball, playing the losses in basketball in my mind instead of working in the batting cages like I should have. Coach (Brooks) was patient and loving and work hard to teach some hard-headed kids to focus on baseball when we were yearning for summertime.”

Another youthful icon for Hughes was KWON radio sports announcer Bill Mingle — also a previously-inducted BaHOF member.

During a team banquet, Mingle offered some words to the athletes about thanking their coaches and to give something back to continue the legacy.

Those words stayed in the back of Hughes mind, to take effect a few years later.

He actually didn’t plan on coaching, at least not right away, when he went into education and became a Bartlesville Public Schools employee.

“To be honest, I was tired of sports and I wasn’t even thinking about coaching,” he said.

In fact he turned down two offers to be an assistant.

“But, I couldn’t shake the words from Bill MIngle to give back,” he said. “I was blessed by God with my coaches. In fact, I never had a bad one.”

His parents never criticized a coach or a teacher, which made a lasting impression on Hughes. When he tried to complain at home about coaches, his parents reminded him he could quit or learn from the coach.

“So I tried, because I sure wasn’t going to quit,” he said.

The seed planted by Mingle’s words finally persuaded Hughes to give back as a coach.

His resume of mentoring student-athletes is staggering.

It began in 1986 when he transferred to the Bartlesville Mid-High and began coaching eighth grade basketball and junior high golf with Ram Gonzales.

In 1987-88, he coached eighth-grade football under David Benne, ninth-grade basketball with Kenny Cross and continued with golf.

Hughes moved up to a ninth-grade assistant football coach in 1994 (Gene Williams) and moved into the Bartlesville High golf head coach billet (both boys and girls).

He also continued working with ninth-grade basketball.

Hughes decided to move up to administration for the 1996-97 school year, giving up his coaching assignments.

But, he discovered he missed being on the front line, so he went back to coaching, leading the Lady Bruin golf team and the ninth-grade basketball team, along with Brian Jenner.

He continued as girls golf coach until retiring in 2015 from the position.

Meanwhile, in 2011, he became the assistant athletic director after Tim Bart moved into the Athletic Director’s office.

Due to  a vacancy in girls golf, Hughes served one more season as head coach, in 2018-19, and has served since as the assistant to Carl Holmes.

After the 2022 campaign he stepped away from the golf team.

During his nearly quarter-century working with Lady Bruins golf, the squad qualified 16 times as a full squad for the state tourney, and sent at least one at-large qualifier (sometimes as many as three) to state the other years.

Hughes also has been a valuable asset as an assistant athletic director.

“He’s an asset not very many athletic departments have we’re lucky to have him,” Bartlesville Athletic/Activities Director Thad Dilbeck said. “He does anything we ask him and a lot of things we don’t ask him to do. He commits a tremendous amount of time to make sure the athletes have everything they need — and that when fans show up they can have as good an experience as they can have.”

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(Note: Part 3 is set for next issue.)

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Focus on Bartlesville Athletic Hall of Fame inductee-to-be