[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 10 (Wednesday, February 11, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S674]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING HOBBS, N.M., HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL COACH RALPH TASKER

 Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a man 
who has accumulated a remarkable record as the head basketball coach at 
Hobbs High School in New Mexico. This year he ends more than a half 
century of teaching and coaching. During these decades of service, he 
has endeared himself to a community and earned acclaim as one of the 
most winning high school coaches in the United States.
  To understand the significance of Ralph Tasker's impact, it is useful 
to know more about Hobbs, the community to which he had dedicated his 
life.
  Hobbs is a city born of the hard-scrabble oil and gas industry. 
Situated on the dusty mesquite-laden plains of southeast New Mexico, it 
is primarily dependent on farming, ranching, and the petroleum 
industry. It is a proud community that has touted itself as ``Hobbs, 
America.''
  I believe I can safely say that a lot of the pride in this community 
has been fostered by its school system and, more specifically, the 
renowned success of its high school basketball team.
  Mr. President, on February 20, Ralph Tasker will coach his last high 
school basketball game in Hobbs.
  On that Friday evening in the Ralph Tasker Arena, the people of 
Hobbs--a town accustomed to the booms and busts of the oil and gas 
industry--will honor the man who since 1949 has lead the Hobbs Eagles 
to consistent basketball glory. Under Ralph Tasker's steady tutelage, 
it can be said a most constant sound in Hobbs, beyond the hum of 
oilfield pumps, has been the swish of basketballs ripping through the 
hoops, the squeak of rubber on hardwood, and decades of cheering fans. 
It has been through the efforts of Ralph Tasker, the hard knuckled 
basketball coach, that Hobbs has become known to America.
  Understandably, Hobbs honors the end of Coach Tasker's remarkable 
career with a measure of trepidation.
  Mr. President, I believe Ralph Tasker's career as a high school coach 
has been so outstanding that he deserves the recognition of the Senate.
  Born, raised and educated in West Virginia, Ralph Tasker's life has 
virtually always involved basketball. His teaching and coaching career 
began in Ohio. During World Was II, he served with the U.S. Army Air 
Corps stationed at what is now Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. 
Tasker played basketball with the Flying Kellys during his service 
days.
  Following the war, he earned a masters degree and returned to New 
Mexico, this time to Lovington where he taught and coached starting in 
1946. It was in 1949 that Ralph Tasker began his illustrious tenure as 
the head basketball coach at Hobbs High School.
  Over the decades, Coach Tasker has compiled the third most winning 
record of active high school coaches in the United States, with a 
record of at least 1,116 wins and only 289 losses.
  Tasker's Hobbs Eagles have won a dozen state championships--one in 
Lovington in 1949 and 11 in Hobbs in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1966, 1968, 
1969, 1970, 1980, 1981, 1987, and 1988. He is believed to have set a 
record of sorts by coaching state championship basketball teams in five 
different decades, from the 1940s to the 1980s. The varsity team has 
qualified for the state basketball tournaments 36 times, including 24 
consecutive tourney appearances between 1961 and 1985.
  In 52 seasons as head basketball coach, Ralph Tasker's teams have 
suffered only two losing seasons. In comparison, he has coached 36 
teams to seasons with 20 or more victories. He led two teams through 
perfect seasons, 1966 (28-0) and 1981 (26-0). His 1970 squad averaged 
114.6 points per game during a 27-game season, which is still a 
national record.
  All this success has been rewarded with a trophy case of personal 
honors. Ralph Tasker has been named National High School Coach by the 
National High School Coaches Association and by the National Sports 
News Service. In 1991, he was named the National Athletic Coach of the 
Year by the prestigious Walt Disney National Teacher Awards Program.
  He was a 1988 inductee into the National High School Sports Hall of 
Fame in Kansas City, Missouri. He has also been inducted into the New 
Mexico High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor, the Alderson-
Broaddus College's Battler Hall of Fame, and the New Mexico State 
University Aggie Hall of Fame.
  Recognition of Coach Tasker's abilities is underscored by the fact 
that more than 100 Eagle basketball players have gone to college on 
basketball scholarships, with 50 named to All-State squads, nine 
selected to prep All-American teams, and 13 drafted by professional 
basketball leagues.
  But I know that the citizens of Hobbs are most proud and appreciative 
of Ralph Tasker for the hundreds of lives he has helped shape as a 
coach and mentor. Hundreds upon hundreds of youth people have benefited 
from the hard work, discipline, and sense of comradery they gained 
under Coach Tasker's direction. For more than 50 years he has given 
impressionable young men a sense of direction, a sense of being part of 
something bigger and greater than they could be by themselves. In 
teaching such lessons through sweat and toil on the varnished boards of 
a gymnasium floor, he has made Hobbs a better place to live.
  For all his accomplishments, I salute Ralph Tasker, and join those 
who bring deserved attention to his lifetime of commitment to an 
honored sport and the youth who play the game.

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