[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 13443-13444]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 CONGRATULATIONS TO COACH ROBERT HUGHES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Veasey) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I was privileged to see something very 
special back in December of 1995 in Texas high school sports history.
  Now, before you think this is a story of ``Friday Night Lights,'' it 
is not. This happened on the hardwood court of the Wilkerson Greines 
Activity Center in southeast Fort Worth. Four coaching legends on the 
court, all with 1,000 wins each: Morgan Wooten of DeMatha Catholic High 
School; Ralph Tasker, Hobbs High in New Mexico;

[[Page 13444]]

Bill Kruger of Clear Lake High School just outside of Houston; and 
Coach Robert Hughes, Sr., of Dunbar High School located in Stop Six, 
Texas. They squared off in an extraordinary basketball game.
  I would be remiss if I didn't mention that of these four coaching 
legends, Coach Hughes has the most wins with over 1,300 victories.
  Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, Friday September 8, will mark another special 
moment in basketball history for Coach Hughes as he is inducted into 
the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
  Growing up in Fort Worth and having lived part of my childhood in 
Stop Six, I knew of Coach Hughes at a very young age. He was a legend 
before he retired. He is and was a master basketball strategist, coach, 
mentor to the boys he coached and the most prominent ambassador for 
high school sports in the State of Texas.
  When you would go to a Dunbar basketball game and watch Coach Hughes 
work his craft, you ended up watching Coach Hughes as much as you 
watched the action on the floor. I saw this as a player that not only 
played against Coach Hughes, but also as a spectator and a fan for 
many, many years.
  Hughes and his longtime trusted assistant, Leonadas Rambo, fielded 
some great teams to rack up over 1,300 victories. These wins were 
racked up at Dunbar High School and I.M. Terrell High School, which was 
shut down after desegregation.
  Coach Hughes would pace the floor while his teams ran up and down the 
court at a swift pace. He usually gave them lots of latitude when they 
made mistakes that he felt could have been avoided by using better 
judgment. It didn't matter if you were the star point guard or the 
sixth man, he would stand up from the bench--and Coach Hughes always 
had his jacket unbuttoned--and with a look of disapproval on his face 
that was unmistakable, he would look down the bench--and I am going to 
say he would look down the bench with his signature look of tough 
love--and you knew that you were being pulled out of the game. There 
wasn't anything that your mom or dad could do for you.
  That was the type of coach that Coach Hughes was. Coach Hughes earned 
the dedication of his players because of the excellence that he 
expected each and every day.
  I will never forget in one Whataburger Basketball Tournament in Fort 
Worth when Dunbar was playing Oak Hill Academy from Mouth of Wilson, 
Virginia. Oak Hill had at least five or six guys that were all over 6 
foot 8, three of whom went on to major Division I careers at the 
University of Virginia and Kansas.
  Everybody at the gym that night, because Coach Hughes didn't have 
anybody over 6 foot 5, 6 foot 6, thought that Coach Hughes was 
outmatched. But with superior rebounding, patience, and good shot 
selection, Dunbar won the game. I was there, and I vividly remember the 
audience being shocked, but inspired, by the victory. But no one should 
have been surprised.
  Once a reporter asked Coach Hughes who his favorite NBA player was, 
and it surprised everybody when he said Larry Bird was his favorite 
player. The reason why: he liked Larry's legendary rebounding, 
fundamentals, blocking out, scoring, the type of things that may not 
have been fancy but led to victories.
  But that is who Coach Hughes was. That was the kind of excellence 
Robert Hughes brought to coaching Fort Worth ISD and boys basketball in 
the State of Texas. And due to that fierce competitive streak in Coach 
Hughes' Dunbar teams, they always made the playoffs.
  I will never forget one day Coach Hughes was quoted in the paper 
saying that the people who worked in the neighborhood, who worked at 
the various jobs around town, at General Motors, Miller Brewery, and 
Lockheed, they would always save up their vacation time so they can go 
to the quarterfinals and regional games in Midland, because everybody 
knew that Dunbar was at least going that far. And he could say that 
because it was true, and his teams could back it up.
  I will never forget one year when Dunbar didn't make it that far and 
Coach Hughes shared his scouting report with another school. I believe 
it was Southwest High School. He shared his scouting report with the 
coach from Southwest of the team they were getting ready to take on in 
the playoffs because he felt that at least the other team in the Fort 
Worth Independent School District should have the chance to advance. 
That is the kind of class act he was on the court and he still is off 
the court today.
  The men that he made, Mr. Speaker, his former players include current 
winning high school basketball coaches and one of the top all-time 
assist leaders in high school and college sports history, James Cash, 
an I.M. Terrell graduate who was the first Black player in the 
Southwest Conference who went on to become the chair of the Harvard MBA 
program.
  In a State known for its Friday night lights, Mr. Speaker, there is 
not a single other person in high school sports who exemplifies this 
like Coach Hughes.
  Mr. Speaker, I am humbled with the opportunity to recognize the next 
member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, Coach Robert Hughes. 
Congratulations, Coach Hughes.
  Go Wildcats. Go I.M. Terrell.

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