Texas Sports Hall of Fame inducts legendary coach Pat Henry

Texas Sports Hall of Fame to induct legendary coach Pat Henry
Texas A&M University legend joins seven other honorees at February 21 dinner in Waco

WACO, TX –  February 3, 2017 – The Texas Sports Hall of Fame (TSHOF) announces legendary track and field coach, Pat Henry, as another member of its 2017 class. Pat, along with seven other exceptional athletes, will be formally recognized and inducted into the TSHOF on Tuesday, February 21 in Waco, Texas.

Pat is currently the track and field coach at Texas A&M University. He is also known for leading his teams to 27 national championships during his former role as track and field coach at Louisiana State University (LSU).

​“The honor of being selected to become a part of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame is profound for me. I’m not a native Texan, but my family roots are in Texas; my grandfather coached in Texas,” said Pat. “This kind of award involves a lot of people – my wife and family, current and former assistant coaches, and current and former athletes and institution administrations. This is a great honor for me and a privilege to represent Texas A&M University.”

Pat was born into a family of coaches in Albuquerque, N.M. and he knew from a young age he wanted to carry on that legacy. He was too small to play football in high school, so he ran cross country and track instead. 

Pat’s first coaching position was at Hobbs High School in New Mexico. He was head coach for ten years, leading his teams to three state championships and three runner-up finishes.

​His first role in Texas was as head coach at Blinn College, where he won two NJCAA titles. This led him to a career at LSU from 1988-2004. 

In Pat’s first season in 1988, he guided the LSU Lady Tigers to the NCAA Outdoor Championship. At the 1989 NCAA Outdoor Championship, LSU became the first school in NCAA history to claim both the men’s and women’s national titles. This was repeated in 1991. He closed his time at LSU by making it the first school in NCAA history to sweep the men’s and women’s national team crowns at the NCAA Indoor Championships. In all, LSU won 27 team NCAA championships during the Pat Henry era.

In 2005, Pat led the Texas A&M University Aggies to dominate the Big 12, winning 14 total conference titles. He was the first coach to lead a school to three consecutive NCAA men’s and women’s track & field titles: 2009, 2010 and 2011 – something no other coach with a combined men’s and women’s program in any sport has been able to accomplish.

Since moving to the SEC, Pat has helped the women win the outdoor title in 2013 and men win the outdoor track title in 2014. With eight more NCAA national championship team titles in a 12-year span, Pat’s 35 team national titles are the third most of all time in any NCAA sport. He has the most indoor and outdoor track and field national team titles of any coach, with 130 individual event champions. He is the only NCAA head coach to win both the men’s and women’s outdoor national titles in the same year.

Pat served as head coach of the U.S. men’s national team during the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan. He led the U.S. men’s team to a record 10 gold medals. Pat has also coached 77 Olympians. During the 2016 Rio Games, Texas A&M was represented by 18 athletes – more than any institution in the country. His success at two institutions has never been accomplished by any coach, in any sport, on the NCAA Division I level.

​Presented by Texas Farm Bureau Insurance, Pat will join other inductees at the February event including former Houston Cougars NCAA women’s volleyball player Rita Buck-Crockett, former Texas A&M & Los Angeles Rams defensive back  Dave Elmendorf, former Houston Cougars NCAA women’s volleyball player Flo Hyman (deceased), 2008 Olympic all-around gymnastics champion Nastia Liukin, former University of Texas dual-sport athlete Eric Metcalf, Denver Broncos football defensive coordinator Wade Phillips and former Dallas Cowboys All Pro safety Darren Woodson. This class joins a long list of Texas sport legends forever being honored as a member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

The February 21 event will begin with a reception at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame at 4 p.m., with a 6 p.m. banquet at the Waco Convention Center. Combination reception/banquet tickets are $200 each or $1,400 for a reserved table of eight. Banquet-only tickets can be purchased for $75 each, or $600 for a reserved table of eight. To purchase tickets, please call the museum at 800-567-9561 or visit http://www.tshof.org/buy-tickets/

For additional information on Dave or any of the other inductees, please contact Adrian Patenaude, [email protected], or Jay Black, [email protected].

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About the Texas Sports Hall of Fame

​The Texas Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, located in Waco, Texas, chronicles the heroes and legends of Lone Star State sports at all levels, including high school standouts, Olympians and professionals. Established in 1993, the organization’s mission is to preserve the legacies of all inductees and the history of sports in Texas to educate and inspire guests of all ages. Home to over 300 Texas Legends, the museum houses the Texas Tennis Museum and Hall of Fame and Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. The Texas Sports Hall of Fame is located at 1108 S. University Parks Dr. Waco, TX 76706. For more information, please visit http://www.tshof.org/.