kepdawg
05-10-2007, 11:21 AM
Coach's track record says it all
02:33 AM CDT on Thursday, May 10, 2007
LANCASTER – Jerrika Chapple remembers running sprints at Lancaster as gusting winds blew her off balance. She remembers practicing as rain poured down, too. The former Lancaster sprinter, the star of state champion teams in 2001, '02 and '03, even remembers heading out to the track when temperatures dipped below freezing.
"Why is the coach making us do this?" she asked herself.
Chapple, a senior All-American sprinter at Texas, now knows why Bev Humphrey did it.
"She wanted to prepare us for everything," Chapple said. "I knew if I went out and did what she told me to do, I was prepared for everything. I was prepared to win."
The whole team was, led by a coach often described as a perfectionist and "all business." Humphrey is a big reason the Lancaster girls will compete for a seventh straight Class 4A state title this weekend, and she's the reason the name of Lancaster's Tiger Stadium is changing.
Tiara Miller and girls track coach Beverly Humphrey share a hug at Lancaster's Tiger Stadium, which will be renamed Beverly D. Humphrey Tiger Stadium to honor the coach.
On May 19, it will officially be renamed Beverly D. Humphrey Tiger Stadium. According to high school football historians, it's the first large Texas high school stadium to be named after a female coach.
Humphrey's response to the honor:
"I'm glad it's not going to be Beverly D. Humphrey Memorial Stadium."
Yes, the all-business perfectionist is funny, too. But that sometimes gets lost in the seriousness of Humphrey's accomplishments.
The first African-American coach to be hired at Lancaster, Humphrey is one of only six female athletic directors in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She's proud of that, but her biggest source of pride is the success of the athletes she has coached for 20 years in track and volleyball.
Yes, she was also a volleyball coach. That sport is often overlooked because of Humphrey's success in track, but in 18 years as a volleyball coach (two at Greenville and 16 at Lancaster), she had a record of 456-158.
She coached volleyball at Lancaster until three years ago, when she replaced Cedric Mack as district athletic director. The administrative duties forced her to drop one sport, and there was no way Humphrey could give up track.
She starred in that sport at Lincoln, where she was part of the 4x400-meter relay team that won a gold medal in 1974. She helped set seven national collegiate relay records at Prairie View A&M and reached the finals in the 200 at the 1976 Olympic trials.
A great athlete, obviously, but perhaps a greater coach.
"I don't think anyone will win six straight championships again, unless she does it," said longtime Corsicana athletic director Sam Thompson. "She's an inspiration, and not only at Lancaster. She's an inspiration to our kids."
Thompson remembers seeing Humphrey early in her career at Lancaster. He was impressed by the way she carried herself, the way her athletes emulated her and the way they responded to her.
"Watching her," he said, "you just had that deep down feeling that, 'Now there is a coach.' "
More than a coach of sports, Humphrey is a coach of life. She demands her players do well academically and be respectful of others. There will be no bragging, she tells them, and appearance is important.
That means no mismatched socks, crazy outfits or sloppy dress when at track meets. She teaches athletes how to be "classy young women," Chapple said.
"She would say, 'If you're going to wear a white outfit, wear a white sports bra,' " Chapple said. "She taught you how to be a young lady and carry yourself."
The result?
Lancaster superintendent Larry Lewis calls Humphrey's track athletes "the crème de la crème" of the school.
"If you see them in the school hallway or if you see them on the track," Lewis said, "they carry themselves in a way that you know they are Coach Humphrey's kids."
The athletes are Humphrey's kids. She and her husband of 24 years, Chuck, haven't had kids of their own, but she's watched 201 of her athletes earn college scholarships – partial, full, academic and athletic. Many of them stay in touch and visit with Humphrey after track meets.
One works for her. LaMonica Williams, who was on Lancaster's regional finalist volleyball team in 1994, is now the volleyball coach. Little has changed since she was a player, Williams said. But there is one thing:
As an athletic director, Humphrey must now attend graduation.
"For the longest time, she wouldn't go," Williams said. "She hated to see the kids saying goodbye."
In a few years, however, Humphrey will say goodbye. At least as track coach. Humphrey, who won't reveal her age, said she plans to coach three more years and then focus on being Lancaster's athletic director.
At many schools, and in many districts, that position is filled by a football coach. It's the role that Lancaster football coach Andrew Jackson served when he coached at Austin Reagan, but he said he's happy to be an assistant to Humphrey
"They've got the right person in charge," said Jackson, who has coached at Lancaster since 2002. "Everything she does, it always comes back to her love for Lancaster. She's got Lancaster running in her blood."
And soon her name will be running across the front of the stadium. Lewis said members of the community encouraged him and the school board to find a way to honor Humphrey, and this seemed fitting.
Humphrey said she feels honored but also a little scared about the ceremony. She doesn't like to talk about herself, and she doesn't want to cry in front of everyone. But simply talking about the honor gets her a little emotional.
"Putting your name on the stadium ... when they do something like that, your shoulders have to be really broad," Humphrey said. "It's a huge responsibility, and you have to wear it well."
Humphrey cooks up something special
Bev Humphrey said she "hibernates" during the summer. That means staying in her house and enjoying one of her favorite hobbies: reading biographies. When she leaves the house, she likes to head to the mall.
"I do like to shop," she said. "I have to mention that."
She also likes to cook, and she apparently does it well.
"She cooked chitlins for me once," football coach and assistant athletic director Andrew Jackson said, "and oh man ..."
Humphrey also cooks for Lancaster ISD's Black History Luncheon each year. That includes foods such as fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, pork chops, collard greens, peach cobbler and pecan pie.
"It's one of the finest meals you will ever have," Lancaster superintendent Larry Lewis said. "She's an incredible cook."
Matt Wixon
TIGER STADIUM
The Stadium will be renamed Beverly D. Humphrey Tiger Stadium on May 19.
Opened: August 2005
Cost: $24.1 million
Capacity: 7,800
Press box: Three levels
Surface: Pro Series Turf
Source: Lancaster ISD
WOMEN'S AD'S
According to the Texas High School Athletic Directors Association, Lancaster's Bev Humphrey is one of six women in the Dallas-Fort Worth area who are district athletic directors. The six (with district and year started):
Gina Farmer, Cedar Hill, 2001
Willa Gipson, Birdville, 1996
Bev Humphrey, Lancaster, 2004
Judy Mizell, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, 2005*
Renee Putter, Carrollton-FB, 2005
Debbie Weems, Mansfield, 1996
*Served as interim AD in 2003
02:33 AM CDT on Thursday, May 10, 2007
LANCASTER – Jerrika Chapple remembers running sprints at Lancaster as gusting winds blew her off balance. She remembers practicing as rain poured down, too. The former Lancaster sprinter, the star of state champion teams in 2001, '02 and '03, even remembers heading out to the track when temperatures dipped below freezing.
"Why is the coach making us do this?" she asked herself.
Chapple, a senior All-American sprinter at Texas, now knows why Bev Humphrey did it.
"She wanted to prepare us for everything," Chapple said. "I knew if I went out and did what she told me to do, I was prepared for everything. I was prepared to win."
The whole team was, led by a coach often described as a perfectionist and "all business." Humphrey is a big reason the Lancaster girls will compete for a seventh straight Class 4A state title this weekend, and she's the reason the name of Lancaster's Tiger Stadium is changing.
Tiara Miller and girls track coach Beverly Humphrey share a hug at Lancaster's Tiger Stadium, which will be renamed Beverly D. Humphrey Tiger Stadium to honor the coach.
On May 19, it will officially be renamed Beverly D. Humphrey Tiger Stadium. According to high school football historians, it's the first large Texas high school stadium to be named after a female coach.
Humphrey's response to the honor:
"I'm glad it's not going to be Beverly D. Humphrey Memorial Stadium."
Yes, the all-business perfectionist is funny, too. But that sometimes gets lost in the seriousness of Humphrey's accomplishments.
The first African-American coach to be hired at Lancaster, Humphrey is one of only six female athletic directors in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She's proud of that, but her biggest source of pride is the success of the athletes she has coached for 20 years in track and volleyball.
Yes, she was also a volleyball coach. That sport is often overlooked because of Humphrey's success in track, but in 18 years as a volleyball coach (two at Greenville and 16 at Lancaster), she had a record of 456-158.
She coached volleyball at Lancaster until three years ago, when she replaced Cedric Mack as district athletic director. The administrative duties forced her to drop one sport, and there was no way Humphrey could give up track.
She starred in that sport at Lincoln, where she was part of the 4x400-meter relay team that won a gold medal in 1974. She helped set seven national collegiate relay records at Prairie View A&M and reached the finals in the 200 at the 1976 Olympic trials.
A great athlete, obviously, but perhaps a greater coach.
"I don't think anyone will win six straight championships again, unless she does it," said longtime Corsicana athletic director Sam Thompson. "She's an inspiration, and not only at Lancaster. She's an inspiration to our kids."
Thompson remembers seeing Humphrey early in her career at Lancaster. He was impressed by the way she carried herself, the way her athletes emulated her and the way they responded to her.
"Watching her," he said, "you just had that deep down feeling that, 'Now there is a coach.' "
More than a coach of sports, Humphrey is a coach of life. She demands her players do well academically and be respectful of others. There will be no bragging, she tells them, and appearance is important.
That means no mismatched socks, crazy outfits or sloppy dress when at track meets. She teaches athletes how to be "classy young women," Chapple said.
"She would say, 'If you're going to wear a white outfit, wear a white sports bra,' " Chapple said. "She taught you how to be a young lady and carry yourself."
The result?
Lancaster superintendent Larry Lewis calls Humphrey's track athletes "the crème de la crème" of the school.
"If you see them in the school hallway or if you see them on the track," Lewis said, "they carry themselves in a way that you know they are Coach Humphrey's kids."
The athletes are Humphrey's kids. She and her husband of 24 years, Chuck, haven't had kids of their own, but she's watched 201 of her athletes earn college scholarships – partial, full, academic and athletic. Many of them stay in touch and visit with Humphrey after track meets.
One works for her. LaMonica Williams, who was on Lancaster's regional finalist volleyball team in 1994, is now the volleyball coach. Little has changed since she was a player, Williams said. But there is one thing:
As an athletic director, Humphrey must now attend graduation.
"For the longest time, she wouldn't go," Williams said. "She hated to see the kids saying goodbye."
In a few years, however, Humphrey will say goodbye. At least as track coach. Humphrey, who won't reveal her age, said she plans to coach three more years and then focus on being Lancaster's athletic director.
At many schools, and in many districts, that position is filled by a football coach. It's the role that Lancaster football coach Andrew Jackson served when he coached at Austin Reagan, but he said he's happy to be an assistant to Humphrey
"They've got the right person in charge," said Jackson, who has coached at Lancaster since 2002. "Everything she does, it always comes back to her love for Lancaster. She's got Lancaster running in her blood."
And soon her name will be running across the front of the stadium. Lewis said members of the community encouraged him and the school board to find a way to honor Humphrey, and this seemed fitting.
Humphrey said she feels honored but also a little scared about the ceremony. She doesn't like to talk about herself, and she doesn't want to cry in front of everyone. But simply talking about the honor gets her a little emotional.
"Putting your name on the stadium ... when they do something like that, your shoulders have to be really broad," Humphrey said. "It's a huge responsibility, and you have to wear it well."
Humphrey cooks up something special
Bev Humphrey said she "hibernates" during the summer. That means staying in her house and enjoying one of her favorite hobbies: reading biographies. When she leaves the house, she likes to head to the mall.
"I do like to shop," she said. "I have to mention that."
She also likes to cook, and she apparently does it well.
"She cooked chitlins for me once," football coach and assistant athletic director Andrew Jackson said, "and oh man ..."
Humphrey also cooks for Lancaster ISD's Black History Luncheon each year. That includes foods such as fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, pork chops, collard greens, peach cobbler and pecan pie.
"It's one of the finest meals you will ever have," Lancaster superintendent Larry Lewis said. "She's an incredible cook."
Matt Wixon
TIGER STADIUM
The Stadium will be renamed Beverly D. Humphrey Tiger Stadium on May 19.
Opened: August 2005
Cost: $24.1 million
Capacity: 7,800
Press box: Three levels
Surface: Pro Series Turf
Source: Lancaster ISD
WOMEN'S AD'S
According to the Texas High School Athletic Directors Association, Lancaster's Bev Humphrey is one of six women in the Dallas-Fort Worth area who are district athletic directors. The six (with district and year started):
Gina Farmer, Cedar Hill, 2001
Willa Gipson, Birdville, 1996
Bev Humphrey, Lancaster, 2004
Judy Mizell, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, 2005*
Renee Putter, Carrollton-FB, 2005
Debbie Weems, Mansfield, 1996
*Served as interim AD in 2003