On the same day the world lost Jerry West, the basketball community mourns another loss in Fort Worth legend Robert Hughes Sr., who also died on Wednesday at 96.
Hughes is the all-time winningest high school boys basketball coach with a record of 1,333-264, which is a winning percentage of 83.4%. Hughes is a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, National High School Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and Texas Southern Hall of Fame.
Born in Oklahoma, Hughes’ coaching career spanned across six decades.
He starred on the basketball team as a player with Texas Southern in the early 1950s. Hughes played forward and averaged over 20 points per game as a senior. He was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 1996.
He began his legendary coaching career with I.M. Terrell in Fort Worth in 1958 and was there until 1973. He took the team to five straight PVIL (Prairie View Interscholastic League) state tournaments from 1962 to 1966.
Terrell won three championships in ’62, ’64 and ’66.
The team also reached the state champ game in 1965.
Following the 1973 season, Hughes took over as the boys coach at Fort Worth Dunbar where he lasted until 2005 – spanning more than 30 years.
Hughes led the Wildcats to a remarkable 12 state tournament appearances and two state championships in 1993 and 2003. This included 10 trips in 17 years (1977 to 1993). During his time at Dunbar, the program made the playoffs in 30 consecutive seasons.
He led Dunbar to its first state appearance in 1977 and its first title in 1993 when the Wildcats defeated Houston Milby and Converse Judson for the 5A championship. He became the all-time winningest HS basketball coach in 2003 (boys and girls) and remained in that spot until 2010 when Granbury girls coach Leta Andrews passed him.
Hughes led his teams to 35 district titles and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in March of 2017. He was also National Coach Of The Year in 2003.
