BH Former Player and Coach - Headed to Coaching Hall of Fame

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Former BH player, coach going into Hall

By Doyle Barlow

Baytown Sun 

Published May 4, 2007

Pennee Hall has accomplished a lot in her basketball career as a player and coach. Hall, who currently coaches at Livingston, can add another accolade to that list Saturday in Austin when she is inducted into the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame.

“I received a call in December and was told I was going to be inducted,†Hall said. “It was quite a shock.â€

It shouldn’t have been. Her numbers at Barbers Hill, first as a player then as a coach, are enough to merit her induction.

As a player at Barbers Hill, she led the 1982 and 1983 teams to state championships and scored 3,587 career points. Hall then went on to play at Louisiana Tech for two years then three more at the University of Texas.

Then in nine years as head coach at Barbers Hill, Hall guided the Lady Eagles to a 282-50 mark, which included the 1997 Class 3A state championship in addition to a 1993 semifinal appearance. Her teams also won nine consecutive unbeaten district titles and went 102-0 against district opponents.

Hall left Barbers Hill to become an assistant at Stephen F. Austin. She departed the Nacogdoches school for Livingston in 2004.

In her playing days, Hall was a point guard, a position that helped her transition to coaching.

“When you’re a point guard, coaches call you their coach on the floor,†Hall said. “It’s just like football. You’re the quarterback.

“But coaching and playing are totally different concepts. I was more in control as a player and as a coach, you just try to give direction. I have had a lot of fun doing both.â€

Hall said that winning the state championship as a coach at Barbers Hill is her career highlight — to this point.

“When you can guide a team and do that it’s the ultimate achievement,†she said. “Only five teams in the state can do that each year.â€

Hall expects a contingent of around 60 people to be on hand for her induction. Many of those will be family members, but many will also be Mont Belvieu people who have watched her career her whole life.

“I grew up there and was raised there and Barbers Hill really likes its sports,†Hall said. “It will always have a special place in my heart. A lot of those people saw me grow up and go through a lot of different things.â€

Those people can now add Saturday’s induction to that list.

[Guest bleed orange]

Congrats to Coach Hall, well deserving honor. Now, tell her the Orangefield Job is open and we need a coach.