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ALL STATE- LHS Baseball Coach Portwood is proud to announce that two of our Lobos were named to the THSBA All-State 4A First Team! LHS Senior Joel Pena and Junior Rusty Johnson hit it out of the park by being honored by THSBA and making this team. (Photo Courtesy of Cristal Isaacks)
ALL STATE- LHS Baseball Coach Portwood is proud to announce that two of our Lobos were named to the THSBA All-State 4A First Team! LHS Senior Joel Pena and Junior Rusty Johnson hit it out of the park by being honored by THSBA and making this team. (Photo Courtesy of Cristal Isaacks) -
ALL STATE- LHS Baseball Coach Portwood is proud to announce that two of our Lobos were named to the THSBA All-State 4A First Team! LHS Senior Joel Pena and Junior Rusty Johnson hit it out of the park by being honored by THSBA and making this team. (Photo Courtesy of Cristal Isaacks)
ALL STATE- LHS Baseball Coach Portwood is proud to announce that two of our Lobos were named to the THSBA All-State 4A First Team! LHS Senior Joel Pena and Junior Rusty Johnson hit it out of the park by being honored by THSBA and making this team. (Photo Courtesy of Cristal Isaacks)
Gary Simmons is leaving some big shoes to fill in Whiteface, but the retiring Lady Lope Head Girls’ Basketball Coach and Athletic Director prefers to talk about the accomplishments of the athletes and the teams he has coached rather than himself.
“It was a blessing and privilege to coach these kids,” he said. In addition to girls’ basketball, Simmons coached cross country and track.
The Lady Lope basketball team has been district and bidistrict champions five years in a row, area champions four out of those five years, quarterfinal champions two out of the last three years as well as making the regional tournament two out of the last three.
The Lady Lopes under Simmons are 164-32 overall and 62-4 in district. When he arrived, they had not won a district title since 1997 When asked about proud moments, Simmons recalled beating number one ranked Benjamin early in his tenure.
“We had come in to a program in bad shape,” he said. “That made us feel like we belonged.”
Another proud moment came last year when the Lady Lopes knocked off the defending state champion Sands Lady Stangs in overtime.
The Lady Lopes have lost one district game in Whiteface since 2016.
“We had four starters hurting,” Simmons said, “so I played them sparingly. We had the district won and were looking to the playoffs.”
Simmons likes to remind people that the athletes made the difference. When he got his 100th win as the Lady Lopes’ head coach in 2022, he said.
“In a world where hard work is sometimes overlooked and if you don’t like it you quit or transfer, these kids deserve the credit. They have stayed the course and put in the hours.”
“We had the player of the year those five years as well,” he remembered, listing Macie Thomas (Buxkemper) Hollie Scoggins (twice) and Allison Martha who shared the honors with Joey Alvarez one year and received the award the next year as well.
“We’ve played all the ‘bullies,’” he said, listing Ropes, Sands and Nazareth as teams that were on the road to state and adding that he thinks Whiteface is poised to take their place in that group.
Simmons is also quick to give credit to his athletes in track and cross country.
Whiteface has been district champions five times in track and four times in cross country with five individual district cross country champions in the last five years.
Ezzy Espinosa won the district three times, followed by Lilly Guerrero and Anais Soliz.
When describing the potential for future success, Simmons said, “Whiteface is a garden spot for athletics.”
Simmons plans to operate a small business with his wife, Lisa, who he says “has been my biggest supporter.”
He says the door is not closed on coaching again, but it isn’t the right time now.
“I’ve got 38 years of honeydos stored up,” he said. “It takes a special person to put up with the late nights, long hours and pressure of being married to a coach.”