panhandle sports hall of fame: 2021 ceremony - June 24, 2021
Welcome back to Catching Up With Kids, Incorporated! We have previously talked about our ties to the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame. That post can be found HERE. Recently, we held the 63rd annual awards presentation on June 13 for this organization. We honored 15 athletes of the year, 16 coaches of the year, and nine other award winners. We also inducted five individuals into the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame, bringing the total number of inductees to 192.
Our first inductee of 2021 was Steve Garmon, the 188th inductee. Steve grew up in Groom and would go on to become one of Texas Christian Universities top offensive lineman of the 1960’s. After his football career, Steve served as a top member of the Secret Service and provided presidential protection for presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush.
Inductee 189 is Rayford Young. Rayford was one of the all-time best basketball players from Pampa. Following his high school career, he became one of the top guards to ever play at Texas Tech, once scoring 32 points in the last nine minutes of a game.
Sharon Moultrie-Bruner is inductee 190. The Pampa native went from track walk-on at Texas Tech to the school’s first female two-time All-American. She specialized in the long jump and earned her All-American honors in 1981 and 1982. She was a seven-time national qualifier, and her 60-meter dash time indoors is still among the top 10 in school history
Our 191st inductee is Noel Johnson. Noel led the Nazareth Swiftettes to the 1990 and 1991 1A basketball state championship titles. She would go on to play for Texas Tech and was a key part in their big 1993 national championship win. Noel went on to have a successful coaching career, spending her last 12 years as head coach at Midwestern State University.
Joe Lombard is inductee 192. Regarded as the greatest high school girls’ basketball coach in history, his teams dominated from 1979-2020. He has won six state titles at Nazareth and 13 more at Canyon, making a record 19 total girls basketball titles. Joe has also coached his cross country teams at Nazareth and Canyon to another seven titles, giving him a record 26 total state championships.
For more information on each of this year’s inductees, and each of our award winners, visit the official Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame webpage by CLICKING HERE.
