JOHN C. WHINNERY SR. - INDUCTEE #118
hall of fame fast fact:
Despite John Whinnery's fine record at Dumas, his football team never made the playoffs. The Demons had the misfortune of being in the same district as powerhouse Phillips in the early 1950s. And in those years, only one district team qualified for the postseason.
John C. Whinnery Sr.
John Whinnery started the Amarillo Relays in 1949-1950. Whinnery coached AHS to five consecutive district track championships and produced three individual state champions between 1945 and 1950.
Before he was a coach, Whinnery went to the University of Iowa on scholarships in football, track, and wrestling. He was the Iowa state heavyweight champion in wrestling and inducted into the Fort Dodge Sports Hall of fame in 1962.
He transferred to, and graduated from, Northeastern University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and established the Oklahoma collegiate record in the discus.
Whinnery later earned a master’s degree from West Texas State.
He coached football, track, and wrestling in Oklahoma before assisting under Howard Lynch at Amarillo High. Whinnery moved to Dumas in 1950 as head football coach. He moved to West Texas State in 1957 as an assistant professor of education and intramural sports director. He developed the first full-time intramural program at WT. He was selected as the outstanding track coach in the first half of the century.
He retired from WT in 1974 and died at age 85 after winning three gold medals in the Georgia Senior Games.
