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Gene Arrington

Arrington began playing basketball at Amarillo High in the mid-1950s, but was on the first basketball team at Palo Duro when the new school opened its doors in 1955.

It was one of the most remarkable debuts by any high school team in Panhandle history. The 1956 Dons won the Class 3A state championship in its first year of existence, and Arrington led the way by averaging nearly 20 points a game. Palo Duro defeated Beaumont French, 59-51, in Austin in the state title game.

He was the only Texan invited to play in the 1956 Cage Classic in Murray, Ky. That summer, he scored the first points in the new Lubbock Municipal Coliseum in an all-star game. That new coliseum was to be his basketball home for the next four years as he followed an old high school rival, Gerald Myers of Borger, to play for coach Polk Robison at Texas Tech.

At 6-foot-4, Arrington would be a three-year starter for the Red Raiders from 1957 to 1960. In 71 games for Tech, he scored 652 points and pulled down 409 rebounds. As a senior, he averaged 12.8 points and led Tech in rebounding at 6.7. Arrington was named to Look Magazine all-star team and NABC all-district team. Arrington is the father of U.S. Congressman Jody Arrington. He lives in Plainview.

Arrington is a selection from the veterans committee, which considers coaches and athletes whose achievements were more than 50 years ago.