‘Hot dog and Hallelujah’
Hughes grabs 1,275th win as high school coach
By Sarah Krebs
Staff Reporter

Dunbar High School’s Robert Hughes, 74, won his 1,275th game to break the national
record for career coaching wins for boy’s high school basketball Tuesday.

Dunbar defeated Polytechnic 71-62 to become the District 7-4A champs at the crowded Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

“Hot dog and Hallelujah,” Hughes said about the anticipation of breaking the record being over. “Our main focus was on winning the district championship and not on the record.”

Hughes beat Morgan Wootten, 71, who retired after 46 years at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Md., with a record of 1,274-192 (.869).

“It’s hit me to the extent of how much interest it generated,” Hughes said.

More than a capacity crowd of 7,262 people began arriving at the coliseum before 6 p.m., and those not in seats were standing in almost all of the entry-ramps.

Chuck Baskin, who worked with Hughes’ wife, Jackie, at Bell Helicopter, said he had been to about a dozen of Hughes’ games.

“This is pretty great,” Baskin said. “I like to be here to pay Hughes respect and I think it is important for the community to do that. It was hard getting in here with the traffic and construction, but it’s great that this many people turned out for a high school game.”

The crowd, comprised mostly of Dunbar students, parents, alumni and high school basketball enthusiasts, even did a few rounds of the wave toward the end of the game to show their excitement about the team’s win.

Dexter Wilson, who played for Dunbar and Hughes for one season in 1976, said playing for Hughes was intense and scary because of how strict he was on the court.

“He’s well respected, the legend that he is, and he’s a hard worker and loves what he does,” Wilson said.

In response to being called a legend, Hughes said: “The last time I walked down to my local coffee shop and told the lady I was a legend as a coach, she said ‘Coach, you either give me a dollar or we’re going to call the police,’” Hughes said. “Being a legend as a coach will only get you coffee at a cheap place.”

Hughes said he credits his success to his special ability to coach basketball, and that his biggest problem was not to mess up and to take advantage of the gift bestowed upon him.

As blue and white streamers floated down from the ceiling and the crowd roared with approval, Hughes and his team received a plaque for winning the District 7-4A game. This is Hughes’ 36th trip to the playoffs.

“I don’t know about the future,” Hughes said. “But I told my boys that whenever my time is up, they should put fishing poles outside my garage. So until the day I look up and see three or four fishing poles by my garage door, I’ll be here.”

Sarah Krebs
s.d.krebs@tcu.edu