BASK: Tenaha honors scholarship recipients
with Tiger two-way football starter Octavius Griffith as the school
auctions off Griffith's autographed helmet during the recent
Holiday Hoops Scholarship Tournament. (Photo courtesy of Judy
Monroe)
More than $7,500 in scholarships were rewarded and thousands attended and enjoyed the recently held Third Annual Tenaha Holiday Hoops Scholarship Basketball Tournament hosted by the district.
It's all part of continuing push by the Tenaha ISD to promote its athletes and programs, its school and its community since the arrival of Superintendent of Schools Don Fallin seven years ago.
The Tiger athletic teams have been a main topic of conversation as the boys basketball team has qualified for the Class 1A D-II State Tournament in two of the past three years, with all of its lettermen back from last year's state final run.
The school also boasted a state champion in track (Reginald Davis) in 2011 and the 2011 Tiger football team recently claimed the school's second state title in the school's history when it claimed the championship on Dec. 15.
The Tenaha ISD athletic department, which has been under the direction of Terry Ward for the past three years, continues to promote its athletes and feed off the success of the programs. More than $6,100 was raised at the tournament when the district auctioned off autographed state championship helmets of Tigers Reginald Davis, Octavius Griffith, Assuntay Cleaver, DeAaron Roland and LaDarren Cooks.
"The money we raised from selling the helmets will go back into our athletic budget," Ward said after the ceremony. "Every year the school is in need of athletic supplies and they are expensive. We've had to endure some budget cuts the last few years, so we've looked at different ways to raise money for our department.
"A lot of schools sell credit cards or coupons and other things. We came up with this idea to involve the kids and their success and allow the community to become involved as well. So it's a benefit to both sides."
Ward said it's important to the district and the athletes to donate their time and effort to be rewarded for their hard work.
"It goes back to the whole school pride thing and wanting to have nice things," he added. "Having new uniforms and helmets and shoes and other things and doing the little things to make the kids feel important are great ways to keep kids involved and interested in doing well in school and we need to raise money to be able to do that.
"It takes a lot of money to run these athletic programs at any school. There are officials to be paid, transportation, food and other expenses and many sports don't make any money - in fact, they lose money.
"And when you add to that the fact that our teams have advanced in the playoffs in a number of sports and that means even more money needed for expenses for travel and out-of-town venues. But in the end its worth it because student in-school attendance is up, passing rates are up and discipline problems are way down."
Ward said it goes back to a well-rounded program at the Tenaha ISD.
"Every time we have an opportunity to host a tournament like this one or host a game or event, our school is on display and we want to always put our best foot forward and show that we do things a little bit better here at Tenaha. We're proud of what we have here and how hard many people are worked to get us to this point and we deserve to boast about it a little bit.
"But when it comes down to it, it's all about the kids. And anything we can do to give them a better opportunities in life we want to do that."
Thirty-two teams participated in this year's basketball tournament and plans are already underway for the 2012 event.
THIRD ANNUAL HOLIDAY HOOPS
SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
Boys
Zach Nelson - Lipan
Josh Sharff - Edgewood
Chris Ray - Elysian Fields
Ian Story - White Oak
Shaquille Mitchell - Tenaha
Jessie Ramos - Stamford
T.J. Watts - San Augustine
Brock Giles - Saltillo
Blake Chapman - Mt. Enterprise
Fred Diosdado - Leggett
Laramie Linn - Kountze
Aaron Loftis - Laneville
DaVanta Hatten - Hughes Springs
Jason Benefee - Chireno
Cash Hamilton - Central Heights
Garrison - TBD
Girls
Zully Martinez - Lipan
S'Andra Govan - Edgewood
Kylee Parker - Elysian Fields
Kristen Stephens - White Oak
Tia Thomas - Tenaha
Hunter Dyer - Stamford
Harley Hartt - Tatum
Cristina Wickersham - Slocum
Tiler Barnes - San Augustine
Erika Mobley - Saltillo
Elizabeth Hoffman - Leggett
Linzy Larson - Hughes Springs
Shamika Nickols - Garrison
Latrele Greenhouse - Arp
Chireno - TBD
Sabine - TBD