SLS 21RS-935 ORIGINAL
2021 Regular Session
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 61
BY SENATOR BERNARD
COMMENDATIONS. Commends Pat Henry, former LSU head track and field coach, on
being inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
1 A RESOLUTION
2 To commend and congratulate former Louisiana State University head track and field coach
3 Pat Henry upon his induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and for his
4 distinguished seventeen-year career during which he established an exemplary track
5 and field program at Louisiana State University.
6 WHEREAS, Pat Henry was born on July 21, 1951, in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
7 is married to Gail Duggin Henry, and together they have one daughter, Shelly, and one son,
8 Brandon; and
9 WHEREAS, during his career as a track and field coach, Pat Henry served as the
10 head coach at Hobbs High School in New Mexico from 1974-1983, as the head coach of
11 Blinn College from 1984-1987, as the head coach of Louisiana State University from
12 1988-2004, and as the current head coach at Texas A&M University since 2005; and
13 WHEREAS, the former Louisiana State University coach currently has thirty-six
14 national team titles on the NCAA Division I level and a pair of national titles on the NJCAA
15 level while coaching at Blinn College; and
16 WHEREAS, in Henry's first season at LSU, the Lady Tigers won the NCAA outdoor
17 title, then claimed the next nine to give the school a streak of eleven national outdoor titles
18 in a row; an NCAA Division I record for women's athletics that still stands, while adding ten
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SLS 21RS-935 ORIGINAL
1 more indoors, including five in a row from 1993-1997; and
2 WHEREAS, in June of 2000, Henry became only the second coach in NCAA history
3 to reach the twenty NCAA title plateau, guiding his Lady Tigers to an improbable run for
4 the national championship; their twelfth in a stretch of fourteen years; and
5 WHEREAS, under Henry, LSU was the first school to sweep the men's and women's
6 national indoor titles in 2004; and
7 WHEREAS, during his tenure as coach at LSU, Henry led the combined LSU men's
8 and women's track and field program to nineteen Southeastern Conference titles and
9 twenty-seven NCAA indoor and outdoor crowns with an incredible total of thirty-five top
10 three team finishes; and
11 WHEREAS, one of Henry's highlights during his coaching career at LSU came in
12 1989 when LSU claimed seven of a possible eight men's and women's titles in the
13 Southeastern Conference and NCAA indoor and outdoor meets; and
14 WHEREAS, understandably, for his many accomplishments as a coach, Henry has
15 been laden with numerous accolades from his peers; awards that include multiple national
16 and conference coach of the year honors; and
17 WHEREAS, recognized as one of the nation's top sprints and relays coaches, Henry
18 had thirty-seven Olympians who won three gold medals and thirty-eight World
19 Championships; competitors who brought home six gold medals during his tenure at LSU;
20 and
21 WHEREAS, Henry was also head coach of the U.S. men's team that won ten gold
22 medals and nineteen total medals at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan; and
23 WHEREAS, despite the personal accolades, Henry often credits his staff and the
24 consistency of those in place around him, to the overall success of his programs, and
25 believes in the philosophy that each of his assistant coaches essentially serves as the head
26 coach in their respective areas of expertise; and
27 WHEREAS, Henry is the active leader and third among NCAA coaches all-time in
28 any sport for national titles and in 2017, was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
29 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that sincere congratulations are hereby expressed
30 to former Louisiana State University head track and field coach Pat Henry upon his
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SLS 21RS-935 ORIGINAL
1 induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, and for his distinguished seventeen-year
2 career during which he established an exemplary track and field program at Louisiana State
3 University.
4 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
5 Pat Henry.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Michael Bell.
DIGEST
SR 61 Original 2021 Regular Session Bernard
Commends former LSU head track and field coach Pat Henry upon his induction into the
Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and for his distinguished 17-year career during which he
established an exemplary track and field program at LSU.
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