2021 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 61
BY SENATORS BERNARD, ABRAHAM, ALLAIN, CLOUD, CORTEZ, FIELDS, FOIL,
HENRY, HEWITT, LAMBERT, LUNEAU, MILLIGAN, FRED MILLS,
MIZELL, PEACOCK, POPE, REESE, TALBOT, WHITE AND
WOMACK
A RESOLUTION
To commend and congratulate former Louisiana State University head track and field coach
Pat Henry upon his induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and for his
distinguished seventeen-year career during which he established an exemplary track
and field program at Louisiana State University.
WHEREAS, Pat Henry was born on July 21, 1951, in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
is married to Gail Duggin Henry, and together they have one daughter, Shelly, and one son,
Brandon; and
WHEREAS, during his career as a track and field coach, Pat Henry served as the
head coach at Hobbs High School in New Mexico from 1974-1983, as the head coach of
Blinn College from 1984-1987, as the head coach of Louisiana State University from
1988-2004, and as the current head coach at Texas A&M University since 2005; and
WHEREAS, the former Louisiana State University coach currently has thirty-six
national team titles on the NCAA Division I level and a pair of national titles on the NJCAA
level while coaching at Blinn College; and
WHEREAS, in Henry's first season at LSU, the Lady Tigers won the NCAA outdoor
title, then claimed the next nine to give the school a streak of eleven national outdoor titles
in a row; an NCAA Division I record for women's athletics that still stands, while adding ten
more indoors, including five in a row from 1993-1997; and
WHEREAS, in June of 2000, Henry became only the second coach in NCAA history
to reach the twenty NCAA title plateau, guiding his Lady Tigers to an improbable run for
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the national championship; their twelfth in a stretch of fourteen years; and
WHEREAS, under Henry, LSU was the first school to sweep the men's and women's
national indoor titles in 2004; and
WHEREAS, during his tenure as coach at LSU, Henry led the combined LSU men's
and women's track and field program to nineteen Southeastern Conference titles and
twenty-seven NCAA indoor and outdoor crowns with an incredible total of thirty-five top
three team finishes; and
WHEREAS, one of Henry's highlights during his coaching career at LSU came in
1989 when LSU claimed seven of a possible eight men's and women's titles in the
Southeastern Conference and NCAA indoor and outdoor meets; and
WHEREAS, understandably, for his many accomplishments as a coach, Henry has
been laden with numerous accolades from his peers; awards that include multiple national
and conference coach of the year honors; and
WHEREAS, recognized as one of the nation's top sprints and relays coaches, Henry
had thirty-seven Olympians who won three gold medals and thirty-eight World
Championships; competitors who brought home six gold medals during his tenure at LSU;
and
WHEREAS, Henry was also head coach of the U.S. men's team that won ten gold
medals and nineteen total medals at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan; and
WHEREAS, despite the personal accolades, Henry often credits his staff and the
consistency of those in place around him, to the overall success of his programs, and
believes in the philosophy that each of his assistant coaches essentially serves as the head
coach in their respective areas of expertise; and
WHEREAS, Henry is the active leader and third among NCAA coaches all-time in
any sport for national titles, and in 2017, was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby commend former Louisiana State University head track and field coach Pat
Henry upon his induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, and for his distinguished
seventeen-year career during which he established an exemplary track and field program at
Louisiana State University.
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Pat Henry.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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