Looking back on a life well lived

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NEW BRAUNFELS – Randy Holloway believes he had a great coaching career.

Any basketball coach who won more than 500 games can probably say that. Holloway, a Waelder graduate who now lives in Canyon Lake, recently looked back on his days as a player and a coach.

“Coaching was my favorite career,” Holloway said. “I coached at a good time. I also never left a program as a loser.”

Holloway coached off-and-on for more than 30 years before retiring from the profession after the 1993-94 season. His coaching tenure includes eight stops, with his last six being head coaching gigs.

Holloway’s love for the game of basketball began as a youth growing up in Waelder, where basketball is king and there is no football program. Holloway graduated from Waelder in 1954 before signing with Texas Lutheran College, now Texas Lutheran University.

After playing at TLC for three years, Holloway transferred to Sam Houston State, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in education. In the fall of 1960, Holloway took a job at Aldine Junior High.

Aldine proved to be the start of Holloway’s career. After a two-year stint with Aldine ISD, Holloway became an assistant coach for Don Coleman at Spring Branch Memorial in the fall of 1962.

In their third year at Memorial, Coleman and Holloway guided Memorial to the 1964-65 state championship. The duo also led the Mustangs to a state runner-up finish the following season.

In the fall of 1967, Holloway took his first head coach job at Westchester, a first-year school at the time in Spring Branch ISD. It was at Westchester where Holloway began his climb toward building successful programs.

“I started my program at Westchester out of a bunch of PE kids,” he said. “It was tough the first year.”

But eventually, Westchester got rolling. In the Wildcats’ fourth season of existence (1970-71), they won their district and qualified for the playoffs.

While coaching at Westchester, Holloway had the privilege of coaching against Cy-Fair coach Ronnie Truitt. Truitt was portrayed in the iconic basketball movie “Hoosiers.”

“Ronnie was a great coach and a great guy,” Holloway said.

Truitt was a player on the 1953-54 Milan, Ind., team that won a state championship despite being one of the smallest schools in the state. That team was portrayed in “Hoosiers,” and Truitt went on to play for Guy Lewis at the University of Houston before becoming a coach.

In addition to meeting the likes of Truitt, Holloway also had the opportunity to meet many legends of the game, especially in the college ranks. He met Lewis, among other former coaches.

The list of former college basketball coaches Holloway met include John Wooden (UCLA), Hank Iba (Oklahoma State), Bob Knight (Army/Indiana/Texas Tech), Denny Crum (Louisville) and Billy Tubbs (Lamar/Oklahoma). Holloway has fond memories of Wooden, in particular.

“Coach Wooden was a true gentleman,” he said. “He would talk to you as long as you talked to him about basketball and you asked him relevant questions. There will never be another coach like him.”

Holloway was so influenced by Wooden that he ran a lot of the Hall of Fame coach’s offensive sets.

But Knight was Holloway’s biggest influence when it came to defense.

Following a seven-year stint at Westchester, Holloway was persuaded into taking the head coach job at Grapevine in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for the 1974-75 season. The Grapevine gig, however, proved to be an ordeal where Holloway was promised steak, but was given a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead.

“I was promised a raise and a car after the first season,” he said. “But I was told that, because of other factors, that I might get a raise the next year.”

There was no “next year” for Holloway at Grapevine. He accepted the head coach position at Clear Creek in the Houston area for the next three seasons (1975-78).

After his stint at Clear Creek, Holloway parted for Spring Branch Northbrook (1978-80). He went to Cy-Fair for a year (1980-81) before getting out of coaching for a few years to go into the oil lease business.

Holloway’s five-year stint in the oil business (1981-86) took him all over the U.S., including Oklahoma. While in Oklahoma, he ran into an old friend on one occasion in 1982.

“I was walking into a hotel in Tulsa, and Billy Tubbs and one of his assistant coaches were walking out,” Holloway said. “He asked me, ‘Randy, what the hell are you doing in Oklahoma?’ I told him I was in the oil lease business. I asked him what he was doing in Oklahoma, and he told me he was the head coach at the University of Oklahoma.”

Holloway couldn’t stay away from basketball, however. He returned to coaching in the fall of 1986 when he became the head coach at Katy.

The season before Holloway took over (1985-86), Katy won just one game. In his first season (1986-87), Holloway guided the Tigers to 26 wins.

He retired after the 1993-94 season to conclude an eight-year stint at Katy. While Holloway retired, he sometimes wishes he still coached.

“I should’ve coached a little longer, but I was eligible for retirement,” Holloway said. “If I could do one thing over again, I would’ve stayed at Westchester longer. I could’ve been more successful if I stayed in one place, but when people call and offer more money, you have to look into it.”

Although Holloway’s been out of coaching for 18 years now, he still keeps up with the game. He’s a regular at Waelder games – and practices.

Holloway met Waelder coach Jarvin Hall following a playoff game during the 2006-07 season, Hall’s second year at Waelder. While Holloway doesn’t mind giving Hall advice, he is not interested in taking over.

“The worst thing you can do to a coach is undercut him,” Holloway said. “I’m available to give Jarvin advice, but I’m not trying to take over. Jarvin is a good coach and he’s great for his kids.”

Following his retirement from coaching in 1994, Holloway went back into the oil lease business for a few years with his wife, Suzanne. He traveled across the country and made more money in the business than he did in coaching.

But making more money doesn’t always mean one is happier.

“I enjoyed both careers, but coaching was certainly my favorite,” Holloway said.

It sounds like he had a great career.

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