Recently retired Watson Chapel girls basketball coach Leslie Henderson will be inducted into the Arkansas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame next July.
Henderson spent her entire coaching career at Watson Chapel, first serving as a junior high head coach and high school assistant coach starting in the 1989-90 season and moving up to high school head coach for the 1992-93 season. Her high school basketball and track-and-field teams each won five state championships. Henderson estimated she’s won 593 high school basketball games in her career.
“It’s one of the highest honors to me coaching, just an individual honor,” Henderson said Tuesday. “It’s voted on by the other coaches. That’s what makes it so special. My players are the reason I’m there, so it embodies every part, your colleagues, the school you were at, the players that got you there. It’s a special award.”
Watson Chapel tied for the Conference 4A-8 championship last season under Henderson and came within a win of making the state tournament.
Henderson now lives in Paducah, Ky., with her husband Joe. The gymnasium at Watson Chapel is named after Henderson, who was known in her early coaching days as Leslie Byrd.
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She returned to the gym last month when Watson Chapel hosted White Hall. Watson Chapel won, 54-42.
“It’s a very solid team,” Henderson said of the Lady Wildcats, now led by Lenell Brown. “I think they could be right there at the end if things fall right. Coach Brown has done an outstanding job with them.”
Other hall of fame inductees include:
Jamie Bridges, Lake Hamilton: Bridges’ teams won multiple conference championships in basketball, football and tennis. His boys basketball team finished state runner-up twice, and his girls tennis teams won three straight state championships and earned runner-up finishes as well.
Stan Flenor, Alma: Flenor coached boys basketball in Alma from 1985-2021, earning a 457-348 record. Flenor’s Airedales made the state playoffs 16 times, won six conference championships, made the semifinals five times and championship game three times, winning it all in 2005 and 2011.
Rick Jones, Greenwood: Jones’ football teams went 185-26 in his 16 seasons at the helm, winning eight state championships, reaching the championship game 11 times and winning conference 12 times.
Clay Reeves, three schools: Reeves won 11 girls basketball state championships as a coach – eight at Greenwood and three at Greenland. His career record in a 36-year career was 815-274.
Sherry White, five schools: A former All-American basketball player, White coached five teams to state championships, winning four straight at Harrison from 2000-04. She is a three-time All-Star head coach.
The induction ceremony is scheduled for July 11 at the Hot Springs Convention Center.