Volleyball: Valdez, Hunt speak in Odessa on way to TGCA Hall of Fame

Flo Valdez and Melynn Hunt provided a hall-of-fame touch to the Basin's Best Volleyball Clinic.

In fact, it was quite fitting the long-time friends spoke in succession Saturday morning at the Odessa High School Fieldhouse.

Next month in Austin, Valdez and Hunt will be inducted together into the Texas Girls Coaches Association Hall of Fame for their pioneering roles in women's athletics.

Their careers both date back to the early days of Title IX when girls and women's athletics truly got off the ground, though they still are going strong in their current jobs - Hunt as the Lubbock ISD's interim athletic director and Valdez as El Paso Franklin's head volleyball coach.

"I think we probably had the same reaction," Hunt said. "I am so humbled by it because I know there are tons of people far more deserving than I am. I've had some other honors, but this is probably the biggest one I've ever had.

"I think part of it is you just don't view yourself like that. It's an extremely emotional experience."

Hunt was a head girls basketball coach from 1976 through 2001 at Lubbock Cooper, Plainview, Hale Center, Jacksboro, Lubbock Monterey and Haskell before leaving the sidelines to join the Lubbock ISD athletics office in 2001.

The move into administration has tempted Valdez before, though she never has been able emotionally to make that plunge.

What Valdez has done, however, is transition what started out as mostly a basketball coaching career into a volleyball career that has netted more than 700 victories at both Roswell High (N.M.) and El Paso Franklin.

"I never played the game and I only took the volleyball job (at Roswell) because I had to coach another sport in order to get the basketball job," Valdez said. "I agreed because I wanted the basketball job and then I got hooked."

A native of Roswell, Valdez started attending TGCA clinics and events to help improve sports throughout her home state of New Mexico.

During trips across the border, Valdez struck up friendships with Hunt - a former TGCA president - and other leaders in women's athletics across Texas.

Valdez offered her own insights as well since she was active with the National Federation High School Coaches Association and also served on many committees throughout the 1990s with USA Basketball.

"Flo's famous," Hunt said. "She was famous long before she came to Texas. Everybody knew her reputation was just stellar. She's very knowledgeable, just a wonderful teacher and a wonderful lady."

Valdez returned the praise to Hunt for helping inspire her to coach at the highest level possible.

Both women delivered strong messages to the Basin's Best attendees - Hunt focused on reminding the coaches to take care of every little detail, while Valdez and her Franklin coaching staff directed high-energy drills that wouldn't give anybody much of an idea that Valdez's coaching career began in 1967.

"The lineup here, it's pretty big-time," Valdez said of other speakers.  "There's no place I'd rather be. One thing I can tell you about coaches like myself and Melynn, they're passionate about their sport and I go to clinics all the time.

"If I can just find one little thing or two just to teach a little bit differently so I can get it across to my kids, that's what I want to do. I love this game - I can't believe I'm so hooked."

It's probably the same feeling Valdez and Hunt have given to many athletes for many years.