Hall of Fame Basketball Coach. One of three women inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985, the first year any women were enshrined, Bertha Frank Teague set the standard for high school girls' basketball at Byng High School near Ada, Oklahoma. Hired as a first grade teacher when her husband, Jess, accepted a job there, she was also asked to coach the high school girls in basketball. Having never played herself, and with only one year prior experience as a coach at Cairo (Oklahoma) High School, she proceeded to re-write the book on the game. During her amazing career at Byng, she posted a record of 1,157 wins versus 115 losses, including a 98 game winning streak. Her teams won the Oklahoma State Championship eight times. They also posted thirty-six 20 plus win seasons, including twenty-eight in a row from 1930 to 1957. In addition to membership in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, she was also honored in 1972 by induction into the Oklahoma Girls Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame as an inaugural inductee; the National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame in 1983; the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association Hall of Fame in 1987; the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1988; and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. In 1999 she was posthumously named a member of the inaugural class of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee. She was named Coach of the Decade for the 1930s, 1940s, and 1960s by the Jim Thorpe Athletic Awards Committee in 1974.
Hall of Fame Basketball Coach. One of three women inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985, the first year any women were enshrined, Bertha Frank Teague set the standard for high school girls' basketball at Byng High School near Ada, Oklahoma. Hired as a first grade teacher when her husband, Jess, accepted a job there, she was also asked to coach the high school girls in basketball. Having never played herself, and with only one year prior experience as a coach at Cairo (Oklahoma) High School, she proceeded to re-write the book on the game. During her amazing career at Byng, she posted a record of 1,157 wins versus 115 losses, including a 98 game winning streak. Her teams won the Oklahoma State Championship eight times. They also posted thirty-six 20 plus win seasons, including twenty-eight in a row from 1930 to 1957. In addition to membership in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, she was also honored in 1972 by induction into the Oklahoma Girls Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame as an inaugural inductee; the National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame in 1983; the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association Hall of Fame in 1987; the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1988; and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. In 1999 she was posthumously named a member of the inaugural class of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee. She was named Coach of the Decade for the 1930s, 1940s, and 1960s by the Jim Thorpe Athletic Awards Committee in 1974.
Bio by: Rick Bryant
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