Veteran Oliver Ames High School girls' basketball coach Laney Clement-Holbrook is already a record-setter, having already broken the state record for victories. But the 44th-year coach of the Tigers passed another milestone Friday night, defeating Mansfield 72-49 for her 700th career triumph.
Just think about that. That's an average of 16 wins every
year for 44 years, and there's still plenty of this year left. With a young but
talented lineup, Clement-Holbrook's Tigers could be a serious challenger for
the Division 1-South title when the MIAA Tournament begins in a couple of
weeks.OA kept the advance toward 700 quiet until the past week, and a good crowd was on hand at the Willie Nixon Gym (OK, that's what we called the former OA boys' coach) to celebrate the moment.
“Some of these kids played for me in the '80s,” Clement-Holbrook told Josh Perry of HockomockSports.com, referring to the large number of OA alumnae that attended to honor their former coach. “I’m just so grateful to have the chance to be here for so long.
"It was the first place and it will be the last place I coach," she said. It’s a special moment.”
I've extended an invitation to Clement-Holbrook to be a guest on "The Owner's Box" as soon as her schedule gets a little less hectic, and I expect that will be a special moment for me as well. After all, if not for a phone call she made to me back in 1977 to complain about a poorly-written story in my paper about a tournament game against Seekonk, I might have remained a blockhead and continued to discriminate against female athletes (as so many newspapers of the time were doing). Instead, Clement-Holbrook helped to open my eyes to the struggles of female athletes to gain acceptance, and I'd like to believe that The Sun Chronicle quickly became an industry leader in equalizing the coverage of high school sports for boys and girls.
Heartiest congratulations, Laney!
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