Former Lexington High School girls basketball coach Randy Carpenter, right. (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
KEARNEY — Randy Carpenter, former Lexington High School girls basketball coach, will be honored with a Showcase Legacy Award during the halftime of the Omaha Marian versus York game during the Nebraska Girl’s Basketball Showcase on Saturday.
“A 37-year career coaching and impacting the lives of so many young women at Lexington High School. A legend who left a legacy,” the Nebraska Girl’s Basketball Showcase described Carpenter on social media.
The event will be hosted at Kearney High School on Saturday, Jan. 6. The Marian v. York game will begin at 5:10 p.m.
Carpenter was inducted into the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame on Oct. 2, 2016.
“After two years as an assistant boys’ basketball coach at Elm Creek, Randy Carpenter started the girls’ basketball program at Lexington in 1974, creating an after-school program that would feed his varsity. The early success of his teams helped steer Nebraska into the modern era of girls’ basketball,” per the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame Foundation.
“Throughout his career, the passionate and colorful Carpenter earned a reputation for producing teams that played solid player-to-player defense and were well-prepared. In a coaching tenure that lasted 37 years, he led the Minutemaids to state championships in 1978 and 1987, two runner-up trophies in 1977 and 1991, 13 district championships and 12 Southwest Conference titles. He retired in 2011 with a 492-276 record. His last team set a school record with 23 victories,” the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame Foundation stated.
Carpenter was recently presented the John Wooden Legacy Award in December.
Carpenter thanked those who had supported him over his many years of coaching, including his wife Peg, who kept the official book for 768 consecutive games.
Carpenter also noted all the young women who he had a chance to coach.
“I can’t say enough about them…the memories they created for me will last forever,” Carpenter said, “I just hope I had as much impact on them, as they have had on me.”
