FORT SMITH, Ark. – University of Arkansas – Fort Smith women’s basketball coach Louis Whorton jokes that the only reason he has kept up with his coaching record is because he had to turn it in every year to the NJCAA for record-keeping purposes.
During his 23 seasons as junior college basketball coach, Whorton compiled a 538-195 win-loss record and led his Lady Lions to two national championship games and one national championship.
Those are pretty impressive numbers. At least, the NJCAA thought so.
The NJCAA announced on Friday that Whorton will be the lone member of its 2010 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Class.
Whorton will be formerly inducted into the NJCAA Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame at the NJCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament Banquet on Monday, March 15, in Salina, Kan.
“It’s really a tremendous honor, and it’s one that has to be shared,” said Whorton, whose Lady Lions are provisional members of NCAA Division II this season. “It has to be shared with this wonderful university that I have been blessed to have been a part of for 24 years. And, it has to be shared with all of the great players that I have been fortunate to have coached. They are the ones who actually won all those games.”
Whorton is the third UA Fort Smith coach to be inducted into their respective NJCAA Halls of Fame, joining former Lions men’s basketball coach Gayle Kaundart and former Lions baseball coach Bill Crowder.
He will join several of his former junior college coaching colleagues in the Hall of Fame as well, like former Connors State coach Monte Madewell, former Central Arizona College coach Lin Laursen and former Trinity Valley Community College coach Kurt Budke.
“I am very appreciative and humbled by this honor,” Whorton said. “It’s an honor to be going into the Hall of Fame and joining the great coaches I had the privilege of coaching with throughout my 23 years as a junior college basketball coach.”
Whorton is a man of great passion. His first love is for his wife, Pat, and son, Jeremy. His second love involves a ball, a basket and a hardwood court.
It was nearly a quarter-century ago that Whorton gave up high school basketball to become the women’s basketball coach UA Fort Smith (formerly Westark College). In the years that followed, he would become one of the most successful coaches ever in NJCAA women’s basketball.
Whorton graduated from Hartford High School. After graduation he attended Westark College before earning a bachelor's degree from the University of the Ozarks and eventually a master's degree from Arkansas Tech University.
In 1976, he was a young coach looking to get his start. Hector High School is where he would get his chance. Whorton coached just one year at Hector before moving on to Hoxie High School in 1977, where he would coach for just two seasons. In 1979, he became the assistant coach at Blytheville High School and remained there for just one year.
He became the head basketball coach at Subiaco Academy in 1980 and coached four seasons there. From 1984-1986, he was the head coach at County Line High School.
Finally in 1986, Whorton found his home at UA Fort Smith as the third ever women's basketball coach.
In his 23 seasons as a NJCAA coach, Whorton averaged 23 wins per season. In the first 10 years of the programs existence, the Lady Lions had eight losing seasons. The program changed immediately when Whorton came on the scene, and under his leadership, they posted 21 winning seasons.
His triumphs with the Lady Lions include seven appearances in the NJCAA Championship Tournament (1994, 1995, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008). In 1994, they finished runner-up, took third in 2005 and 2008, fourth in 2004, and seventh in 1998 and 2006.
From 2004-2006 his team won three consecutive NJCAA Region II titles in one of most competitive regions in the NJCAA. In 1995, all of his hard work and dedication came to an apex when the Lady Lions won the national championship and finished the season with a perfect 35-0 record.
Whorton has been seen as a father figure, mentor and friend to his players on and off the court. He has seen 12 of his player's earn NJCAA All-American status and three players -- Kim Williams, Alisa Burras, and Gillian Goring -- have gone on to play in the WNBA.
“His win-loss record speaks for itself, but the most important statistic for coach Whorton is his graduation rate for his program. Not only does he graduate players, but he helps them become productive citizens. … And, he wins games,” UA Fort Smith athletic director Dustin Smith said.
“It shows his loyalty to this program and this institution that he has served for this long. The UA Fort Smith family is very proud of coach Whorton and his accomplishments, and he very deserving of this prestigious honor.”
His superior coaching earned him the honor of being named NJCAA Region II Coach of the Year seven times, and in 1995, he received the NJCAA Outstanding Coach Award. In 2006, he was selected to coach in the NJCAA Women’s Basketball All-Star Game.
Outside of his coaching career at UA Fort Smith, Whorton helps guide the next generation of basketball players by conducting basketball camps for local Boys and Girls Clubs as well as serving as a guest speaker at an array of different functions from coaching clinics to sports banquets.
“Coach Whorton is certainly a model of coaching, but more importantly, he is a model educator,” UA Fort Smith Chancellor Dr. Paul B. Beran said.
In his 24 seasons as head coach at UA Fort Smith, Whorton has done exactly what every coach sets out to do -- build a winning program. He is second on the all-time list for wins in Region II behind Madewell. Whorton is also sixth in the NJCAA record books for all-time wins among inactive NJCAA women's basketball coaches.
