Victory No. 2,000 a tight squeeze for longtime Arkansas high school basketball coach

Guy-Perkins Coach John Hutchcraft (left) earned his 2,000th career coaching victory Tuesday against Sacred Heart in Morrilton. Hutchcraft has won 10 state championships for the Thunderbirds.
Guy-Perkins Coach John Hutchcraft (left) earned his 2,000th career coaching victory Tuesday against Sacred Heart in Morrilton. Hutchcraft has won 10 state championships for the Thunderbirds.

MORRILTON -- It was fitting that John Hutchcraft achieved a major milestone in a packed geriatric gymnasium.

The longtime Guy-Perkins coach has spent much of his career teaching teens the finer points of basketball and coaching games in older arenas that seat no more than a few hundred fans.

Hutchcraft coached teams to dozens of victories in places such as Leslie, Alread, Scotland and Witt Springs -- all of which have vanished from the high school basketball scene in the past 20 years. But a few venues remain that have stood the test of time.

The Thunderbirds coach earned victory No. 2,000 Tuesday night in a tiny but well-maintained gymnasium at Sacred Heart High School.

"I didn't think about it, but it is kind of fitting that I won [No. 2,000] in a small gym," Hutchcraft said after the T-Birds' 88-75 victory. "This gym has been here ever since I can remember. This is the only gym I've ever played Sacred Heart in."

Hutchcraft, 64, coached one year at Hazen and one year at Grubbs before arriving at Guy-Perkins in 1978. Ten state championships later -- five boys titles and five girls titles -- the legendary Arkansas high school coach is in his final days on the sideline.

Hutchcraft's boys are 23-5; his girls are 8-15. Hutchcraft's career record now stands at 2,000-604.

Although some school officials claim the coach was his normal self prior to winning No. 2,000, Hutchcraft said obtaining the landmark victory had left him feeling a little anxious.

"I am a little bit frustrated right now because my team didn't play real well tonight, but I'll get over that," Hutchcraft said. "I've had a great career, and I don't have that many more games [left], maybe 10 or 15, so yes, it means a lot."

No. 2,000 also meant a lot to his current players, who were well aware that they too would be a part of a historical occasion.

"My mom played for him and some of my other family members played for him," said senior guard Trey Minton, whose mother was Jessie McVay, a 1993 graduate of Guy-Perkins who went on to play at what is now Missouri State. "Now I'm playing for him, and that means a lot to Coach. He's been here a long time and getting to coach the kids of some of his former players is special for him."

Hutchcraft could have earned the historical victory 90 minutes earlier. The Lady T-Birds held a four-point lead over Sacred Heart with two minutes remaining in regulation but wound up suffering an 88-85 overtime loss, despite a 43-point effort from senior Gracey Acre.

"We had several chances to win that game," said Hutchcraft, whose team trailed by as many as nine points in the third quarter before staging a fourth-quarter rally. "We committed a few fouls when we shouldn't have. The girls played hard, and the girls knew it too that they were playing for the 2,000-mark. They wanted to win for me."

While the girls came up short, Hutchcraft's boys grabbed an early 15-point lead and maintained at least a 10-point advantage for the majority of the contest.

"Sacred Heart always plays us hard," said Minton, who led the Thunderbirds with 30 points. "I have to give it to them. They attacked us from the very start."

After the game, Sacred Heart's public address announcer informed the crowd of Hutchcraft's monumental victory.

"I want to say thanks to Sacred Heart for mentioning that," Hutchcraft said. "That might have been one reason why their boys played so hard. ... They all congratulated me, but nobody wants someone to make a record against you, so they played hard. My hat's off to them."

Sports on 01/18/2018

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