CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Coastal Bend Coaches Association honored Refugio's Jason Herring, George West's Cathy Taylor and Premont's Daniel Guerra into the Hall of Honor on Thursday. The CBCA's first induction class was in 1987.
Jason Herring took over the Refugio Bobcats football program in 2007. He ended his 17 season career at Refugio with 224 wins and 23 losses, 17 consecutive district championships and 3 UIL 2A State Championships (2011, 2016 and 2019). He also won a State Championship at Sonora in 2000. Between his time at Refugio, Sonora and Wall, Herring became the all-time fastest coach in the history of Texas High School Football history to reach 293 wins in 26 years.
"I'm thrilled, but it's hard for me. I've just never wanted it to be about me," Herring said. "I wanted it to be about the kids, the assistants, the superintendent, the principals, school board and community. It takes so much. It's way, way, way more than Jason Herring. To be named to the Hall of Honor and be recognized by your peers I don't think there is a greater honor."
Herring stepped down from coaching, but still serves as the Refugio ISD Athletic Director. He hopes by sharing his battle with depression and mental health that other coaches who struggle with pressure and more can get the help they need and know they are not alone. The student athletes helped Herring and that's why he loved coaching.
"My mental health just got to where I was real, real sick. Like I've never been sick like that before with major depression. The medicine wouldn't touch it," Herring said. "The good news from the moment that I stepped down and the stress level went from 1,000 to about 5 I'm so much better. There could be 1,000 people in Refugio that were happy, and if there were 1 or 2 that went, those were the 1 or 2 that I would be worried about. I couldn't let it go. With the adding of social media instead of hearing it second hand it was out there for everyone to see."
Cathy Taylor dedicated 37 years to George West. Hired back in 1982, Taylor was a junior high coach for multiple sports and later coached freshman and JV volleyball. In 1996, Taylor was named the Varsity volleyball head coach. She won 617 games, led the Lady Horns to 24 years of playoffs, was the District Coach of the Year 15 seasons, an 11-time Regional Qualifier and a State Qualifier in 2002. Taylor achieved a rare feat by becoming the Girls Athletic Coordinator in 1998 and Girls Athletic Director in 2006. She left George West in 2019 and has since served as an assistant coach at Texas Lutheran University where the team won a SCAC Championship in 2002.
"The people of George West were my family, and we were successful," Taylor said. "It was fun. I think there are people that move around in their career and look for greener pastures, but I think I was in the greenest of them."
Daniel Guerra, a Hebbronville native born in 1945, learned to work hard at a very young age. He led Premont boys cross country to five consecutive UIL 2A team State Championshipsfrom 1998-2002). At a young age helped his family by working in the fields, then serving in the U.S. Army and later attending Del Mar College and Texas A&I University. He took his first job at Colston Elementary in Kingsville in 1970. Then began coaching at Gillette Middle School in 1974. He and his wife moved to Premont in 1977. Guerra has a passion for helping out sports that seemed to get the "short end of the stick". Premont showed their appreciation by named their track "Daniel Guerra Track" in 2020.
"It's amazing and good. The good thing about it is that my kids were going to get recognition," Guerra said. "Without them I would not be here. They are all successful. I treated them like my own sons because the parents gave me that opportunity to take them somewhere and make sure they come back safe."
CBCA Hall of Honor Members
1987: Allen McCord (Football), Ray Akins (Football), Bill Rhyne (Football)
1988: Harry “Pop” Mohrmann, Murray Stephenson, Bill Stages
1989: Sam Harper (Football, Administration) Dale Johansson (Football), Pete Ragus (Football)
1990: Donald Jay John Thomas Gene Rogers
1991: Teddy Gray (Football), Bill Batey (Basketball), Emil Tagliabue (Sportswriter)
1992: Chester “Chatter” Allen (Football, Administration), Emory Bellard (Football), Modesto Garcia (Football)
1993: Joey Allen (Football, Administration), Pete Murray (Football), Don Long (Football)
1994: Bobby Flanagan, Al Cobb, John Kline
1995: Smiley Davis, R.L. Oden, Louise Carberry
1996: Vernon Glass, William “Buster” Gilbreath, Shirley Rowe (Volleyball, Track, Basketball)
1997: Margarito “Buffalo” Guerrero, Bill Hamrick, Charlie Williams, Louis Anderson (Sports Writer)
1998: Wayne DuBose, E.C. Lerma, Alfred Marshall, Don Schmidt
1999: Bobby Kelly (Football), Tom Robison (Baseball), Dave Segler (Football, Basketball, Track), Roy J. Stegall (Basketball)
2000: J.D. Centilli, Wayne Wilsher, Hugo Knoblauch, Eliseo Ramos (Baseball)
2001: Milton Jirasek, Carlo Mircovich, Floyd “Punk” Rogers (Football, Golf, Track), Fred Woodard (Official)
2002: Bob Boyd (Football), Ben Bloomer, L.G. Henderson (Football), Tom Pruett
2003: Martin Perez (Baseball), J.W. Cradoct (Football), Olivero Garza (Football), Mark Roberson (Baseball), Charles Wiginton (Basketball)
2004: Gordon Foerster (Football), Juventino “J.B.” Gonzales (Tennis, Basketball), Chuck Haynes (Football, Administration), Geoffrey “Zay” Lefevre (Football), Calvin Tucker
2005: Fran Boenig (Basketball, Track), Bruce Bush (Football), Vance Heard (Basketball), Willie Trevino (Football)
2006: David Dunlap (Basketball), Woodrow Petty (Football, Track), Peggy Rhyne (Administration), Gary Turberville (Football)
2007: Marvin Filla (Athletic Director), Steve Gonzales (Basketball), Van Tom Whatley (Football)
2008: Armando Gonzales (Football), Tommy Moses (Football), Jim Gupton (Football)
2009: Tim Freeman (Football, Track), Frank Kelly (Football, Track), George Dumont (Football, Basketball, Baseball)
2010: Gary Davenport (Football), Cliff Davis (Football, Basketball, Baseball), Terra Uptergrove (Basketball, Cross Country, Track and Field)
2011: Carlos Benavides (Coach, Official), Raymond Gomez (Basketball, Football), Arlen Zamzow (Track and Field, Football)
2012: George Harris (Football, Track and Field), Gerald Hellums (Golf, Officiating), Don Schneider (Basketball, Track and Field)
2013: Leta Andrews (Basketball), Phil Danaher (Football), Brent Davis (Football), Joe Sendejar (Football)
2014: Nancy Busby (Athletics), Robert Carr (Football), Jim Cramer (Football supporter), Aaron Houston (Athletics)
2015: Jim Cliburn, David McKinney, Leonard Tipton, Casper Wenzel Jr.
2016: Arturo Arguijo, Steve Castro Jim Elam, Roy Williams
2017: Keno Aleman, Gene Kasprzyk, John Miller, Butch Porter
2018: Fran Adami (Volleyball), Tom Allen (Football), Jim Clark
2019: Steve Campbell (Football), Brenda Marshall (Athletic Director), Scott Powers
2020: Frank Bacy, Aaron Bonds, Steve Chapman (Baseball), Chris Soza (Football)
2022: Willie "Sam" Odoms, Jane Kieschnick (Volleyball), David Salinas
2023: A.J. Martinez, Eddie Hesseltine (Football), Jose Carrillo, Hector Salinas Jr.
2024: Tim Holt (Football), Wayne "Lanny" Wilson (Football)
2025: Jason Herring (Football), Cathy Taylor (Volleyball), Daniel Guerra (Cross Country)
