Hebert-Truax named to Alaska Sports Hall of Fame

WASILLA — In mathematics, the numbers don’t lie. Just ask Wasilla High math teacher and longtime girls basketball coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax.

In 19 years behind the whistle at WHS, Hebert-Truax has won 74 percent of her games, 375-132, including a 301-50 clip (.860) since the 2001-02 season. As a player, she was a three-time Alaska prep player of the year at North Pole and Monroe, and at the University of Miami, she finished her career ranked second in program history in assists (694), third in scoring (1,766 points) and fourth in steals (237). She also helped the Hurricanes earn their first berth into the NCAA Tournament in 1989.

Turns out, the cumulative total of all those numbers equals induction into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.

Hebert-Truax joins former Alaska prep, NCAA Division I and National Basketball Association star Mario Chalmers as 2014 inductees, the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame announced Monday.

“It’s pretty sweet,” Hebert-Truax said Monday afternoon after the announcement. “It’s a pretty amazing accomplishment and a pretty awesome honor. … I don’t know if it’s actually sunk in yet. It’s nice to see people have looked at my contributions and what I’ve done for the state of Alaska not only as a player, but as a coach. It’s awesome. I’m still letting it sink in.”

She’s also a member of the ASAA Hall of Fame, the University of Miami Hall of Fame and has been named one of the all-time ACC Legends for her basketball career in Alaska and The U.

That she had success as a player has helped her as a coach, Hebert-Truax said.

“I think it’s benefited me in my coaching with what I accomplished playing,” she said. “I think the kids and parents have a lot more respect for that. It’s pretty valuable that they can look back and say she’s doing this, but she knows what it takes to accomplish things at the next level.”

Although her win-loss ratio as a coach at WHS is impressive — and includes four state titles, including three straight from 2010-2012 — that wasn’t always the case, Hebert-Truax said.

“Those first years were pretty hard,” she recalled. “It was a little difficult at first, because I spent those first four or five years coaching and didn’t win a region game. It took me four or five years to get to that success.”

She said the program turned the corner when players “made the transition from participation to being competitive. Once that broke, I think it really turned it around.”

Also earning hall of fame recognition in the 2014 class is the Yukon Quest in the event category and the University of Alaska Anchorage’s 1988 upset of No. 2-ranked Michigan in the moment category.

The honors will be awarded in March 2014 during a ceremony at the Anchorage Museum.

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269 or greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.