Arkansas High School’s track teams received the coveted Lewis McCollum Outstanding High School Program Award for 2018. The award was presented to Arkansas High School during the annual Arkansas Track & Field Hall of Fame banquet at the Wyndham Hotel in North Little Rock. Coach Denny Burdine accepted the award on behalf of the boys and girls track teams. “This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our great athletes,” Burdine stated.
Denny M. Burdine has 30 years of football coaching experience at the high school level. Before retiring, he spent the last 17 years of his coaching career at Arkansas High School in Texarkana, Arkansas, where he served as head track coach, defensive coordinator, head football coach, athletic director, and history teacher.
The boys’ track team has won six straight conference championships (2012-2017) and five straight state championships (2013-2017). Burdine has won seven state track championships at AHS 1994, 1996, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. His love for defensive football helped to establish him as one of the best defensive coaches in the state of Arkansas, with his defensive teams being ranked as one of the best in the state year in and year out. Some of his players have gone on to play at the Division I level, as well as in the NFL. During his career, he coached three NFL football players: Rod Smith of the Denver Broncos, Eric Warfield of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Mike Cherry of the New York Giants.
Burdine is a graduate of Southern Arkansas University. A strong believer in teaching character, leadership, and work ethics to players and students, he is listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.
Angela Moody has 28 years of coaching experience at the high school level and all 28 years have been spent in the Texarkana Arkansas School District. Most of her coaching career has been as the head volleyball coach. She became the head girls track coach during the 2008-09 season and just completed her tenth season. The Lady Backs have won six state championships, two state runner-ups, and seven conference championships.
“It has been an honor and a privilege coaching at AHS,” Moody commented. “I have been blessed by the many athletes that I have coached; not only getting to know them as athletes but watching them develop into strong, capable young woman.”
Moody has received the AAA Girls Track Coaches award and the National Track Coaches Award for the state of Arkansas.
