NOTE: This is the first in a series recognizing Joey Pender (JHHS), Steve Treadway (JHHS), Cynthia Loyd (JHHS), Lowell Mize (JHHS), and Shelby Green (QHS), who were selected to be inducted in the Jackson Parish Sports Hall of Fame as the Class of 2026, along with Bill DeCou (Rundell Jr. High), who will receive the prestigious Meritorious Service Award. The induction banquet is scheduled for October 3rd in the Family Life Center at First Baptist Church in Jonesboro. This week: Joey Pender
This is how you do it!
That is what the young assistant coach at Jonesboro-Hodge conveyed to his wards during the fall practice in 1984. He had seen enough and knew the only way he would get his message across was to give an example.
Lining up to get ready for the next snap, the defensive squad suddenly took a step back. What the….?
Bewildered, they all looked at each other, wide-eyed and disbelieving of what they were seeing. What is this guy doing?
The coach was not doing what every coach they had ever seen had done. He wasn’t stepping up to the line to talk to them. No! He had pushed aside the defensive tackle and, without a single pad or helmet on, dropped down into a three-point stance and instructed the offense to snap the ball. You could almost hear the offensive lineman across from him saying, “You have got to be kidding me.”
When the ball was put into play, the majority of the defense just stood there watching in amazement. The young coach, ripped virtually from head to toe with muscles, burst off the line, executed a picture-perfect “swim move,” and drew down on the quarterback, pulling up just before he was fixing to plant him into the turf.
This is how you do it!
“Let’s go again!” he shouted to the team. Now, not only was the defense staring at what was happening, but everybody on the practice field was intently watching. Never before had any of them seen a coach physically demonstrate a technique like that in live action, especially with his body completely unprotected from the hits that he was subjecting himself to.
Again, the ball was snapped. Determined not to let the coach get through so easily this time, the offensive lineman went on the attack, only to find himself grasping air as the coach performed a “swim” move and once again burst into the offensive backfield.
This is how you do it!
“Let’s go again!”, shouted the coach, who was demonstrating the techniques he had learned over the past four years as a two time All-Conference and All-Louisiana defensive lineman at Louisiana Tech. Again, the ball was snapped. As the players on the defensive side were now “whoofing” it up at the offensive line for being handled so easily by this man, who didn’t even have any pads or a helmet on, the offensive line was determined to keep the young coach at bay this time. Not a chance! Displaying his uncommon strength, the coach “bullrushed” his way through the line.
Once again, the coach stepped to the forefront, but this time he slowly began to demonstrate to the defensive line the technique for performing the moves he had executed. They were rapt at attention. Not only the beefy boys up front, but the whole team. All eyes and ears were keenly attentive. Through his “hands-on” exhibition, the coach had quickly gained their respect and admiration. Obviously, this man knew what he was talking about.
This is how you do it!
The next day, the team went to the weight room. The coach watched as the players began “pumping iron.” He wasn’t impressed! It seemed that there was no enthusiasm among the players. They just seemed to be going through the motions and weren’t pushing themselves like he wanted to see.
Calling out, he gathered the team around the bench and told a couple of players to start loading the weights up. MORE! He implored until the bar was sagging at the ends. Like on the practice field, the team members gaped wide-eyed. They had never seen anyone even attempt to press that much weight, much less a coach. He must be crazy, they were commenting to each other, and some were wondering if he was going to hurt himself.
The coach positioned himself on the bench, grabbed the bar, and, to his team’s disbelief, started “repping” the tremendous amount of weight with seemingly ease. Amazed by what they were seeing, the guys got excited and started cheering the coach on, who, after several impressive presses, put the bar back on the rack and stood up.
“To be the best, you have to work harder than everyone else,” he shouted to the players. After watching the demonstration, the message was eagerly received, loud and clear, and they started hitting the weights once again, only this time with a newfound enthusiasm.
This is how you do it!
The young assistant knew that the best way to teach his team was to set an example of what they could do with the right frame of mind. He knew that his team had several really talented players, and all they needed was a little extra motivation, as they had the potential to do great things.
Not only was the first-year coach a defensive assistant for the varsity team, but he was also the head coach of the Freshman team. Under his tutelage, the young group went undefeated that year, and once they got their opportunity as juniors and seniors, they started one of the best five-year periods in the history of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA), reaching the Class 2A semifinals in 1986 and then winning the Class 2A state title in 1987, the first championship at JHHS in 42 years.
The Tigers would win state the next two years as well (1988-89) and finish as the Class 2A runner-up in 1990. The last state title and the state runner-up came with the man who was their freshman coach, now at the helm of the varsity
In 1994, the coach left Jonesboro-Hodge with more total wins than any who had come before to take over as head coach at West Ouachita High School, where he turned a fledgling, unproductive Class 4A program into a playoff contender. His “classification climb” continued in 1996, when he became head coach at Class 5A Ruston High School for two years, leading to an eight-year run at Winnfield High School, where he also became the school’s all-time winningest coach. After basically circling Jackson Parish, where he had continued to live, the coach “closed the loop” by returning to Jonesboro-Hodge for four years, then moving back to West Ouachita for six more, before retiring in 2017 after a 33-year career, including 27 as a head coach, winning 165 games in total, 8 district titles, one state championship, and one state runner-up finish.
This is how you do it!
As a head coach, he also groomed many who followed his lead to have tremendously successful careers as head football coaches in their own right, including three former players who were part of the “glory days” at JHHS: Shannon Brown (Cedar Creek / JHHS), Jay Watson (Winnfield), and current JHHS head football coach Terrance Blankenship. Also in the “coaching tree” is Jerrod Baugh, head coach of Ruston High School, now one of the state’s best football programs, and Benji Lewis, who in 2025 led Ouachita High School to the Division I state championship.
The day after the legendary coach retired, he got a call from the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA). Having earned the respect of the state’s athletic governing body for his accomplishments as a coach and for doing it the “right way,” the now “former” coach was asked to serve as Compliance Officer and Investigator, a position he still holds today.
So how do you honor a person who, for over four decades, has perfectly demonstrated the right way to not only build a winner on the football field, educate young men on how to become productive adults, show future coaches how to lead a team and also instruct former peers and colleagues on how to correctly run an athletic program as well as how to be a great husband and father?
The selection committee of the Sports Hall of Fame did it in a perfect way. By a unanimous decision, they chose to immortalize him by giving him his rightful and deserved place alongside the greatest sports figures in Jackson Parish’s history.
This is how you do it!
