Lee Hedges

Junior Lee Hedges (November 2, 1929 – July 9, 2023) was an American high school football coach. His 217 victories are the most wins in the history of Shreveport–Bossier City in northwestern Louisiana. In 2001, the Caddo Parish School Board renamed the football stadium at Captain Shreve High School in Hedges' honor. In 2010, he was elected to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in Natchitoches.

Overview His 1973 team at Captain Shreve was, as of the 2021 season, the last Shreveport-Bossier public school squad to win a state football championship. Hedges was head coach for three Shreveport public high school teams -- Byrd Yellow Jackets (1956–59), Woodlawn Knights (1960–65), and Captain Shreve Gators (1967–84). He guided teams from each school into state championship games.

In 28 seasons, Hedges' teams posted a 216–92–9 (.698) record and had 24 winning seasons, reaching the playoffs 19 times and winning 11 district championships. Five of his teams reached the state semifinals. Three teams which did not make the playoffs had either 9–2 or 8–2 records. The most prominent of the athletes Hedges coached was quarterback Terry Bradshaw, the four-time Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pro Football Hall of Fame selection. He was a first-year starter on Hedges' 1965 Woodlawn High School team that reached the state championship game.

Hedges' record might have been more impressive if not for two seasons in which he started programs at brand-new schools. His 1960 Woodlawn team went 0–9, not scoring for the first six games, but the 1961 team went 9–3 and won the District 1-AAA championship. His 1967 Captain Shreve team went 1–7; the 1968 team finished second in its district and made the state playoffs. Without those two first-year seasons, his teams averaged more than eight wins per year.

Hedges' primary reputation was as a football coach, teacher of the passing game and developer of star quarterbacks, running backs and receivers, but he also was respected as a classroom teacher of mathematics and tennis coach/instructor. His Captain Shreve tennis teams won 15 state championships. He worked with young tennis players at various country clubs and organizations in Shreveport, such as Pierremont Oaks, until he was into his eighties.

Athletic career Hedges was a three-sport star (football, basketball, baseball) at Fair Park, an All-State running back in 1947 who help Fair Park run its winning streak against crosstown rival Byrd to five consecutive times in the annual Thanksgiving Day game at Louisiana State Fair Stadium in Shreveport. he moved to Woodlawn, then the newly established school in the southwest part of Shreveport.

Following the rough first season, most of the team returned and the "Team Named Desire" won its first six games, most of them close and with fourth-quarter heroics. The team's 9–2 regular season, district title and state playoff berth earned Hedges several "Coach of the Year" honors.

Hedges, in turn, returned to Shreveport to become the head coach at Captain Shreve High School, which opened in fall 1967.

Recognition In 1963, Hedges was chosen "Outstanding Teacher" by the Caddo Parish Teachers Association.

Legacy A. L. Williams, part of Hedges' coaching staff at Woodlawn in the early 1960s and his successor there as head coach, describes Hedges as

...very well-organized. His practices were well-planned. We spent so many minutes on one thing, then another. He was heading all that up. He had to get four new coaches together. The four [assistants] had never coached together. He’d never coached with any of them. I can’t imagine how hard it was for him. ...

You always knew his teams would do things the right way because that's what he expected of them, and everyone around him wanted to please him so much. People wanted Lee to coach their kids because they respected him so much.

Hedges didn't want any of the accolades or credit. He always gave that to someone else. He was 100 percent sincere in that. He appreciated the people and the students and he was the one who should have a stadium named after him. The athlete always came first ... When we'd go to the high school athletic association [meetings], he would always vote for what was best for the student and what was best for the game. There were a lot of people who would vote for what would help them. He was the type of guy you want to work with and you want to be leading. He was a natural leader. He just didn't have an ego. It wasn't about what he could get.

Bo Harris remembers Hedges as:

...the master of motivation through positive reinforcement. It was a core-shaping of my athletic career. Coach Hedges knew how to do it. You wanted to please the man. You put out all the effort just to hear him say, "That a boy."

Coach Hedges made you appreciate the mental part of the game, and it became a whole different relationship for me. Every coach I had from then on, I asked questions and picked their brains. ... Back then, a lot of coaches would just try to force things down your throat. But Coach Hedges wouldn't just show you how to do something, he'd tell you why.