Coach Tony Francis, Sr.

2011
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Featured in March 1999 Texas Monthly Magazine

Track and Field, Giddings - "GIDDINGS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A TRACK TOWN," says Tony Francis, Sr., the coach of Giddings’ L.C. (Lee County) Express Track Club, "and we do have a lot of talent around here." He’s not kidding. This Central Texas community boasts several of the fastest runners in the country, student-athletes who will be getting full scholarships to some of the nation’s premier college track programs and—who knows?—might even end up in the Olympics. Much of the credit goes to Francis, who starts training some of his future stars as early as age eight, but the reality is that track is just about the only game in town. "We don’t have a lot to offer in Giddings besides running," he admits. "We don’t have a movie theater, and our swimming pool is smaller than a basketball court." Over time, club alumni have held more than twenty national track records, and the current crop of students could well increase that number. The standouts include Jermaine Cooper, who has run the third-fastest high school time ever in the 55-meter hurdles; Lameisa Thomas, a two-time state champion in the 400-meter dash; and Jason Hodge, a sprinter who’s been recruited by Olympic sprinter Leroy Burrell, who coaches at the University of Houston. "I tell the kids, ‘If you give me exactly what I give you, you will succeed,’" Francis says. "And they do."