Two forces in basketball, political arena

36
Bob Knight
1940 - present

If Bob Knight had won his three NCAA men’s basketball championships at Texas Tech and not Indiana, he’d be much higher on this list. But very few people who’ve been in Lubbock less than 10 years are even on this list.

That’s the kind of impact the Ohio native has had on the South Plains.

When people say they’re from Lubbock nowadays, many hear people ask, “Isn’t that where Bob Knight is?”

Knight brought a lot of attention to Tech and Lubbock since taking over the men’s basketball program, where he had immediate success.

The Red Raiders had postseason appearances in each of his first four years. The team’s best performance came in 2005 when they advanced to NCAA’s Sweet Sixteen.

In early 2007, he passed Dean Smith with the most wins for a NCAA Division I men’s coach with 880. A year later, he moved past 900 wins before retiring in midseason and turning the team over to his son Pat.

35
Maggie Trejo
1942 - present

Maggie Trejo gained citywide attention in 1984 when she became the first Hispanic elected to the Lubbock City Council. Her election and also T.J. Patterson’s resulted from a federal court ruling that held Lubbock’s at-large method of electing its council members was unconstitutional.

She would be elected to represent District 1 in northeast Lubbock five times before resigning to pursue other political interests.

She was born in Nebraska but attended Lubbock public schools and earned a business management degree from Texas Tech. She has worked in real estate, but never strayed far from the political scene working on campaigns for state legislature and congressional candidates.

Trejo has a varied volunteer background, including service for the Well Baby Clinic and her church, Our Lady of Grace. In 1999, the U.S. Small Business Administration named her the Minority Small Business advocate for her work with the agency.

She has been honored by numerous organizations with recognition including LULAC Woman of the Year, Women in Communications headliner and Gold Medal awards and Hispana of the Year.

Mae Simmons Community Center and Mae Simmons Park are named in her honor.

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