Terry Tippett, longtime coach who won six state titles, is Lifetime Achievement Award winner

If you ask Terry Tippett how he got into coaching, he'll tell you that he didn't have much of a choice. A love for basketball and competition was in his blood. 

"My dad was captain of the basketball team. My mother was captain of the cheerleaders. And I had no choice," he said. "I was raised pretty much with basketball in the house and in the family, and as soon as I was old enough to play, I played."

And as soon as he got the opportunity, he began to coach. He was 21 years old when Bob Yancey asked him to join the football staff at Collierville as an assistant. Today, more than five decades later, Tippett has compiled a head coaching resume that earned him a spot in the 2005 TSSAA Hall of Fame class. 

What does it take to win six state titles, multiple coach of the year awards and more than 900 basketball games?

"A long time," Tippett said with a laugh. "You’ve got to be in it for a long time." 

In recognition of his longevity and success, Tippett will be honored with the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award at the third annual Commercial Appeal Sports Awards presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans on Friday at the Orpheum Theatre.

The sports awards program begins at 6 p.m. with a red carpet show.

It took time for Tippett to develop a winning philosophy. In 1972, his first year at Dyer County, the Choctaws won just two games. Tippett studied successful college coaches such as Bob Knight, Dean Smith and John Wooden and developed his own way of running a program. 

"I had to dig to find something that will work, and I found a couple things," Tippett said. "And I said that if this is successful with these kids with not a lot of talent, if I ever get any talent, it's going to be very successful."

Tippett led Dyer County to its first boys basketball sub-state berth in school history. Then he took over at Trezevant and helped the Bears capture a state title in 1980. After nine years at Trezevant, Tippett was hired at White Station, where he won four state titles, including three in a row from 2002-04. Tippett won his last state title in 2011 with Evangelical Christian School. He retired in 2018.  

"I loved getting up every morning. I never had a bad day because I could go to work and get to coach kids," he said. "One year led to the next and I was having a good time, and the kids were having a good time and one year just ran into another."

More:Follow the Commercial Appeal Sports Awards program live online Friday