Lightfoot, former player among WHS honorees

After leading the Weatherford College Coyotes to the best season in their baseball history, head coach Jeff Lightfoot is being honored by his alma mater, Weatherford High School. He is part of the 2023 WHS Hall of Fame class.

Lightfoot, a 1988 WHS graduate and former member of the Kangaroos baseball team, will be joined by eight other honorees to be inducted at a ceremony on Sept. 15 in a homecoming luncheon. Also inducted will be another former Kangaroo baseball player who played for Lightfoot at WC, Trooper Reynolds, a 2012 WHS graduate.

Joining them will be former Kangaroo football player Gil Gore, a 1967 graduate, and members of the 1996-97 golf team, including Jarrod Dickey, Justin Dickey, KW Gibbins, Brock Widener, Chad Garren (posthumously) and coach Keith Young.

Lightfoot led the Coyotes to a 53-11 record this past season and the program earned its first ever berth in the NJCAA Division I World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado. The Coyotes finished third in the nation.

Lightfoot is the only coach the Coyotes have ever had, reviving the program 21 years ago. He previously won a NJCAA Division III World Series with Eastfield College in Mesquite in 2001 and finished as runner-up in 1998.

Lightfoot has a career record of 822-537-1, including 618-444-1 at WC. Under his tutelage, more than 150 former Coyotes have moved on to play baseball at universities across the nation, including more than 100 at NCAA Division I programs. Also, 35 former Coyotes have played professional baseball including four in the major leagues, with former Jake Arrietta winning a Cy Young and World Series with the Chicago Cubs in 2016.