Trinity coach grateful for long-lasting career

By Travis Brown

Special to the Star-Telegram

EULESS -- In her 41 years of coaching girls basketball, Euless Trinity coach Sue Cannon said it's the losses that she remembers most.

Take, for instance, the perfect season that ended with a loss to Duncanville in the regional final.

Or the year her Lady Trojans lost on a last-second basket in one of the state's premier girls tournaments, the Sandra Meadows Classic in Duncanville.

Ironically, Cannon faced a barn-burning three-point loss to Keller Timber Creek 50-47 on Tuesday in her first chance for the 1,000th victory of her career.

"They have a very aggressive team with great outside shooters and we were not defending the 3 very well," Cannon said.

Trinity held the lead into the fourth quarter, but foul trouble and missed opportunities allowed Timber Creek to take the lead with four minutes remaining.

The back-and-forth struggle ended on a failed Trinity 3-point attempt as time expired.

Cannon's career began in North Carolina in 1972, where she recorded her first victory while at Durham Academy.

After a one-year stint with the University of North Carolina, Cannon moved to Houston with the intention of earning her doctorate degree, but was forced back into coaching high school girls basketball.

"I took the job at West Orange Stark for just a year because I was broke," Cannon said. "I was trying to get a doctorate and I was poor. I took that job for just the year and it ended up being 10 years because we were in the regional finals every year and it was hard to leave there."

After a decade, Cannon took over a Trinity program that went 0-30 the year before. In 27 years, she has only had two losing seasons -- her first and the 2011-2012 season.

The end of her career is coming soon, she said, but she wants to stay long enough to see Trinity's new athletic facilities, currently under construction, put to use. The project should be done by next summer. She'd like to add some wins to her 999-313 career record (620-235 at Trinity).

The Trojans' next attempt at Cannon's 1,000th will be at 4:30 p.m. Thursday against her former assistant, Doug Sporrer, and his Keller team in the Flower Mound Lady Jaguar tournament.

"I feel pretty sure we can win another game before the end of the year," Cannon said. "The only thing this means to me is I've had incredible people to work with and great kids. That's the thing that means the most to me, not the wins and losses."

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