Leondas Rambo, a silent Fort Worth legend to Hall of Fame coach Robert Hughes, has died
While Robert Hughes stood, and often yelled, his single assistant for decades sat in mostly silence.
Leondas Rambo knew his role, and was the best of the good cops.
Hughes, the Basketball Hall of Fame coach from Fort Worth Dunbar, had Rambo as his one assistant from 1974-2005. Rambo was actually at Dunbar the year before Hughes arrived.
According to the family, the man known as Coach Rambo died on Tuesday.
“He was the guy that calmed the storm,” said current Polytechnic boys basketball coach Charles Hickman, who played for Hughes and Rambo at Dunbar from 1985 to 1989. “They just worked so well together. Coach Rambo was the guy who smoothed everything over. He allowed you to understand what Coach Hughes was doing.”
Rambo, 86, was at his home in Fort Worth when he died. Service information is pending.
His daughter, Sharilyn Rambo, said her father had come down with a palsy condition in the last two months. He did not die of COVID-19.
“I can’t say my daddy didn’t have a good life,” Sharilyn said, “but he did ask me for a helicopter. He thought if (Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones had one he should, too. I told him I’d work on it.”
Hughes made Rambo his assistant at Dunbar in 1974, and while Hughes could have easily added another coach or two to his staff, he only needed one.
When Hughes retired in April of 2005, so did Rambo. Rambo had no interest in replacing Hughes.
“The older I get and the further away from it I am, I appreciate the remarkable tandem that they were,” said former Dunbar player Sheldon Tate, who played for Hughes from 1998 to 2001.
“It’s something you can’t appreciate it until you’re gone. I referee high school games now, and I see these benches with 40 some coaches, special assistants, strength coaches, and Dunbar just needed two guys. There was never any confusion what we were supposed to do, and it was just two guys. They just knew what the hell was going on.”
A native of Marshall, Texas, Rambo moved to Fort Worth and worked for various Fort Worth school district schools before he landed at Dunbar.
Rambo helped to coach other teams at Dunbar, including football and volleyball. He also taught physical education.
He is survived by his wife, Lynn Rambo, and five children.
Even as he grew older, he made physical health a priority. He worked out every day at his local YMCA.
“He lived on the same block as us when I was growing up,” said Dunbar coach Robert Hughes Jr. “He was the proverb that said it takes a village to raise a child.”
This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 1:53 PM.
