retired basketball coach will be inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame this weekend.
Lori Blade, former high school basketball coach at Edwardsville and Carrollton is receiving the honor at the National High School Athletic Coaches Association National Convention in Des Moines, Iowa this week.
Blade ended a 26-year coaching career in girls’ basketball this past season with a 743-92 record. She is the only coach in n Illinois High School Association history with 700 wins in two sports. Blade spent 8 seasons in Carrollton and 18 in Edwardsville where her basketball teams made 11 trips to the state tournament and came up with 2 championships, both of those in Carrollton. She currently ranks 8th in state history in career wins.
A native of Casey, Illinois, Blade was a 1988 graduate of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville where is in the school’s Hall of Fame after standout careers in basketball and softball.