Edna Tarbutton
• Put Baskin (La.) High School on the national basketball map with an incredible 218-game winning streak
• String of consecutive wins set a mark that still stands as a national record for organized sports—high school, college, or pros—and stretched across the course of six seasons (1948-1953)
• After loss that ended the streak, Baskin reeled off another 71 straight wins over three seasons, resulting in 289 wins out of 290 games and went 315-2 between 1945 and 1955
• Baskin teams scored 11,709 points to 5,300 points for their opponents during the streak, averaging 53.7 points per game while allowing just 24.3 points per game for an average margin of victory of nearly 30 points
• Won a total of nine state championships with the first in 1945 and eight consecutive from 1948 through 1955
• Coached 33 years at Baskin (1943-76), posting 654 wins, 263 losses and 2 ties for a .711 winning percentages
In Loving Memory of Edna Tarbutton
WEST MONROE, LA (AP) - Edna 'Tiny" Tarbutton, who set national records while coaching girls basketball at Baskin High School in the 1940s and 1950s, has died. Tarbutton, who had been living at an assisted living facility, died Sunday, according to Mulhearn Funeral Home. She was 87. A cause of death was not provided.
'She was a true pioneer and there is no doubt that for a certain time frame she was the best our country had. She did it better than anyone else," said former Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore, upon learning of Tarbutton's selection into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.
Tarbutton's teams set a national record with 218 consecutive victories from 1947 to 1953, winning nine state titles - eight in a row. Tarbutton ended her 33-year coaching career in 1977 with a record of 654-263-2. All of her victories were at Baskin.
