JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Sunday Ribault High School will induct more than 10 people into its Athletic Hall of Fame.
One of the inductees is former Pressing Lady Trojans' Head Coach Sheila Pennick.
Pennick grew up on the Northside where she developed a love for the game while playing with her brothers. She was cut from the team in middle school because she lacked ball handling skills, however, she worked and developed into one of the best prep basketball players here on our First Coast.
In fact, she averaged 20 points per game.
Years later she became a coach, coaching AAU, middle school, and junior varsity at Ribault. In 2004 the legendary Al Austin retired, and the school offered Pennick the job.
Pennick says for weeks she labored over whether to take it.
“I was too afraid to take the job. I just felt it was too much pressure to walk in his shoes or be the person to be his successor," says Pennick.
Coach Austin won eight state titles, had a 101-game winning streak, and he won more than 92% of his games during his 26-year run.
However, after much prayer and thought, Pennick accepted the job.
She says initially she didn't believe in herself, but she used some of the concepts coach Austin taught her and applied them in her own way.
Pennick says the early years were tough because the community had a hard time accepting her. They often compared her to coach Austin, and she wasn’t good enough, she’s a woman and not a Trojan graduate.
Even when Pennick’s Pressing Lady Trojans had success it wasn’t enough.
“I'll get there, but I will never win. When we got there and finished second they said that's the best I’d ever do. It was hurtful but after the tears that I was shedding the dark, at home with my family, I came back out saying when we work hard enough we can achieve, we just needed to work harder."
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Pennick says she put Coach Austin's resume in her locker, not to compare herself to him, but rather as reminder of why expectations at Ribault were so high.
“I appreciate the pressure they put on me because the pressure always made me hungry, and it made me thrive for excellence. I have no grudges, initially it was hard but in the end it built me into the woman I am today, and I'm thankful for that," she explains.
In her 13 seasons at Ribault, Coach Pennick won four state titles and a national title. But she says her finest accomplishment was the relationships she built with her players off the court.
“I'm a former athlete, I know what it's like to have a coach who truly cares. I know what it felt like to have a coach who goes beyond the call of duty, and I just made up in my mind that I was going to be that for my players because I knew they truly needed," says Pennick.
Here’s the list of people who will be inducted into the Ribault Athletic Hall of Fame Sunday, Oct. 16.
- Laveranues Coles
- Charles Helm
- Erica White
- Dana Poole
- Gary Anderson
- Cedric Redden
- Ben Flemming
- Damian Swain
- David Herring
- Macarthur Johnson
- Clifford Johnson
- Anthony Flynn
- Dionnne Turner-Williams
- Yolanda Smalls
- Diane Butler