Five state championships as a coach.
Three Alaska player of the year awards.
Two state championships as a player.
One NCAA Division 1 All-America Award.
Do the math and you get a snapshot of Jeannie Hebert-Truax’s athletic career.
A game-changer at every level, Hebert-Truax is one of Alaska’s greatest high school players, one of its greatest college players and one of its greatest high school coaches. She was the first player, boy or girl, to win three Alaska prep player of the year awards, claiming the first while at North Pole High School and the seocnd two while at Monroe Catholic, where she led the Rams to consecutive state titles in 1987 and 1988.
Those accomplishments earned her a spot in the Alaska High School Hall of Fame.
The Miami Hurricanes won the recruiting war for the 5-foot-8 play-making guard, and Hebert-Truax did not disappoint. By the time she graduated, she ranked second in program history in assists (694), third in scoring (1,766) and fourth in steals (237), plus she helped Miami to its first NCAA tournament berth in 1989.
Those accomplishments earned here a spot in the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame.
Armed wtih two masters degrees, she returned to Alaska, where Wasilla High hired her in 1994 to teach math. The next year she baecame the school’s head girls coach. In 2007, she led the Warriors to a state championship, and from 2011-2014 she guided them to three in a row. Through 19 seasons, she and the Warriors won 74 percent of their games.
Those accomplishments – plus the stellar high school and stellar college career – landed her in the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. She is the first woman enshrined for the sport of basketball.
Hebert-Truax is a made-in-Alaska success story – she was born in Glennallen, raised in Tok, went to high school in Fairbanks and became a championship coach in Wasilla.
“I’ve gone through life and worked hard at what I did, and I think all these accolades have just come from that,” she said. “It’s just what my mom and dad engraved in me. If you want to achieve something you go out and work for it.”
– Beth Bragg
