THE RING’S THE THING | See Tatum boys basketball’s state title rings (click here)!
A couple of months ago, Tatum High School’s basketball team went on a “Shut Up” Tour.
And this week, the boys got the hardware to remember it by.
Now-retired coach Brett Carr and his Tatum Eagles gathered together one more time on Wednesday night, at The Back Porch — the Kilgore institution — and collected their rings, and rather than describe it with words, there’s a video above to see the ring full-scope (you can see that particular ring belongs to none other than Cooper Whiteus).
The ring has their record (32-2 in the 2024-25 season), the Tatum Eagle with “2025” inscribed under it and “Play Angry” above it, and on the other side, the inscription “I Believe” and the player’s name who owns each ring.
In the center, surrounded by jewels, the familiar Tatum ‘T.’
Coaches, including Carr and his wife Kristi, were on hand to celebrate and be presented with rings, as well, including new head coach Jayme Bradley, who is now the Eagles’ head coach.
The Eagles were named the Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com Team of the Year for the 2024-25 school year, they were so dominant, and of course, collected that state title in the program’s fifth appearance in the state tournament.
The Eagles averaged 81 points a game allowed an average of only 50. They didn’t lose a single game at home (13-0), they didn’t lose a single district game (12-0), and in the entirety of the season, they were 10-1 on the road, and 9-1 in neutral-site games.
Their only losses were to Jefferson and Kountze, within 18 days of each other, back in December. They got revenge for the loss to Jefferson in the playoffs at UT-Tyler. But after losing to Kountze on December 28, they didn’t lose again, not one more time, for the rest of the season.
In the playoffs, they routed Mineola, 77-48, in round one in Longview. They held off a previously-undefeated Liberty-Eylau, 69-53, in Pittsburg in round two.
The next two rounds, they routed Ponder, 73-53, and then booted Jefferson from the playoffs, 70-42, in a game that wasn’t even that close.
Iowa Park didn’t put up much of a fight in the state semifinals (77-38). And in the state championship, JaCorie Bradley and Luke Sigler turned it up to another level, leading the team to an 84-49 win.
Bradley’s dad, Jayme Bradley, has been Carr’s assistant three years running, and now he’ll take over the head coaching whistle, so the folks in Eagle County feel pretty good about the success keeping on rolling.
Bradley and Sigler, Cayden Tatum, Kenneton Harrison, Nalayus Boyd, Namhun Kim, Jordan Chambers and Nick D’Souza all graduated. Whiteus and Carlos Hernandez were juniors, and will obviously be seniors this coming year. Sophomores were Quincy Davis, Grayson Lee and Brandon Howard; Koby Bridges and DaMarion Tolbert were the only two freshmen.
Student trainers and managers, in alphabetical order: Deadrian Bradley, Braelon Cochran, Xavior Moore, Gage Sparks, and Jennie Spearman, and team statistician, Robert Galloway.
