BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
In the realm of Valley-girls basketball, Nora Zamarripa has nothing left to prove. Her resume is a monolith of accomplishments and a reflection of the progress made for women in sports during the last four decades.
But the many achievements to her name — including 760 career wins — has not quenched her appetite for competition and using athletics to impart lessons on the students in her coaching corral. So rather than call it quits after more than two decades at Harlingen High, Zamarripa is returning to the sidelines this season to helm the PSJA High Lady Bears.
“I really enjoyed what (PSJA football) coach Marroquin said about the position and what it would be like if I took over,” Zamarripa said. “It just seemed like something I was really interested in trying to do, to bring the program to play a level of basketball that I have been about to teach in my career to the young ladies that I’ve coached.”
Zamarripa takes over for former coach Stephanie Cantu, who left to program in May for the same position at McAllen High. Zamarripa will oversee a Lady Bears team that has gone a combined 17-11 in district play over the last two seasons, making the playoffs in back-to-back years only to lose in the bi-district round.
Though Zamarripa will coach a team that is no stranger to the postseason, she will do so in a realigned Valley-basketball landscape. After UIL reclassification in February, PSJA was promoted from Class 5A to 6A and placed a District 31-6A alongside the rest of PSJA ISD and all of Edinburg CISD.
Zamarripa played high school basketball at Lyford at a time when girls basketball was relegated to 3-on-3 competition. During the 1973-74 season, she helped the Lady Bulldogs to the state tournament.
After graduating, Zamarripa played for Texas A-I (now Texas A&M Kingsville). Her first high school coaching job came in 1982 at Edinburg High, where she remained for seven years. During her tenure with the Lady Bobcats, she coached Lottie Zarate, the current girls coach and coordinator at Edinburg Vela — a new district rival.
But Zamarripa’s greatest successes came at Harlingen High, where she coached for 25 years. Under Zamarripa’s direction, the Lady Cardinals were a perennial powerhouse in Valley hoops. The team made the playoffs like clockwork, won multiple district championships and advanced to the regional quarterfinals in 2010. Five years prior to that, she was inducted into the RGV Sports Hall of Fame.
After her historic run at Harlingen, Zamarripa took on a part-time gig last season as an assistant at Brownsville Lopez to work alongside coach Stephen Davis. The Lady Lobos went 4-27, 0-14 in District 32-6A.
But rather than call it quits or ride off into the sunset of retirement, Zamarripa remains as impassioned as ever about the game she’s given her life to.
“I love basketball, and I love teaching life lessons through the game of basketball,” Zamarripa said. “And my time where I was staying at home and stuff, I just really missed it. I decided I was not ready to hang up my tennis shoes. I wanted to coach some more.”
