Patty Childress

There is little that Patty Childress did not accomplish in her volleyball coaching career, whether from her teams on the floor or her work with the Colorado High School Coaches Association (CHSCA) or within the committee framework of the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA).

As a coach at four different high schools - three in Colorado (Otis, Palisade, Grandview) and one in Washington (Ferndale) – her teams compiled a 493-169 record, which ranked fifth at the time of her retirement in CHSAA annals. Those teams garnered five state titles (2004, 2005, 2007, 2013, 2014), all at Grandview. Her GHS teams were state runners-up another five times and made the Final 4 two additional times.

The teams from her previous schools also enjoyed success, as noted by Childress winning the western Slope Coach of the Year award twice while at Palisade. She earned Coach of the Year honors another nine times in her career and was the All Colorado Coach of the Year on three occasions.

In 2014, she was named the CHSCA Coach of the Year and then received the National Coach of the Year Sectional honor. Her accolades also include being nominated Colorado’s National Coach of the Year nominee in 2005.

She has been selected to coach the CCGS all-State Games, as well as the CHSCA All-State Games during her career. She is a noted and popular clinician.

A former CHSCA president, Childress earned numerous honors through the organization including the Lloyd Gaskill Award (2008), induction into the CHSCA Hall of Fame (2015) and was selected by The Denver Post for the prestigious 2013 Dave Sanders Award, given annually in honor of the coach who died in the Columbine shooting in 1999.

Childress was inducted into the National High School Coaches Association National Hall of Fame in 2017 for her longevity, service to high school athletics, previous honors and other specific state criteria.