Tony Harper wins 1,000th career game as Cathedral tops iTEC

Cathedral boys basketball coach Tony Harper joined an exclusive club Friday night, becoming one of a handful of high school basketball coaches to reach 1,000 career wins.

According to Texas Basketball Magazine, fewer than 20 head coaches have ever achieved that feat in the history of boys high school basketball in the United States.

Harper’s Cathedral team beat iTEC Prep Academy by a final of 47-33 in front of a packed house at Cathedral High School.

The Irish rallied after trailing by one at the half against an iTEC team that had defeated them by 13 on Jan. 26.

Harper already held the record for most wins by a head coach in the history of El Paso high school boys basketball.

Harper began coaching at Burges in 1968 and has since coached at Montwood, El Paso High, and now Cathedral.

He says he plans to coach at least one more season with Cathedral. That will be his 50th seasons as a head coach.

Cathedral is scheduled to being their playoff run on Feb. 17 in the TAPPS regionals.