PORT ARTHUR — Drive through many small towns in Texas and you’ll quickly notice signs for championship teams. Towns like Caldwell, Robinson and Sealy proudly proclaim which teams from their community were the best in that given year.

I’ve always had a personal sign like that in the back of my head, and I can almost pinpoint when I erected it. That would be in 1991 during a ceremony in Austin.

“I remember they recognized us (that day),” former Port Neches-Groves volleyball player Tina Coleman (nee-Shelton) said. “I think we all went out to dinner afterwards. That was during the state finals that year.”

That’s right. My mom won a state championship in volleyball. She should have won another, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

“I was pregnant and throwing up,” former PN-G Rock-A-Noo Marti Lynch (nee-Shelton) said.  “It was neat to be brought down on the court and recognized by the people.”

That’d be my aunt and Tina’s sister, who played with her on that ‘81 team.

Those two things have stuck with me for as long as I can remember. My mom won the state championship and she did it playing with her sister. That’s one heck of a thing to be proud of.

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Over the past 35 years, Barbara Comeaux has become a fixture at PN-G. She’s coached three state champions, including the last state champ to grace the PN-G campus. In all, her program has made a third of all the state final appearances by PN-G teams.

The 1981 team went 36-1 and absolutely routed San Antonio Churchill in the finals. They won the first game 15-7 and the second 15-5 to quickly grab the title. In 1979, they swept the best-of-three series with a 16-14, 15-5 victory over San Antonio Jefferson.

Only 24 schools in state history have won as many or more titles than PN-G’s three and not many coaches in state history can boast that many titles. For that matter, not many coaches period can say they’ve won 1,000 games like Comeaux has. She reached that mark in November 2008 and has kept going since then, making the state playoffs every year since 1982.

“She incorporated the mental side,” Coleman said. “Visually, seeing the ball and closing out everybody. And the intimidation. You had that confidence that you were good and you were going to beat the team. We all meshed together and everyone was in sync with each other.

“She’s got the talent to lead her team. She’s got the knowledge to give her players to maximize the talent she’s got.”

Comeaux is a big reason why there will be a Rock-A-Noo reunion next Saturday, as players from the last 40 years gather to honor their former coach. There will be a volleyball tournament (of course) and a luncheon/dinner afterwards. I’m sure people will talk about their memories of those great teams.

Her first team was the 1971 state champs, but it was the one ten years later that has always stuck with me. That legacy, that winning culture has always been something I held with a lot of pride, even though I never went to school here.

When I was a dumb high school kid, I used to lord over my volleyball playing friends that my mom and her sister had been part of something special.

“Oh, yeah? Well, my mom not only won a state championship, she also had a really cool nickname for the team,” is what I’d typically say to people who didn’t really care. It didn’t matter to me if they cared or not, because I did. Being a part of a winner mattered to me and I told everyone I could about it.

I asked Marti’s daughter, Jordan, what she thought about that title. Jordan just graduated from PN-G and said that the tangible reminders of that title didn’t hit her until her freshman year.

“I noticed (the championship banner) all the time,” Jordan Lynch said. “They have a picture up in the front of the new gym. Walking by, you see those, but you don’t pay attention. That’s your family, your mom and your aunt. Usually, it’s just a bunch of old pictures of people you don’t know. When it’s tied to you, it’s like, Wow, they made history in that school. It’s up there. They earned that themselves. It’s an honor because that’s my mom.”

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Let’s turn it over to the two players to talk about That Championship Season.

What do you remember most about the championship match?

Lynch: “I was front row. I didn’t set. But, a pass came to me and Tina was a spiker in the rotation. I had to set that ball to her. And, I know there was only a few seconds, but I was scared to death that I’d fumble the set. But, I didn’t and she spiked it. That’s still a vivid memory. It all worked out. I don’t know if we got the point, but we didn’t lose the point because of that set.”

Coleman: “All I was worried about was keeping everyone up and focused. If we made a mistake, let’s shake it off and keep our minds in the game.”

What was your favorite moment from that season?

Coleman: “Winning the state championship. That final point and knowing that we got it and that we weren’t shut out by stupid time limits. Knowing that regulation was to 15 and we did it.”

Lynch: “My sister being named all-state. That was the best part of the whole year for me was when she was recognized as an all-state player. I’m very proud of her.”

When did you know that this team would be special?

Coleman: “I knew we were going to do good, because we had all five seniors coming back. We had the confidence and motivation to win. We weren’t going to let the loss of the state championship (in ‘80) keep us from winning again. I knew the people coming up behind us, they were going to help us too.”

Lynch: “It was the group of seniors who led the team. Even when you made a mistake, no one said anything negative. It was, ‘Okay, we’re going to get the next one.’ Back then, we couldn’t play with each other in the summer. So, it all started when school started. But, it was like everyone knew what the other would do.”

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Oh, and let’s talk about that ‘80 team. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been indignant about a little-known rule that put a time limit on volleyball games. Spring beat PN-G and my mom that year, winning the first game 14-10, losing the second 9-15 and then winning the third 13-11. That’s right...they didn’t even get to 14 points in the decisive game, because time ran out.

Unbelievable.

I’m not the only one who gets worked up about it. All these years later, my mom still things it was the stupidest rule.

“For some reason, my junior year, the UIL decided that they’d go to a time limit on games,” Coleman said. “I don’t even know what the time limit was. But, we got into the state championship, and we were coming back, and time ran out. It was heartbreaking, because we could have had three titles.”

Don’t worry, though. She got some measure of payback the next season in a game against Spring.

“In preseason, we played Spring,” Coleman said. “We had it out for them. I think it was a center spike, and I hit the girl in the face on the 10-foot line. I didn’t mean to do it on purpose, she just happened to be there and she didn’t get out of the way.”

That time limit loss was a crucial break, too. If the Rock-A-Noos had won that title, they would have put themselves in even more elite company. Only 12 teams in state history have won three straight titles. The most recent to do it was Windthorst, who won it four straight years from 1997-2000.

PN-G could have been on that list.

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Last year, I wrote a column on Father’s Day about my dad and bonding with him through baseball. It’s sort of fitting that I’m writing a year later about my mom on this day. One of the things my dad and I would do on lazy Saturdays is watch whatever sport was on that day. Sometimes, he’d flip over to a college volleyball game.

One time, I asked him if Mom was good enough to play at that level. He told me, “Yes, she definitely could have.”

She didn’t though, because of me. Never, not once, have I heard her regret that, either. Maybe somewhere in the recesses of her mind, it lingers, but for the most part, I think Mom is fine with going out the way she did.

After all, it’s not often an athlete has a chance to retire a champion.

When all the Rock-A-Noos gather next weekend, there will be plenty of stories swapped and pride taken in all those games that Comeaux has overseen. For me, it’s a reminder of much respect, love and pride I have in my mom for what she’s accomplished, including the last state title in PN-G history.

David Coleman writes features and columns for the Port Arthur News. He can be e-mailed at dcoleman@panews.com or find him on Twitter  @MDavidColeman.