TAMPA, Fla. — Each year, the Sports Club of Tampa Bay honors the best of the best.

The area is home to some of the greatest professional athletes and coaches. And the most deserving ones make their way into the club’s Hall of Fame. But on this night, in a land of professional giants, two high school coaches stood out.

What You Need To Know

  •  Coach Earl Garcia and Coach Jim Macaluso were inducted into the Sports Club of Tampa Bay Hall of Fame.

  •  Garcia is entering his 50th year as a football coach.

  •  Macaluso has been at the helm of the King High baseball program since 1976.

Two of the longest tenured prep coaches to serve Hillsborough County, Earl Garcia and Jim Macaluso, were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“This is the biggest thing that I’ve been rewarded for in my career,” Macaluso said.

That’s what so great about this Hall, professional and high school athletes and coaches are treated as equals. These coaching legends stood up in front of a sold crowd giving speeches just as the professionals did, knowing that these pros had to start somewhere and a lot of times, it was a high school coach that set them on their path.

“Coaching high school football is not about individual honors but as far as this is concerned, this is the greatest honor of my life, other than marrying my wife,” Garcia said.

Entering his 50th year in coaching, Earl Garcia is the winningest coach in Hillsborough County. He’s guided the Hillsborough Terriers to great heights, leading them to the playoffs 24 times in the past 30 years. But he’s most proud of the men he’s developed.

“Our job as youth league coaches basically is to put some gas on that spark and turn that spark into a flame,” Garcia said.

In his speech, Coach Macaulso joked that Garcia might be the winningest coach in the county, while he leads the county in ejections. The King High skipper has been at the helm of the Lions baseball program since 1976. He’s developed countless Division I and Major League Baseball players. But like Garcia, his most important job as a coach is not making great players. It’s making great men.

“I think all the coaches, sometimes you kind of feel, man I wish somebody would say something or just let me know they appreciate it,” Macaluso said. “And what they do here with the club, having the amateur slash high school division, it’s huge. It’s huge.”