When Rudy Bernal became the head boys basketball coach at Lanier in 1983, his plan was to return the program to its glory years.

Carrying out that plan would not be an easy task for Bernal, who had been an assistant coach at Antonian and West Campus before taking his first head coaching job at Lanier in April 1983. He took over a team which had not had a winning record in 10 previous seasons.

But Bernal was determined make Lanier basketball a powerhouse, like they had been in the 1940s when they had won state championships in 1943 and 1945.

It wouldn’t be an easy road turning the program around, but Bernal did and stayed around for 31 years at Lanier, winning 567 games and four district championships while making 15 playoff appearances. Bernal and the Voks brought pride back to the boys basketball program, highlighted by back-to-back University Interscholastic League state tournament appearances in 2000 and 2001.

It is for these accomplishments that Bernal is one of six honorees who will be inducted into the San Antonio ISD Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2019 on Aug. 17 at the Alamo Convocation Center.

Bernal said becoming the head basketball coach at Lanier meant a lot to him because his father, Ramiro, went to the school and played on the 1943 team, coached by Nemo Herrera, that won the state title. Growing up Bernal, who played basketball at and graduated from Lee High School in 1973, listened to his father tell stories about his playing days at Lanier, about the games they played, how they interacted with and respected coach Herrera and the resistance their team, made up of Hispanic players, encountered when they played some of their opponents.

“When I got the opportunity to go to Lanier it was like, ‘Heck, yes, I got to do that,’” Bernal said. “Being my first head coaching job and the fact, my dad graduated from there and a lot of my relatives and uncles played there was very enticing to me. I felt like if I could do something there and bring back the glory days of Lanier basketball, that would be an accomplishment.”

In Bernal’s first season at Lanier, the Voks won only five games. Gradually, the team got better, winning 21 games during his fifth season at Lanier and winning their first playoff game in 30 years in 1991.

The main stay of the Voks and Bernal was there aggressive man-to-man pressure defense and quickness on the court. Bernal said his emphasis on playing aggressive full court defense fit the type of the players he coached at Lanier.

“I just felt like that style fit the kind of kids we had, kids that had to fight for everything growing up,” Bernal said. “I felt like equating that with athletics and basketball with the life they had to live outside of school. A lot of those things would click together and I felt like we did a pretty good job of getting the kids to understand those things.”

When the Voks made it to the Class 4A state tournament in 2000, they lost to eventual state champion Denton Ryan in the semifinals. The next year, with an experienced team back, Lanier made it back to the state tournament, upsetting Dallas Lincoln in the state semifinals, 50-48, a game that Bernal said is one of the biggest wins in his career. Lincoln was led by future NBA All-Star Chris Bosh.

Lanier advanced to the state title game, losing to Beaumont Ozen.

Bernal said the game against Dallas Lincoln was typical of how the Voks played against teams that were taller and were more athletic than they were.

“Effort was one of the main stays of what I tried to push on those guys was that we had to outwork everybody because we weren’t going to be as talented and as athletic as the teams we played,” Bernal said. “So, we had to make up for it by playing harder than they did.”

He said one of the best things about his time coaching at Lanier was that his father, Ramiro, got to see his Voks go back to the state tournament in 2000. Ramiro Bernal passed away in 2008.

“Having him there the first time around (at the state tournament) was pretty awesome,” Bernal said.

Bernal retired as Lanier coach in 2014. But he was not out of coaching for along as he took over as head coach at Antoni-an in December 2015. This past spring, he led the Apaches to the TAPPS 6A state title.