Jude Abrams

Athlete Class of 1973

Coach, 1973 to present

Inducted 2005

When Jude Abrams graduated from Gibbons in 1973 and went on to Florida Atlantic University, there was no doubt in her mind as to where she wanted to teach and coach when she graduated college. Jude did not wait to graduate. She immediately came back to Gibbons to start her coaching career, beside her mentor, Coach Louise Crocco. Jude began the junior varsity sports program for girls in volleyball, basketball and softball and was the first head JV coach of those three sports. During this time, Jude also was the assistant varsity coach of those three varsity sports. Judge coached JV volleyball for 20 years while attending college, becoming a teacher and coaching for her first two years after college at St. Coleman’s. Her goal was to introduce the players to the fundamentals and instill the Lady Redskin pride and tradition. Because of Jude’s unselfishness about her teams’ win-loss record, the varsity team had many state champion players come through her programs. Jude never sacrificed her principles and philosophies to win. JV was to her a building to make the varsity teams as successful as possible. Even with this in mind, her JV volleyball team still amassed an incredible 88 match winning streak at one point in her career. At that time it was a state record. In 1995 she was awarded Outstanding Assistant Coach of the Year by the Florida Athletic Coaches Association at a reception in Jacksonville. This is the highest award given to a coach in the state of Florida. Jude is the unsung hero of the girls’ sports program at Cardinal Gibbons H.S.