There has never been any question of IF Becky Gagnon was ever going to be inducted into the King High School Hall of Fame but WHEN. If nothing else, the numbers to support that induction are impressive.

Becky Gagnon’s 24 year run as the ML King Head Girls Tennis Coach is perhaps one of the most historic in CIF History. During her tenure from 1999 through 2022, the Wolves earned 461 wins; won 22 league championships; made the CIF playoffs 24 times; got to the CIF quarterfinals 7 times; the CIF semi-finals three times and was the CIF runner-up in 2002.  She coached 13 Individual Singles League Championships and 17 Doubles team League Champions. 18 Singles and 33 double teams qualified for CIF competition. Probably the most incredible number is her 239-3 league record over that span. All of this was accomplished without the vast majority of her players being club players or playing on the junior tennis circuit, which you find at most high- power high school programs.

However, the numbers only tell a part of the story. In fact, for Coach Gagnon, those numbers never really mattered much. “I’ve always had a great love for coaching,” said Gagnon, whose experience dates back to coaching gymnastics at the YMCA after graduating from Cal-Poly Pomona.  “Personally, the wins are nice but that’s not what I will remember. The greater joy has always been in seeing our players’ excitement over what they were able to accomplish through their hard work, through their teamwork and through their togetherness.”

“Becky has always been consistent in the way she approached her responsibility to her student athletes and in what she thought was important,” said her longtime friend, retired King Track Coach John Corona. “Both she and her student athletes showed sportsmanship, work ethic and positive behavior every time they toed the mark.  She was passionate about what was best for all student-athletes and for the sport of tennis. Going against Becky and her teams meant you had a tough hard-fought match on your hands. However, she would never sacrifice dignity, sportsmanship or fair play in pursuit of victory. I daresay, she would rather lose than sacrifice those virtues for a win. I have seen few coaches that could produce a team culture and belief system the way she did.”

Gagnon has been named a CIF State Model Coach of the year (2007); A CIF (SS) Champion of Character (2022); Press Enterprise Girls Tennis Coach of the year (2018); and the Riverside Sports Hall of Fame (2024).  She has been recognized by the Positive Coaches Alliance and by the United States Tennis Association for her positive impact on the sport of Tennis.