During his time as the football coach from 1979-1996, the team had 208 wins, 39 losses and one tie. The Dragons won the Class 3A championship in 1988, 1992 and 1993 under his watch. Ledbetter then served as athletic director from 1996-2002, creating the volleyball, girls softball and swimming programs at Carroll Senior High School. He retired in 2022.
His son, Lane Ledbetter, has been the Carroll ISD Superintendent since 2020.
Community Impact interviewed Bob Ledbetter about his time in Carroll ISD. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was the experience of having a football field named after you like?
You know, it was quite humbling of course, and the field was named Bob Ledbetter Field, but the stadium will always be Dragon Stadium. I had always felt that that stadium would always be Dragon Stadium, and it should be. The field never really entered my mind. That was 20-something years ago when we built that stadium; I believe it was built in 2002. It was very humbling; there was a lot of people involved in that other than Bob Ledbetter, and there's a lot of people that had to play a big part in all of that. There's been a lot of great coaches, a lot of great administrators. You can go all the way back to when Ted Gillum was superintendent here is when we built that stadium, and the assistant superintendent had a great deal to do with that as well. But it will always be Dragon Stadium.
How has it been for you to watch you son carry on the legacy at Carroll ISD?
I remember when he was even considering this job, and I said, "Well, why would you even want to come back?" And he said, "Well you drug me there when I was in the third grade, and I always wanted to come back to Southlake at some time or another in my career." This was way back whenever [former CISD superintendent] Dr. [David] Faltys was retired, so he got involved in it. This school district was very good to him, and he was very good to the district and has a lot of great memories from all the time that he went to school here, so he clearly cares about the district. He's a great fit for what we need here, but of course that's coming from me, so who knows.
Since retirement, how do you manage to stay involved and show your support for the district?
I try to stay not as involved and kind of in the background as I should. You know, I'm not going to any kind of meetings or anything like that. I go to ball games; I go to different things; I follow my grandkids and all those things like that like a normal grandfather, so to speak.
What is it about Carroll ISD that you are most proud of?
I think the fact that everybody that goes to school here—whether you go to Durham [Intermediate], or Carroll Middle School or Carroll Elementary—I think one of the greatest things we ever did was the fact that everybody grows up wanting to be a Dragon. I think the great thing about it is is when those kids walk across the stage and they're handed that diploma, they know that they can be successful in life because they've been successful in academics, athletics and all the extracurricular activities, whether it be swimming or golf or football, whatever. I've always said that kids that have been successful will continue to be successful, not only in life but in their business.
