When Gary and Emily Hughes lost their son Kolby in October, they began looking for a way to honor his memory in a meaningful way. The local couple decided that effort should focus on supporting the Albany Volunteer Fire Department, where Gary Hughes now serves as a volunteer.

The result is the Kolby Hughes Memorial benefit drive, a fundraiser created to help provide equipment and materials for a new training and physical fitness room at the Albany fire station.

The Albany Lions boys basketball team worked through a pair of difficult shooting nights last week but still came away with two district wins, defeating Haskell 62-50 on the road on Jan. 6 and Abilene TLCA 65-45 at home on Jan. 9.

At Haskell, Albany struggled to find any rhythm early, managing little offense through much of the first half before closing strong to pull within three at the break. The Lions then used a big third-quarter run to take control.

The Albany Lady Lions split district games last week, losing to Haskell and defeating TLCA.

They lost to Cisco on Tuesday night 21-88, with details to be published next week.

The girls will continue district play this week, hosting Anson on Friday, Jan. 16. The JV girls will tip off at 4 p.m., with the varsity girls scheduled to play following the JV boys at approximately 6:15 p.m.

Albany senior Tristan Howe was named the 2025 Big Country Blitz Class 2A Division II Defensive MVP after a dominant season in the trenches for the Lions.

Howe anchored Albany’s defense throughout the fall, consistently disrupting opposing offenses and setting the tone up front in what was another deep playoff run for the Lions.

Senior Calhan Fairchild was also recognized by the publication as one of the area’s offensive standouts, earning a spot on the Big Country Blitz offensive stars list.