Longtime area basketball coach Joe Huey, who coached at Sunset for 19 seasons, died late Friday evening. He was 78.

Huey coached 46 seasons at the junior high, high school and college level. He was an assistant on the 1962 Thomas Jefferson team that went 33-2 and won the UIL Class 4A state title.

Most recently, Huey was an assistant for Chester Story's Richland College team that won the NJCAA Division III championship in 1999.

Huey earned a bachelor's degree at Memphis State and a master's at SMU. He served in the Army from 1954-56 and took up coaching afterward, beginning his career at Spence Middle School.

"When I came into the system, he took me in. We had a lot of chalk talks," said Skyline coach J.D. Mayo, who met Huey in the early 1970s.

"He was a pretty funny guy. Any time I needed a car companion to a coaching clinic or an all-star game, he was ready to go."

Huey required full-time nursing care after suffering a heart attack and stroke last year.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Restland Funeral Home in Dallas.