Homegrown Leader: TASB President Brings Strong Voice to New Role

Tony Hopkins was home from college on Labor Day weekend in 1994 when he got the call.

“Good. You’re home,” said Wiley Murrell, then the athletic director at Friendswood High School.

Murrell was in a pinch, and he seemed to know Hopkins could help. The team announcer had moved to Katy but forgot to tell his Friendswood ISD folks he couldn’t get back to call games.

“You’re the new football announcer,” Murrell proclaimed. “Please come to the stadium in an hour.”

Hopkins, who had some experience in the field, headed to the stadium and was soon calling his first varsity football game: Friendswood High vs. Pearland High School. For the rest of that season, and for the following three years, Hopkins drove home from Beaumont’s Lamar University to be the “Voice of the Mustangs,” for his alma mater on Friday nights.

It wasn’t the first time Friendswood ISD needed his help, and it wouldn’t be the last opportunity for Hopkins to serve his district. The football announcer’s role has been his ever since that call, even after he was first elected to the district’s school board in 2008. And it’s one he is continuing as he takes on the added responsibility of serving as the 2025-26 TASB President.

“The proud and passionate strong voice that football fans hear on Friday nights is the same voice I hear whenever he advocates for the broader public education community,” said his predecessor, Rolinda Schmidt, a Kerrville ISD trustee who now serves as TASB Immediate Past President. “Tony is a born leader shaping the lives of young people in his own community and across Texas. He is a dynamic and dedicated trustee with a true servant heart.”

Growing up in Friendswood

Hopkins talks a good game, but his actions on behalf of public education speak even more loudly. Both traits were nurtured in his hometown of Friendswood, a community south of Houston originally founded by Quakers. His parents moved there in 1973 from Texas City. Three years later, Hopkins was born.

Back then, Friendswood was largely a farming community, but it swelled in size as families moved to town after the opening of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in nearby Clear Lake.

NASA’s influence meant Hopkins grew up around astronauts and their families as well as aerospace engineers and rocket scientists. But he said Friendswood has always had a small-town feel. “What hasn’t changed is the focus on faith, family, and education.”

A Love for Learning and Earning

At Friendswood ISD, Hopkins remembers “constantly pushing the boundaries to experience everything life had to offer.” He explored his love of math, music, and sports.

His entrepreneurial streak also took hold in his home town, where at age 9 he started a business mowing lawns and doing other small jobs for neighbors.

“I was known for riding my bike to the bank on Saturday mornings to deposit my earnings. I would get the free donuts and listen to the businessmen in town talk about what deals they were doing,” Hopkins recalled.

The mowing business grew over the years, allowing him to save enough money to help cover tuition and other expenses at Lamar University, where he initially planned to pursue a career in sports administration or broadcasting but instead got a degree in finance. Next was Rice University, where he earned an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship — and announced Owls home baseball games.

Those Saturdays at the bank spent listening to businessmen planted the seeds for a 19-year career in mergers, acquisitions, and corporate finance in the power generation sector. In 2018, he purchased an interest in Modular Plant Solutions, a company that has a patented modularization technology and has designed modular methanol and gasoline refining facilities. He also serves as a fractional chief financial officer for 14 companies in the Houston area.

Hopkins and his wife, Sheri, have two children. His son, Cooper, is a 2024 graduate of Friendswood High School and is finishing Electrical Lineman’s Academy at Texas A&M Engineering Extension. Daughter Bailey is a sophomore at Friendswood High and is on the varsity volleyball team.

Serving on the School Board

Running for public office had long been a goal since his high school days when he was a student council member — but he hadn’t envisioned a spot on the school board. Yet there was a need, and once again, Hopkins seemed the right person for the job. A mentor from church and business told him about a trustee with deep financial expertise who was rolling off the board. He wanted Hopkins to consider running.

“When I hesitated, he made the final pitch that no one would run against me because I had been the football announcer in town for 15 years and would be able to speak to all of the voters every Friday night throughout the election season,” Hopkins recalled.

Hopkins ran, unopposed, for four elections, finally getting an opponent in the November 2024 race, which he won by 19 percentage points. He has served as board president since 2018.

As is his style, Hopkins immediately “dug into” school board work, reading and analyzing everything he could about Friendswood ISD and public education. “I quickly figured out that this really was a business to run.” And the “business” is all about serving the more than 6,000 students at Friendswood ISD.

Superintendent Thad Roher said Hopkins “has been shaped and formed into the man he is by the community that has surrounded him here in FISD. His loyalty to not only pay that back but making the same thing possible for every FISD student is what drives his passion and makes him special.”

Hopkins credits his fellow trustees with consistently being well-prepared for each meeting. “We’ve always had a really good board,” he said.

A consensus builder, Hopkins said he works hard to carefully set the stage for various issues to help ensure a positive outcome. His board will have long, thoughtful, respectful conversations about issues before taking a vote. They take the time to build a consensus and understanding among members.

In his nearly 17 years of service, the board has overseen a wide range of projects and initiatives — from replacing the district’s original school from 1939 with a modern building in 2010 to expanding the career and technical education, fine arts, and athletic programs. The district has won multiple Lone Star Cups and Academic Decathlon State Championships, all while maintaining one of the highest academic ratings in Texas.

Time With TASB

Board work naturally led to attending TASB conferences and Delegate Assembly, the Association’s annual business meeting.

“I learned a ton from other board members and experts across the state,” he said. “Leadership TASB was a formative experience in expanding my perspective from focusing on our local issues to realizing what happens at the state level.”

Hopkins was a director and officer with the Gulf Coast Area Association when he sought a seat on the TASB Board of Directors when it opened in 2017.

Being part of TASB’s leadership has allowed him to “identify issues earlier so that we can be prepared to deal with those issues. I have then been able to be a resource to neighboring districts in my region as well.”

Plans as TASB President

As TASB President, Hopkins wants to focus on visiting with board members across Texas to discuss the Association’s new strategic plan “so they can see the nonpartisan local government focus that TASB has to make each district better.

“I also want to work on conveying the value of being a local voice for change, both in your community and with your local leaders at the state level,” Hopkins said. “I look forward to traveling across the state of Texas to carry the message of the importance of public education and how it is the great equalizer in our society that can allow anyone that has a good education and work ethic to achieve the American dream.”

Hopkins enjoys taking on a challenge; maybe it’s a life lesson learned through his sports background.

Sports have always been a part of his life. Playing sports was the early goal, but a knee injury changed his trajectory. In addition, his voice dropped a few octaves in junior high, which helped him with his next challenge.

While in eighth grade, the athletics coordinator told him one day he was going to announce a junior high girls’ track meet and then the boys’ meet the next day. “I did it, and everyone was impressed by how well I helped it run. Then I went to high school and started with basketball, then baseball, and most other sports.”

As a freshman at Friendswood High School, Hopkins became the basketball manager for then-coach Mark Griffon. It was a job he kept all four years.

“As a student he was very organized and had knowledge of the game, so he quickly started keeping all our stats. Tony basically became an assistant coach and organized all our stats,” said Griffon, now the high school’s principal. “He was passionate about performing well in school academically and being involved in co-curricular activities, including our high school musical. I can honestly say I don't think the ‘Hop’ ever missed a game or made a mistake with a stat.

“As a board member and the ‘Voice of the Mustangs,’ he is a huge supporter of all our kids and FISD. He motivates our kids to get involved in activities and excel to enrich their high school experience,” Griffon added. “Tony has helped to build, and has been a part of creating, the FHS tradition of excellence. He lives, shares, and models that excellence with parents and students everyday as the president of our school board.”

For Hopkins, it’s all about giving back to a community that has given him so much and voicing support for public education — and high school football.

“As the VOTM, I love the excitement and joy I can bring to the community on a Friday night.”

Photo courtesy of Friendswood ISD: TASB President Tony Hopkins (left) and Friendswood ISD Superintendent Thad Roher (right) honor sixth-grade students and their science teacher, Brittni Sosa, at a school board meeting for their innovation and dedication to learning.