DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little room to breathe. Now, the name on this school is Coronado — and that name carries some weight, so let's talk about the man behind it. Coronado High School opened here in Lubbock in 1965, and it was named for Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, a Spanish explorer who, way back in 1541, set out across one of the loneliest stretches of land you can imagine — the Llano Estacado.
That great flat tableland, rolling out in every direction with nothing to stop the wind, nothing to guide your eye. And Coronado had a guide. A man known only as The Turk — an Indian who led the expedition through that vast, unforgiving country.
Where were they headed? A fabled city called Gran Quivira. Now, when I say fabled, I mean exactly that — a city of legend, the kind of place that shimmers on the horizon of ambition and keeps movin' the closer you get.
And Coronado's expedition wandered for many days through western Texas chasing it. Here's where it gets close to home. The marker says the expedition possibly passed through the vicinity of Lubbock.
Possibly. That one word is doing a lot of work. We don't know for certain — nobody does — but the idea that Coronado and his men may have moved right through this very ground, guided by The Turk, searching for something they'd never quite find... well, that's the kind of story a school decides is worth puttin' on its name.
Opened in 1965, named for a man who wandered this land in 1541. Some searches never end — they just get commemorated.
What the marker says
Opened in 1965. Named for Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, the Spanish explorer who, guided by an Indian known as "The Turk", traversed the Llano Estacado in search of the fabled "city" of Gran Quivira in 1541. The expedition wandered for many days through western Texas, possibly passing the vicinity of Lubbock. 1969