Texas A&M University-Commerce inducted the 1957 football team, the 1972 tennis team, the 1972 football team, Terry Burnett, Bill Gaines and Jon Gilliam into its Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday.
1957 FOOTBALL TEAM??The 1957 East Texas State University football team went 8-1 in the regular season while claiming the Lone Star Conference Championship. After the regular season, the Lions accepted a bid to play in the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Florida on Jan. 1, 1958. East Texas State pulled off a 10-9 victory over Southern Mississippi on a 31-yard field goal by fullback Neal Hinson. East Texas was also the only four-year college in Texas to win a postseason bowl game that year, and were led by Lions Hall of Fame coach J.V. Sikes.
1972 TENNIS TEAM?On June 9, 1972, the Lions tennis team won its first national tennis championship in school history. Dr. Bill Crabtree, Lions Hall of Fame and Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor Coach, helped coach the team to break a six-year championship reign from Redlands College of California. Harry Fritz led the Lions throughout the season defeating Kim Ketelson of Southeastern Oklahoma, 7-5, 6-3 for the National Singles Championship and joined teammate Bob Hochstadter to win the National Doubles Championship over Southeastern’s Ketelson and Mark Milligan. In taking down the Lone Star Conference championship, Fritz defeated teammate John Blackmon in the semifinals and set up an all-Lions singles final against Hochstadter.
1972 FOOTBALL TEAM?Six months after the tennis team won the national championship, the Lions football team notched its only national football championship in school history with a 21-18 victory over No. 2 Carson-Newman College of Tennessee. Prior to the championship game, the Lions routed No. 1 Central Oklahoma, 54-0. Head coach Ernest Hawkins, Lions Hall of Fame and Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor Coach, along with team captains Denver Crawley, Harvey Martin and Dour Walker helped the Lions finish with a 10-2 overall record. After the season, Hawkins was named the National Coach of the Year, Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year and the Lions team won the Dwight David Eisenhower trophy. Martin, running back Kenneth Parks and guard Curtis Wester were named first team All-America, while defensive back Autry Beamon earned a second-team selection. Offensive tackle Crawley, defensive back Ricky Earle and wide receiver Dudley Slice were awarded honorable mention All-America honors. Winning both the 1972 football and tennis national championships, the Lions became the first NAIA school in history to win two national championships in the same year.
TERRY BURNETT?Terry Burnett started his track and field career at East Texas State University as a walk-on, non-scholarship athlete in 1964. Before long, Burnett ran his way into the Lions and Lone Star Conference record books. He holds school records in the 330-yard hurdles – 37.6 in 1966 – which is also a LSC record, and 440-yard hurdles (52.5 in 1968). Burnett was a member of three relay teams that also set school records: the mile relay team with a time of 3:09.8 in 1967, the spring medley team with a time of 3:19.4 in 1967 and the mile relay team that set an indoor mile relay record of 3:22.6 in 1967. Burnett helped lead the Lions to their third-straight Lone Star Conference championship in 1967.
BILL GAINES?After transferring from Henderson County Junior College, Bill Gaines played two years for the East Texas State Lions and was named team captain in the 1967-68 season. During his two-year career with the team, Gaines set a school record for most field goal attempts in a game with 36 against Prairie View. He went on to being named second-team All-Lone Star Conference in 1966-67. He had a season-high 33 points against Northwestern Louisiana. In the 1967-68 season, Gaines led the Lone Star Conference and set a Lions school record for points per game with a 25.1 average. After his senior season, he was drafted in the 15th round of the NBA draft by the San Diego Rockets.
JON GILLIAM?Jon Gilliam was a letterman for the East Texas State Lions in 1957, ’58 and ’59, he was named honorable mention All-Lone Star Conference at center in ’58 and ’59. During Gilliam’s Lions career, he helped the team go 28-3 overall and 18-3 in LSC play. After his Lions football career, Gilliam went on to play eight seasons in the AFL/NFL as an offensive lineman with the Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs. He made an appearance in Super Bowl I. Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers drafted Gilliam in the 14th round.