Lamar University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 56, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, September 14, 1979 Page: 4 of 8
eight pages : ill. ; page 23 x 16 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
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UNIVERSITY PRESS September 14.1979*4
Diversions
1925 football team
The “Brahmas,” later to be renamed “Cardinals*
are pictured here on the entrance steps to South
Park High School and Junior College.
Joe J. Vincent, back row, was head coach.
Early aerial view
This view of the campuS^tfiKfeh shortly after World W
pus on page 1. The five^ajd^buildings in center phbu
$850,000.
Pilot training-
Pictured here is
Lamar’s civilian
pilot training class
of 1942. This class
was set up as part of
the college’s con-
tribution to the
war effort.
charged no tuition, only a matriculatiod
fee of$5. Ydti say that’s enough to mak^
you cry?''JtJst'Wait, it gets worse. Nob-
residents werfe 'only charged $10 a month
for tuition, and could pay by the month'ft
they diiJSi. ii6W
■ .£ t»ii>2 UOV *)(!
This made for resentment among titfc
students'fM)m>! the other school systerrik
Some oMWeiht>even started moving into thfe
South PtfNaxdrea when they graduated
from hlgh’gcttdbl, or claiming the strdet
addressKof1 relatives within the system,"tb
avoid paying the college tuition.
There had always been a lot of rivalry
amonjj^cff^sMrool systems, especially bet-
ween ,(fi§£lumont and South Park
districtS;l!dfitf’lii 1930 the Beaumont School
District1’stir'ted talking about opening';a
junior college of its own. The talk came'to
No party and candles are planned, but
then most 56-year-olds feel that they are
just a little too old for such frivolity.
Monday is the 56th birthday of Lamar
which has grown during its lifetime into a
state-supported university with over 12,000
students, a 200-acre main campus, and
branch campuses in Orange and Port Ar-
thur.
Lamar first sprang—er, toddled— to life
as a tiny junior college holding classes on
the third floor of a local high school. And
the taxpayers who picked up the tab didn’t
even have anything to say about it.
You say that sounds illegal? Not at all.
The Board of Trustees of the South Park
Independent School District, one of three
school districts in the city, simply voted in
1923 to open a. junior college, and then
proceeded to do so.
nothing, however, and the districts finally
decided that one college in Beaumont whs
enough.
Whether all this was a contributing fd£-
tor isn’t clear', but things really began to
change' out at the junior college, starting
with fhb name of the place. A contest Wajs
helcf m4932 tb choose a new name, with'a
yearh%blftjlhfship going to the winner. ,
bilofc
Otho Plummer, who had already
graduated from the college, won the con-
test with fn^ pilggestion of Lamar College,
in honoP of°Mlrabeau B. Lamar, second
president of ffie1 Republic and generally
considered the father of public education
in Texas. (Plummer later became a mem-
ber of the Lamar Board of Regents, and, is
now Chairman o^ the Board.) ,4
The junior college had fielded a football
team from 1923 to 1926, playing two,jar
three gfipiesayear against the freshmen
teams @fafqur-year colleges, but $t-
tendance£t the games had always beep
pretty badYou say some things nev^r
change?,i;,Maybe this semester. W^ll,
anyway, football was dropped after th^l
season.
In 19J2, ‘robtball was reinstated al
Lamar, and foxing John Gray was hired'&s
head coa^lr 'and athletic director.
changed the*team’s name from the o^c
“Brahmas'” t'b the “Cardinals,” and me
team colors from maroon and gray to red
and blue'?'!'Later, during the’60s, the colors
were ch’ab^bd to red and white.)
In 1933,' a new administration class
room bulldiYig was built next to the Soiijlli
Park Hi^h)'Shh6bl, and was soon followed
by another hew”building. (Both are now
It was a bold move. There was only one
other publicly supported junior college in
the state, in Wichita Falls, and it was only
a few months old. Nobody knew if the far-
from-wealthy South Park School District
could support a junior college, but the
School Board, under the leadership of
Superintendent L.R. Pietzsch, who
became the first president of the college,
was confident that the experiment would
work.
A new South Park High School had just
been built, and the junior college would
hold classes on the third floor. If the ex-
perimental new college failed, the third
floor could be used by the high school.
The college didn’t fail. By the second
year, over 200 students were applying for
admission. Summer sessions were star-
ted, and have continued until the present.
In its second year, the college was ac-
credited by the Texas State Department of
Education. Young colleges didn’t usually
gain accreditation so soon, and it was con-
sidered quite a tribute to the ad-
ministration and faculty.
According to Dr. John Gray, a student in
the first session and later president of
Lamar, two members of that faculty went
on to become presidents of major univer-
sities. “Dr. Grayson L. Kirk, my govern-
ment and political science teacher, later
became president of Columbia University
in New York City,” Dr. Gray said, “and
Dr. C.A. Whyburn, my mathematics
teacher, became president of Texas Tech
University in Lubbock.”
Since the college was supported by the
South Park taxpayers, residents were
v-a
JmbMM
Cardinal Band
Taken about 1942, this picture shows a young band, in number that is. The building in center background was rebuilt
after it burned in the 1960s and is now the Physics Building. The building, upper right, is part of the present Galloway
Business Building.
Admin istration
Dr. John Gray, now president
emritus, and secretary Betty Sue
Risinger are shown in this 1940s
photo taken in the president’s
office, located in what is now the
Wimberly Student Affairs
Building. Dr. Gray was president
of Lamar from 1941 until 1951 and
again from 1972 until 1977.
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Hale, Greg. Lamar University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 56, No. 4, Ed. 1 Friday, September 14, 1979, newspaper, September 14, 1979; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500403/m1/4/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.