Lamar University - Cardinal Yearbook (Beaumont, TX)

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1959 Cardinal Football team. First Row: Coach Ty Terrell, Bill McNeill, Ed Peveto, joe Hester, Ronnie Fontenot, Norman Adams, Charles Dinhoble, Paul Herring, Shepard Touchett, Mike Johnson, Gerald Foltyn. Second Row: Coach Dan Rogas, Bobby Koon, John Donaho, David Miller, Nader Bood, Vernon Hill, lV1alcolm McKay, Gary Mc- Kee, William Berlin, David Wieting, Kenneth Bush. Third Row: Pray Campbell, joe Rimes, Gordon Buffington, Billy Ford, Bill Vincent, Jim VVoodard, Henry Sledge, Gerald Lowery, Don Ptacelc. Fourth Row: Butch Hudson, Jerry Rogers, Charles Starcke, Armour lV1clVlanus, Larry VVitte, Alden Kimmey, Jerry Nichols, Larry VVard, Don Maxwell, Connell Pitts, Pat Day, Windell Hebert, Harold Barclay, Coach Bill Tipton, Coach Jim Higgins, Jr. FQOTBALL Lamar Tech's football Redbirds struck only three storm clouds on their flight through the 1959 gridiron campaign. For a brief period in mid-season, the Cardinals were ranked No. 1 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics football poll. Flying to all but one of the out-of-town 1959 battles, the Cardinals negotiated a rugged 11-game schedule pick- ing up eight wins which the first seven were consecutive. That ll-game slate saw the opening of football hostilities with three new foes, the University of South Dakota, Abi- lene Christian College, and Louisiana Tech. All three fell before the fast-starting Birds. As for Lone Star Conference play, the Cardinals wound up in a tie for third place. Lamar Tech posted a 4-3 won-lost record in the conference which produced the NAIA Na- tional Champion Texas A8zI Javelinas. Some of the highlights of the '59 season included the opening game victory over the University of South Dakota, the alma mater of Lamar Tech President Dr. F. L. Mc- Donald, and the paper-thin margins over rugged Louisiana Tech, Abilene Christian College and Stephen F. Austin. That Louisiana Tech team went all the rest of the way un- defeated and Abilene Christian was nudged in a come- from-behind affair, played in a sea of mud with the rain still drenching supposedly dry VVest Texas. There was also that fashionable finish with a 27-14 victory over Sam Houston to spoil the Bearkats' Homecoming Of course, the Cardinals got their knocks during the 1959 season. It's painful to recall that 14-12 Homecoming loss to a monster band of Yellow jackets from Howard Payne. That defeat was the first of the season, making it doubly tough before a packed stadium of Lamar exes. The week before the Homecoming scramble saw a minor jar to Redbird pride when Southwest Texas got its only touch- down on an intercepted pass which was returned more than 100 yards. Lamar won 28-6. But the Cardinals had their share of bright stars. There was Ronnie Fontenot, a pint-sized halfback who led the team in rushing and dazzled the Card rooters with his scampers. Sam I-louston's 1959 Bearkats never rebounded from the second-half opening kickoff he returned for a touchdown. Then there was a pair of huge Bird tackles, lim Wooda1'cl and Henry Sledge. lohn Donaho, Bobby Koon at guards and Cary lVlcKee, the 184-pound center. Larry VVard also kept the fans talking about his punting, some of which was limited only by the size of the gridiron. Doubtless the memories of those Saturday nights will come flooding back when you go through this football section.