Here's your LU announcement (football):

[HoopInsider_Cooper]

Lamar dedicates Coach Vernon Glass Field of Champions

BEAUMONT, Texas – While a student at Lamar University in the mid-1970s, Bart Simmons learned many things that helped him move on to a successful career in business – one that has seen him become owner of five Dallas area companies.

All that Simmons learned at Lamar, however, did not come in the classroom. Much of his knowledge was picked up on the football field where he received valuable inspiration from Cardinal head coach Vernon Glass.

“I had immense and total respect for Coach Glass,†said Simmons, a three-year letterman as an offensive lineman for the Cardinals who earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Lamar. “He was the best example of a true players’ coach.

“He related to the players, was at ease around them and talked openly with them. More importantly, he motivated them. We all wanted to play our best for Coach Glass. We wanted to play like champions.â€

With that thought in mind, Bart Simmons joined Lamar director of athletics Billy Tubbs, head football Ray Woodard and other dignitaries Monday afternoon in a dedication ceremony for the Coach Vernon Glass Field of Champions – the Cardinals’ practice facility adjacent to the south parking lot of Provost Umphrey Stadium.

Improvements to the practice field to include the addition of a covered pavilion were made possible by a generous gift of $200,000 from Simmons and wife Martye (also a Lamar graduate) to the football program as part of Lamar’s Investing in the Future Campaign.

“Quite often, Coach Glass would say that we won or lost our games on the practice field – not in the stadium,†said Simmons, who was recipient of a 2008 Lamar Distinguished Alumni Award. “Therefore, naming the practice field the Coach Vernon Glass

Field of Champions is appropriate and is the best way I know to honor him and all of the players, coaches and many other folks associated with Lamar football whom he inspired during his important tenure as head coach.â€

Glass, who passed away in December of 2005, served as Lamar’s head coach for 13 seasons from 1963 through 1975. His 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1971 Cardinal teams won Southland Conference championships, and he finished his career with a 63-68-1 record.

“Coach Glass was a true champion and a great Lamar legend,†said Simmons, a past president of the Lamar Student Government Association who now serves on the university’s College of Business Board of Advisors. “It was a privilege to have played for such a fine, respected and honorable man.â€

Glass’ 1964 Cardinals posted a 6-3-1 record and accepted an invitation to the Pecan Bowl in which they bowed to Northern Iowa 19-17 in Abilene. Glass’s best season, however, came in 1974 when the Cardinals went 8-2 to earn him his second SLC Coach of the Year award. The Cardinals’ only losses that season were to Mississippi State and SLC champion Louisiana Tech.

Glass was also the NCAA College Division Coach of the Year in 1964 and 1965, and he was recognized by the Texas Sports Writers Association as Junior College Coach of the Year in 1959 while he was at Del Mar College.

“If you talk to the guys who played for Vernon and those who worked with him, you’ll find out what an outstanding person he was,†said Joe Lee Smith, who was Lamar’s director of sports information during Glass’ tenure at the school. “He was dedicated to doing things the right way – as a coach and as a person. He was clearly a class act.

“Vernon took over  a fairly successful program at the NAIA level under coach J.B. Higgins and accepted the challenge of moving up to the NCAA College Division level. In his second season, we started a string of three-straight conference championships.   

“Soon after that, we took another big step up when we went to the University Division 1A level. That was a huge step, because

Vernon then started having a hard time competing on our limited resources. I don’t think Vernon’s won-lost record is a true reflection of how good of a coach he was, because he had to fight such an uphill battle.†

As a collegian, Glass was a three-year letterman in both football and baseball. He captained the Owls’ 1950 football team and the 1951 baseball team.

As quarterback, Glass keyed Rice’s drive to the 1949 Southwest Conference championship and into the Cotton Bowl when he rallied the Owls to a 17-15 victory over Texas in Austin’s Memorial Stadium. In the Owls’ debut in 70,000-seat Rice Stadium the next season, Glass passed for 217 yards in a 27-7 win over Santa Clara University.

Glass began his coaching career at Del Mar JC in 1956, and he also served three seasons as an assistant at Baylor before succeeding Higgins at Lamar in 1963.

Glass was represented at Monday’s ceremonies by his widow Marilyn, the couple’s daughters – Diana Thibodeaux and husband

Bill, Lindy Gohmert and husband Ricky and Patti Glass and friend Victor Haro – and grandsons B.J. Thibodeaux and Travis Dean.