One of the goals of the blog when I first started was to bring attention to the great athletic traditions that Texas A&M-Commerce/ET State have. Basketball is one of the great sports that has not been really had a lot of attention paid to it. Perhaps it is because of the fact everyone knows about Football because we have put so many guys in the pros and have had guys like Wade Wilson, Harvey Martin, Dwight White, Will Cureton, and Kyle Mackey have success by either becoming starters or all time greats. We really do not have that in Basketball, but that does negate the fact that we have a lot of the same things that Football has done. National Championship, tons of winning seasons, multiple Lone Star Conference Championships. So let’s get down to it.
Overall Program Record: 1,320-1,053 (.556 Winning Percentage)
Head Coach: Jared Von Rosenberg. (New Coach, will do write up on him later)
Winningest Coach: Sam Walker (2000-17, 285-205)
Sam Walker’s 285 Career wins over 17 seasons is the most for a coach in Lion History.
National Titles: 1954-1955
The 1954-55 East Texas State Lions, NAIA National Basketball Champions.
Final Four Appearances: 3 (All NAIA)
Fourth Place in the country in the 1978 NAIA Tournament.
1955 National Championship Trophy
National Tournament Appearances: (19) 1940, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1958, 1964, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979, (NAIA) 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2015, 2017. (NCAA)
Lone Star Conference Championships: (22) 1934, 1936, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1948, 1950, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1964, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2005, 2015.
Pro Players: Darrell Williams, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Israeli Premier League
Darrell Williams, whose story of trial and tribulations and eventual triumph made national headlines, is the only active TAMUC Alum playing Pro Basketball.
