When the news broke that the Texas A&M University system was going to finally approve the construction of a new events center that would host our Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams, along with the Volleyball program among other things, I was excited like to much of Lion nation. I also had some ideas that I wanted to kick around.

Jim Curry, aside from being a terrific guy and a terrific AD, is one of the most open minded administrators I have ever known and spoken with, and that is saying something considering how open guys like Tim McMurray and Ryan Ivey were to suggestions from fans and alums. After a few days, I spoke with Jim and told him that I had an idea regarding the naming of the new basketball arena.

When Jim struck up a corporate sponsorship with Hunt Regional Medical and had the floor at the University Fieldhouse given naming rights, I knew Jim was a lot like the previous AD who was very business and corporate oriented. With that, I knew that there was a very good chance that either the new arena or game court, or both, would have a naming rights. So I spoke with Jim and while he said his goal was to have a naming rights sponsorship for the entire building, I asked him about the court, and I also pitched him this idea that I am pitching to everyone know. I did this because the last thing I wanted to do was to step on Jim’s toes.

Back in 2012 when a group of us started the movement to add Coach Ernest Hawkins’ name to Memorial Stadium, we had to kick around a lot of ideas. Our first idea was “Ernest Hawkins Commerce Memorial Stadium.” That name gained some traction but also was met with some consternation that with Coach Hawk still being alive and with us, it was a “pre memorial” to him and that since the stadium was a war memorial stadium that it would denigrate the names of those soldiers that had given their lives for their country. I understood that, so we had to kick around some ideas. 5 years and millions of dollars later, we got Ernest Hawkins Field at Memorial Stadium, a perfect compromise to honor the best football coach we ever had along with honoring the memory of the Lions who had fallen in World War II.

Now that the ground has started turning just south of campus, it is time to use it as a chance to honor a man who gave his life to the University. LIterally.

Dr. Dan R. Jones, our Alma Mater’s President from 2008-2016.

“Dr. Dan” as I and so many called him, was at the precipice of so much progress and growth for the University during the time he was in the President’s office. During his time, our enrollment exploded up to a record 13,500 in the fall of 2014. In the fall of 2013, our College of Education and Human Services was named number 1 in the entire State of Texas and 13th nationally for the quality of teacher education the University provided. In 2016, The Carnegie Research Institute labled our institution an “R2” on a scale of R1-R4. We were also given the status of “emerging” and “potential R1” which would have meant our school was making the kind of academic progress and rigorous research activity that would have put us in the category of major state schools such as Texas A&M, Texas, Texas Tech, and even a private school like Rice. Yes, THAT Rice. Things were looking good, the school was rated as a “moderate selective” by US News and World Report, meaning that you didn’t have to have Ivy League pedigree or intellect to get in, (which given the insanity at your average Ivy today, does not mean much) but you needed to bring a strong background to be a Lion and that going to school here was a privilege, and not a right to just anyone. You needed to WANT to be a Lion. Not just because it was close and the cheapest alternative.

The enrollment gave way to a lot of new residential buildings, the Phase buildings, Pride Rock Residential, the eventual total purchase of Prairie Crossing for the Honors College Students, along with a new music building, a massive set of improvements to Memorial Stadium and The Fieldhouse, and a new music building with a concert hall and a marching band that was providing a musical education that was second to none. Let’s not forget the school of nursing and biomedical sciences building that is truly something to behold. Dr Dan fought hard for that and for the A&M system to spare no expense when they built it, even though he did not live to see the groundbreaking.

Speaking of second to none, with the hiring of Athletic Directors like Ryan Ivey and later Tim McMurray, that led to the hiring of Coaches like Colby Carthel, who took us to the top in Division II college football, Jason Burton, who awoke the Lion in Women’s Basketball, Craig Case, who took the Volleyball team to heights not seen in over 30 years, and saw the continued success of programs like Men’s Basketball and Women’s Soccer, Golf, and the advent of a new and successful softball program with a top of the line facility in the John Cain Family Softball Complex.

Even when Dr Dan was in the President’s office, there was talk about the new for a new basketball and volleyball complex, as well as the need for either a new stadium or a massively improved one. One thing to note was that Dr Dan absolutely LOVED athletics, and considering that he had never been in a position of power or authority at any previous school regarding athletics. I remember in 2013 when the football team defeated Tarleton State for the first time since 2006 for the President’s Cup, most Presidents would have taken the Trophy and handed it to the coach and let him speak, but Dr Dan took a picture of the himself with the trophy and talked about how proud he was of the team and said how he had watched the team “come together in the heat of August, the early trials of the season, and now you have something to show you are bringing football back to Commerce!” You would have thought the man was the new coach. He did much the same thing when he cut down the nets in 2015 when the Men’s Basketball team won the conference for the first time since 2005, and loved to show off his conference championship rings from football, basketball, and track that had been gifted to him by the athletic department.

Sadly, Dr Dan left us in April of 2016. Most of you know why. He had been struggling with mental health, a subject that most of America was not talking about, and sadly he lost his battle with it. In the past decade, with the rash of suicides, the number of people who have come out publicly talking about how they struggle with mental health, it became more inescapable to talk about during the COVID pandemic as society was told to do everything that destroys good mental health habits. Now, thankfully we have evolved to a society that understands it is ok to not be ok, and that people who fight this every day have hope with things like churches, counseling, medication, therapy, and self care. Dr Dan fought it to the very day he passed.

The school has done a very poor job of remembering just how much this man did for us and what it cost him and his family. There are other factors that I wish I could talk about but for right now will not regarding what happened and how it was handled by those who had the power to help. In 2019, the A&M system voted to name a memorial circle after Dr Jones near the library. It is a circle that has a bronze statue of Dr Dan as a young man located on the south side of the library between two oak trees that you really have to look to find.

That’s it? That is all you can do for a man who literally gave his life for this school and it’s success? That is pathetic. He deserved better in this life and didn’t get it, it is time to give his memory and his family just a tiny bit back of all that they all gave us in those 8 years at the helm. We are in the position to be in Division I and to have a new arena because of those 8 years that Dr Dan Jones worked for. He loved Texas A&M-Commerce. He loved Commerce, TX. He loved Lions. He loved being a Lion. By not honoring this man, we are relegating his legacy to something the school does not wish to discuss. Was his passing tragic? Absolutely. However, I know this one thing, he would have wanted his struggle to save just one overstressed professor, or one lonely college student, or one overwhelmed student athlete by getting help when they needed it. That kind of selflessness alone should have anyone honored, and it should be shown proudly.

When the time comes, let’s do the right thing and give Dr. Dan’s memory and his family something they so deeply deserve. A place of honor by naming the game court at the new arena and the events center the Dan R. Jones Court.

Below is a petition to sign if you feel so compelled. Lets honor Dr. Dan.