Every Coach, regardless of how good they are, has difficult or rough seasons. Sometimes they even happen after Championship seasons. For Lion Coach Bob Rogers, he was no exception to this happening.

In his first three seasons, Rogers had won three straight Conference Championships, three straight NAIA District 4 Championships, and had gone to the NAIA Final Four in ’53 and ’55, winning it all in ’55 and getting to the Elite 8 in 1954. In 3 seasons, he had taken a very good East Texas program and had turned them into a dominant program.

After the 1955 team’s title, his 1956 team would take some huge steps back. The team went 14-12 and 8-4 in conference play, good enough for a second place finish, but it was a far cry from where they had gone to the previous years. For the first time in 4 seasons, there was no conference title, no invitation to the NAIA playoffs, which meant also no chance of playing in Kansas City for the national championship. It was a truly hard way to have a season after having so much success in the previous 3.

1957 represented a bounce back for the Lions. After starting the season 2-3, the 1957 Lions charged on the back half to finish the season 18-3 for a 20-5 record overall and a 12-2 conference record, regaining the Lone Star Conference Championship Crown. Rogers and his crew waited for a call to come from Kansas City to see who they would play in the NAIA District 4 playoff round.

They never got the phone call. Rather, they found out that conference rival Southwest Texas State would be playing East Texas Baptist in the NAIA District Championships in Dallas. The Bobcats had defeated the Lions earlier on in the season, but had not finished in first place and the Lions defeated the Bobcats in Commerce towards the end of the 1957 season. It was an odd situation as a conference champion almost rarely got left out, but the NAIA committee that selected the teams felt that Southwest Texas was the better team. SWT would go on to defeat East Texas Baptist 2 games to 3 in the NAIA District 4 playoff to head to Kanas City, where they would defeat Upper Iowa in the round of 32, but lose to Southeastern Oklahoma in the Sweet 16.

It was truly a bittersweet way to end the season, and as it would turn out, an era in Lion Basketball HIstory. Rogers was offered the head coaching job at Texas A&M University where he would be the head coach for the Aggies from 1957-1963, amassing a 92-52 record overall, 51-32 in the Southwest Conference and having 5 winning records in 6 seasons for the Aggies. He retired from coaching and worked for Texas A&M University’s athletic department until he retired from athletic administration. The man that succeeded him at the helm in College Station would become one of the most successful coaches in Aggie Basketball history and ET grad, the great Shelby Metcalf.

I found Rogers’ obituary online which read; Bobby J. Rogers passed away at a local hospital after an extended illness on May 9, 2006. He was born April 12, 1924 in Brinkman, Ok. to Earl Hope and Mallie Moore Rogers. He was preceded in death by brother, Ferrill Hope Rogers and sisters Gladys Rogers Warren and Willene Rogers Wharton. Bob was a Christian man who loved his family, friends, all OSU sports and the Chicago Cubs. He was a 1942 graduate of Stillwater High School and received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Oklahoma A&M. He served honorably in the U.S. Military during WWII. He coached basketball at Connors Jr. College, Warner, Ok, East Texas State Univ., Commerce, Texas, and Texas A &M University, Bryan, Texas. He treasured the continued friendship of many of his former athletes. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Marilyn and children Mike and Diane Rogers, of Waco, Texas and Kevin Blake Rogers of the home.

Rogers was elected to the East Texas State athletic hall of fame in 1994 and despite the way his season ended in 1957, he left Commerce as the greatest basketball coach in program history with the highest winning percentage, and got to hang one last banner in the University Fieldhouse.

East Texas State Lions Basketball

1957 Lone Star Conference Champions