When Jim Gudger took the head basketball coaching position at East Texas State, he had a tall order, which was to turn around a team used to winning that was not winning, and turn them into winners again.

After his first 4 seasons resulting in a 35-68 record, Gudger recruited and brought winning basketball back to Commerce going 128-53 from 1974-1979 with 4 LSC Championships, 4 NAIA tournament appearances, and 6 winning seasons. East Texas State was not only one of the best in the conference, but in the entire nation as well, but there was a change on the horizon that would lead Gudger away from Commerce and into retirement, and it was one that many of us know of with the events of the past few years.

Gudger’s final winning season was during the 1978-1979 season and that season was another one that showed what kind of program it was. A 21-5 overall record got the Lions second place in the Lone Star Conference standings and had them face off with Stephen F. Austin in the first round of the LSC tournament, where the Lions axed the Jacks 81-67 in the first round. The next game would see the Lions get revenge on Howard Payne by swatting the Jackets, 59-56, setting them for their 3rd appearance in the Lone Star Conference tournament championship with an outright NAIA postseason birth on the line. The Lions battled Southwest Texas back and forth tooth and nail and the Lions lost in the most heartbreaking way. A Bobcat forced up what would have been the game tying shot at the buzzer, and the shot went in, but also the Lions were signaled for a shooting foul (or an And 1) as we call it now, the Bobcat sank his shot and any chances of the Lions winning the LSC tournament, but with the expanded NAIA District 4 playoffs, the season was not over yet.

The Lions made the NAIA District 4 playoffs along with St Mary’s, Southwestern, and Southwest Texas. The Lions drew St Marys again and the Rattlers once again bit the Lions in the paw in the first game, ending their season at 23-7. Southwest Texas would end up winning the District 4 title and make a very impressive run all way to the NAIA Final Four. It would be Gudger’s final postseason game and also his final winning season.

In 1978, The Lone Star Conference announced it’s intention to eventually leave the NAIA and join the NCAA’s Division II. The University felt it was a giant leap forward for the school’s athletic program, but Gudger wanted none of it, but he was swimming against the current. Southwest Texas joined the NCAA in Fall of 1980, as did Texas A&I. Gudger made his status clear, if ET left the NAIA, he was gone too as he felt that the NCAA was “a large and evil empire used for nothing but getting money and selectively enforcing it’s laws and regulations.”

With the LSC announcing that it would become an NCAA Division II conference in the fall of 1982, Gudger was left with no choice, he resigned at the end of the 1982-83 season, and retired and decided to stay in Commerce. In 1987 his health started to decline and suffered a heart related illness in June of that year and was treated in Dallas for a week and returned back to Commerce, but shortly after returning home, passed away suddenly at the age of 66.

Gudger’s 202 career wins puts him behind only Sam Walker regarding career wins and his winning stretch from 74-79 puts him in the conversation with anyone as to who could be the greatest ET Men’s Basketball coach. He was also LSC coach of the year in 1975, 1977, and 1978. His red socks, cigar smoking, and unfiltered opinions along with his love for old school and pure amateur athletics and love for East Texas State will keep him in ET Lore as long as East Texas A&M University Stands.