“Observe constantly that all things take place by change, and accustom thyself to consider that the nature of the Universe loves nothing so much as to change the things which are, and to make new things like them.” Those immortal words, spoken by the great Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, speak of the nature of life…

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…

After a challenging first four years at East Texas State University, Jim Gudger had gotten the Lions back to where they had been in the previous decades. He had them winning conference championships, making the NAIA postseason, making deep runs, and winning the conference tournament championships. He had the program among the elite in the…

I did not live through the 1970’s, but ask anyone who was there, times changed, and the ways of doing thing had changed. One thing had not changed, and that was Jim Gudger’s powerful East Texas State Men’s Basketball team. 1975 had been gotten the Lions a conference title, but not a chance to get…

Basketball changes, that is just the nature of the game. Even if the game itself does not change, because after all, the whole point is to put a leather ball in a round hoop and do it more times than the other team, things still change, and in the 1974-1975 season, things were changing more…

When Norman Pilgrim left Commerce after a decade at the helm with two LSC titles and two NAIA appearances, one of Pilgrim’s players, Phil Andrews took over for one season and the results was a 9-18 season. It was a time for the ET athletic department to look for a coach who was seasoned and…