Call The Roll Podcast-Holding Court

Banner Years & Tournament Tales Vol. 8-The Set Up For the Future-1948-49 East Texas State Lions Basketball

Year 3 for Darrell Tully’s East Texas State squad was roughly what one would have expected. He had a winning record, contention for conference championships, and in the hunt for the NAIA postseason. It would be his final season before heading south to the Houston area where he would become one of the most notable…

Division I Diatribes: It’s All Greek To Me

I will never forget my first on campus visit to what was then Texas A&M-Commerce. Spring of 2005. I took my first walk around campus and on the old quad where the Rayburn Student Center used to be, scribbled in chalk there was written RUSH PIKE 2005 or Rush EX and then two large letters…

Banner Years & Tournament Tales-Vol. 7- Getting Back on Track

After 9 seasons and 105 wins, East Texas State basketball coach Dennis Vinzant decided to leave Commerce and hand the reigns over to his trusty assistant Darrell Tully. Tully was not just some assistant coach, he was an all time Lion great way before he took the head basketball coaching job. From 1935-1939, Tully was…

Call The Roll Podcast-They’re In

Banner Years & Tournament Tales Vol. 6-Making it a habit-1942 East Texas State Basketball

Dennis Vinzant’s East Texas State Teachers College Lions were starting making going to Kansas City a habit at the end of the year, and for the 1942 Lions, it was a start of some adversity that would lay the groundwork for the great teams to come in an era with so much uncertainty. After making…

Division I Diatribes: TURN THE MUSIC DOWN!!!!!!! (Or Just Change the Dial)

I have been meaning to write about this for a long, long, time. I love music. I love raw, rockin’, upbeat, tempo driven music. My musical tastes can vary, but I won’t get into what they are because this DI diatribe really isn’t about a need to know about what I like and what I…

Call The Roll Podcast-What Are The Odds?

Banner Years & Tournament Tales-Vol.5-Back For The First Time-1940 East Texas State Basketball

Dennis Vinzant’s name is not usually mentioned in the names of the great Lion Basketball coaches, but for the pre World War II era and the college students that made up the greatest generation, it was Vinzant that steadied so much of the athletic department at East Texas State Teacher’s College during that time frame.…

Call The Roll Podcast-Springing Forward

Banner Years & Tournament Tales Vol. 4-1936 East Texas State Basketball

In these chronicles, or tales, or whatever you wish to call them, some of them are longer than others and back in 1936, close to 90 years ago, it is a given that basketball was much different today than it is now. The game has evolved (and for the worst in the past decade if…

Division I Diatribes: Russ Would Have Loved It

It has been so hard to believe that 365 days ago today, Lion Nation lost a fan, a former player, a student of sports and sports writing, and a Lion of Old ET to the core. Others lost a husband, a loving father, and I lost my best friend. Russell McLean’s passing this time last…

Banner Years & Tournament Tales-Vol.3-1934 East Texas State Basketball

J.V. Sikes is a coaching legend in the annals of East Texas State Lion history. A northeast Texas native from Leonard, Sikes was a 3 sport letterman at Texas A&M University before he got into coaching. In 1929, Sikes left Southeast Texas and came north to coach the freshman at East Texas State Teachers College…

Call the Roll Podcast-Upward Trajectory

Banner Years & Tournament Tales-Vol. 2-1965 East Texas State Lion Men’s Golf

Mark Twain once said about the game of golf, that “Golf is a good walk that is spoiled.” I know that first hand. I have been learning how to play the game for the past 5 years and I slowly but surely am getting better, but I hate the slowly part. That being said, being…

Call The Roll Podcast-Dropping The Ball

Banner Years & Tournament Tales Vol. 1 : 1939 East Texas State Lions Basketball

I love two things, history and basketball. I read a lot because in my 38 years it amazes me how things have progressed from the time I was coming home as a newborn from St. Paul’s Medical in Dallas to the current day. How much our society has evolved and changed from 10, 20, 30…