Page 12

Soccer Lions go to regionals

The Lion soccer team had one of its most successful seasons in the nine-year history of the program. The Lions won the Lone Star Conference regular season title, posting a 16-3-3 record, 7-1-1 in LSC action.

The Lions advanced to the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional in Denver, Colo., where they fell to West Texas A&M, 2-1. It was the Lions’ second trip to the NCAA Tournament.

It was quite a run for the team that tied the record for wins in a season with 16 and broke the school mark for fewest losses with three.

Neil Piper was named the LSC Coach of the Year, while sophomore Erin de Wolfe was honored with the LSC’s Offensive Player of the Year, and Tiffany Adams was the league’s Freshman of the Year.

Adams, de Wolfe and defender Melissa Arnold were named first team All-LSC, with Bruggemann and defender Lanna King honored as second team selections.

Volleyball concludes

The Lion volleyball team finished its first season under new head coach Gwen Adams (BS ‘98, MS ‘99) with a 15-16 overall record, 3-7 in LSC action.

Four Lions were honored on the All-LSC North team.

Senior Amy Wallace of Paris, who led the Lions with 4.17 kills per game and a .294 hitting percentage, was named to the first team All-LSC North, the only non-championship team player so selected by the league’s coaches.

Seniors Chantae Weathers of San Antonio/Holmes, Davina Goodman of DeSoto and junior LaTasha Jacobs of Longview/Pine Tree were tapped as honorable mentions to the team.

Football has two LSC South awardees

Lion seniors Derrick Crawford and Jared Williams were named as top players at their positions, and 13 players in all were selected to the 2003 All-Lone Star Conference South Football Team.

The Lions, who finished the season 1-10 overall, 0-8 in all LSC games and 0- 6 in the LSC South, placed three on the first team, four on the second team and had six named honorable mention in the voting by the conference head coaches.

Crawford, Williams, and junior punter Chris Miller were all selected to the first team.

Crawford, a 6-4, 295-pound defensive lineman, was named the division’s Defensive Lineman of the Year. He led the LSC in sacks with 8.5 to rank 26th in Division II and collected 53 total tackles with a team leading 14 tackles for losses.

Williams, a 6-2, 240-pound linebacker, led the Lions with 127 tackles and ranked second in the LSC and 12th nationally with 11.5 tackles per game.

Miller, a 6-3, 200-pound punter, led the LSC and ranked second in Division II with an A&M-Commerce record 44.148 yard average. He punted 54 times for 2,384 yards on the season with nine punts inside the opponents’ 20. He broke the school record with an average of 50.3 yards per punt on six punts against West Texas A&M, including his career-long punt of 69 yards. Fullback Demarquis Price, receiver Victor Bennett, offensive lineman Ryan Graves, and safety Myron Davis were all chosen to the All-LSC South second team. Running back Joel Tudman, receiver Willie Whiting, tight end John Wingate, linebacker John Paul Mulligan, linebacker Tay Weatherspoon and cornerback Andrew Blount were all named as honorable mentions to the team.

Brister retires as Lion football coach

Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor

President Keith McFarland (left), the chairman of the Lone Star Conference Council of Presidents, presents former Lion and NFL quarterback Wade Wilson the LSC Hall of Honor Eagle at halftime of the Lion Homecoming game against Abilene Christian. An A&M-Commerce Athletic Hall of
Fame member, Wilson is the first A&M-C Student- Athlete inducted into the LSC Hall of Honor as one of just three people selected this past summer. The University has two other members in the now 22-member Hall. Dr. Jesse Hawthorne, athletic director emeritus, was an inaugural member in 1996, and the late Delmer Brown, former trainer and track coach, was selected in 2000.

Alumna pens latest addition to growing Sam Rayburn Serie

Thanks in a small part to The Pride, the Sam Rayburn Series on Rural Life has a new book to be proud of. Alumna and retired English professor Mary Cimarolli (MA ’72, EDD ’77) wrote The Bootlegger’s Other Daughter, which focuses on Mary’s family in rural northeast Texas during the Great Depression. A native of the Arbala community in Hopkins County, Mary now lives in Richardson, Texas, and is retired from Richland College.

The book—Mary’s first—is a welcome addition, said Dr. James Grimshaw, general editor of the series, which is published by the Texas A&M University Press.

Mary approached Dr. Grimshaw after she read about the Sam Rayburn Series, which focuses on nonfiction facets of life in rural East Texas, in The Pride.

Dr. Grimshaw said that the memoir, the first of that genre for the series, is a significant work because "it not only tells a story about a family, but it also gives insight into the historical events of the day."

From a child's perspective, Mary describes the cotton stamps and other programs of the New Deal, the yellowdog Democrat politics and racism of East Texas, church revivals and Old Settlers Reunions.

To help his family financially survive the Great Depression, Mary's father did many things to earn money, including bootlegging liquor, she said