PORT ARTHUR — Editor’s note: The following column from the Best of West collection was originally published in the Port Arthur News on Dec. 27, 1995.

                                     

 

          Regardless of tonight’s outcome, a first-ever visit from the University of Texas promises to at least stir memories of how the atmosphere used to be for the Lamar University basketball program.  Thanks in no small part to the ticket-selling boost of state Rep. Mark Stiles, the Montagne Center should rock the way it did on a fairly regular basis for an all too brief period in the 1980s.

            As four NCAA banners and four more NIT flags hanging from the rafters testify, LU actually was a basketball power from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s.  Matter of fact, neither the University of Texas, nor anybody else from the Southwest Conference, was in the same league with Cardinal teams that rang up 80-consecutive home floor wins, and became a dreaded NCAA first-round foe.

            Lamar won 20 games or more every season from 1978-79 through 1984-85.  Add the following year, when they were 18-12, and the Cardinals made eight consecutive post-season appearances.  NCAA victims in the span included Detroit and Weber State teams ranked in the top 20, No. 4 Oregon St., Big Eight champion Missouri and Alabama by 23 points.

            It is an unfortunate irony that the Cardinal program started to sink not long after the magnificent run of success under Billy Tubbs and Pat Foster led to construction of a big-time arena. When LU was at its peak, it played in tiny McDonald Gym and the Beaumont Civic Center. Two years after the Montagne Center opened in November of 1984, the Cardinals went into a tailspin from which they have never recovered.

            With the decline in the program’s stature and credibility, attendance has bottomed out.  It is rare anymore for Lamar to attract in excess of 3,000.  Average attendance last year was 2,294. The year before that it was 2,987. Biggest turnout for a Cardinal game during that span was 4,142. Through four home dates this season, LU is averaging only 1,857.

             Texas, then, provides a welcome respite from what has become a depressing sea of empty seats.  If everybody with a ticket shows up, Lamar could play before its largest home crowd since 8,033 turned out on Feb. 6, 1993, for a game against nationally ranked Sun Belt Conference foe Western Kentucky.

            The attendance for the Hilltoppers, incidentally, was the 10th largest throng for a men’s game at the Montagne Center.  None of the nine games above it, meanwhile, were played since 1987. No. 1 on the top-ten list in the school’s media guide is 10,010 for McNeese State on Jan. 10, 1987.  Another game against McNeese on Feb. 27, 1986, ranks No. 2 at 9,467.

            Whatever the attendance tonight, it should be marked with an asterisk because of Stiles’ most welcome assistance.  Through the purchases he’s made individually, through those of his company and through encouraging other businesses, the impact will be substantial.  Directly or indirectly, Stiles has probably been responsible for the sale of at least 3,500 tickets.  Perhaps more.

            What he has also done is create a window of opportunity for LU coach Grey Giovanine.  If the 4-2 Cardinals put on a good enough show against the Longhorns, some of the first timers on hand will probably return. The same would figure to hold true for many who soured on the program during a lengthy period of erosion.  It’s a one-shot opportunity the Cardinals must cash in.

            Giovanine probably couldn’t have scripted a better situation for his team, either.  Texas is good but not great.  The Longhorns, because of their youth, have been erratic. UT Tom Penders says his team is capable of beating anybody or losing to anybody.  In addition, Texas is likely to be looking ahead to Saturday’s nationally televised game in Austin against North Carolina.

             Lamar history is mixed in the few big non-conference games of this type at the Montagne Center.  Most of those red-letter games, of course, came in the 1984-87 period when the Cardinals were a legitimate force at the Division 1 level.

            Without question, the most memorable success was a 78-59 rout of defending national champion Villanova before 8,216 on November 26, 1985. The Cardinals had warmed up for that game with a near miss (66-62) in Houston against a Duke team that would go on to become the next national champion. Villanova never had a chance.

            Probably the biggest non-conference disappointment in the Montagne Center came three weeks later against No. 9 LSU.  With Lamar 5-1 and on the verge of breaking into the top 20, LSU administered a 74-57 thrashing before 9,432.  To this day, Pat Foster will tell you that loss marked the beginning of the end for him at Lamar because of the negative way Cardinal fans reacted to his strategy.

            The most recent non-conference game of significance for Lamar at the Montagne Center was an afternoon matchup on Dec. 31, 1991, against Tubbs and No. 14 ranked Oklahoma.  The Cardinals played well before fading late and losing, 101-91.  The real story, however, was that only 3,505 turned out for Tubbs’ first visit to Beaumont since he’d taken the Cardinals to the NCAA round of 16 in 1980.

            Lack of interest in the OU game was similar to what existed for Foster’s first and only return with the University of Houston on Dec. 21, 1987.  Only 4,745 showed to watch the Cougar’s nip LU, 71-67, in the finals of the Spindletop Blowout

            Last non-conference game to draw well, interestingly enough, was Texas A&M on the Aggies only visit to the Montagne Center.  With 6,615, watching on Dec. 19, 1988, the Cardinals defeated Shelby Metcalf’s club 74-67.

            Feast or famine, as you can see, has been an ongoing theme for LU basketball.  And the Cardinals are overdue for a feast.

            Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net