Texas A&M enjoyed regional success in men’s basketball decades before Carroll Broussard enrolled there. But he helped lay the foundation for much more to come when he starred there in the early 1960s.
“One of the best decisions I ever made was choosing to go to Texas A&M,” Broussard said Wednesday night. “It enriched my personal life as well [as it] helped me in my business career with AT&T.”
Broussard, a Port Arthur native who is the only two-time All-American in Aggies’ hoop history, is among 14 SEC Basketball Legends honored during the conference’s tournament this week in Nashville, Tennessee. Broussard will be recognized at halftime of Friday’s Texas A&M vs. Florida game, which tips off at noon on the SEC Network.
Broussard first came into statewide prominence in 1957 when, as a junior, he helped Thomas Jefferson win the 4A state championship, a 67-51 win over Pampa. Pampa came back the next season to beat the Yellow Jackets 48-47 in the final.
“I credit a lot of my basketball success to the coaching I received from coach Pete Pense at Thomas Jefferson High School in Port Arthur,” Broussard said. “Don Coleman, who was his assistant, was also instrumental in my development.”
In Broussard’s day, freshmen were ineligible for varsity competition in the NCAA, but it didn’t take long for him to make an impact.
He was named Southwest Conference Player of the Year in 1961 and 1962. In one season, Broussard averaged 22.4 points per game in 24 games for coach Bob Rogers.
He made All-SWC in each of his three seasons, but he never got to cut down any nets. A&M, which had last won a conference title in 1951 (in Nederland native Buddy Davis’ junior season there), finished second three years in a row with Broussard.
The Aggies, however, would go on to win six SWC regular-season titles under Shelby Metcalf in his 26 years there. This year’s team, led by SEC Coach of the Year Billy Kennedy, won the program’s first regular-season title in 30 years and is going for its first conference tournament championship in 29 years.
The Chicago Zephyrs drafted Broussard to start the ninth round of the 1962 NBA draft. The Zephyrs are now the Washington Wizards.
“I got married and didn’t try to play,” he said.
Broussard is retired from AT&T and resides in Kerrville. His legend remains strong in College Station, and it’s growing in Nashville thanks in large part to the SEC tournament.
“It was quite a surprise when the athletic director called to inform me that I had been selected as the A&M legend for 2016,” Broussard said. “It’s a real honor to represent the school at the SEC tournament.”