The steel shafts of golf clubs have given way to titanium
and graphite, but the legacy of golfing excellence hasn’t
changed at Lamar University. Several Lamar golfers
have moved from collegiate competition to the pro
ranks, and the golf program has produced many conference
championships. The 2007 golf team achieved
phenomenal success by capturing third place at the 110th NCAA
Championship, just strokes behind the University of Georgia and
Stanford. The 2008 squad is contemplating the championship title
and has been rated No.1 in the nation by the Golfweek/Sagarin
Performance Index.
With all its recent successes, the team led by
Coach Brian White reflects the same winning commitment
that saw the stellar golf teams of ’56, ’57
and ’58 win three consecutive NAIA championships.
Three golfing buddies who came to Lamar from
California became the catalysts for the amazing
string of championships in the late ’50s.
Harold Firstman ’59, Clint Airey ’59 and
Al Chandler ’58 were recruited to Lamar by thenathletic
director and golf coach Lewis Hilley. The
culture shock of coming to Southeast Texas was
considerable for the native Californians.
“When Harold, Al and I first arrived in
Beaumont, it was like going into another world,”
recalled Airey. “Being from Southern California, we
weren’t accustomed to the humidity, heat, snakes
and mosquitoes.”
Airey remembers his initiation by the native
Lamar golfers. He walked into his Combs Hall
dorm room to find a coiled rattlesnake beside his
bed. The Texan team members killed the snake at
Tyrrell Golf Course earlier in the day and thought it
only fitting to welcome the West Coast golfers
properly.
He says his time at Lamar was the
most wonderful experience of his life. Since
graduating from Lamar, he has built and
operated five golf courses and consulted
on projects in Mexico, Saudi Arabia and
Vietnam. Although golf has taken this former
Lamar standout to many exotic locales,
the transportation was more modest during
his college years.
Traveling in a new Cadillac owned by
the assistant golf coach, the team pulled a
one-axle trailer to tournaments as far away
as Florida. One memorable head-to-head
match with the NCAA top-ranked
University of Houston golf team ended in a heated
exchange between the opposing coaches.
“Lamar wasn’t very well-known at the time,
but we won that match, and their coach went crazy
right there on the 18th green,” said Firstman. “He
told Coach Hilley he would never play us again,
and he never again invited Lamar to their annual
tournament.”
Firstman was also involved in school politics,
being elected vice president of the student body and
sophomore class president. He has since developed
and built three golf clubs and started the Pebble
Beach Tournament, which he ran for 27 years.
Chandler was no stranger to tournament play,
already having won the National PGA Junior
Championship in 1953 while attending junior college
before coming to Lamar. He remembers Lamar
as the first golf team in the nation to wear team
uniforms in competition.
“We started that trend on a swing through the
South where we won the Miami Collegiate Golf
Championship,” he recalled. “On the way to
Miami, we defeated several teams in head-tohead
play, including Georgia, Mississippi
State and Tulane.”
After serving in the Marine Corps,
he turned pro in 1960 and qualified
for eight U.S. Open Championships
and eight PGA Championships. He left the
tour for private business in 1990 but qualified
four times each for the Senior U.S.
Open and Senior PGA Championship.
Golf tradition is strong at Lamar,
and, with the current crop of young
golfers guided by a talented coach, the
legacy appears to be on the green and
moving toward the pin.
