From the time when the Texas Panhandle was settled, sports have held central importance to the residents. In the book, “Pride of the Plains: 50 Years of the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame,” the Aug. 5, 1898, issue of “The Amarillo Weekly News” reports a “round up” of cowboys in Plainview. Participants competed against each other in “sack races, a roping contest, gander pulling and Broncho Busting.”
You have to have men’s and women’s divisions due to Title IX. You have to have money for that.”
From the time when the Texas Panhandle was settled, sports have held central importance to the residents. In the book, “Pride of the Plains: 50 Years of the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame,” the Aug. 5, 1898, issue of “The Amarillo Weekly News” reports a “round up” of cowboys in Plainview. Participants competed against each other in “sack races, a roping contest, gander pulling and Broncho Busting.”
Although sports have changed and grown through the years, interest in sports has continued in the Panhandle up to the present day. Right in the middle of that sporting activity has been Amarillo College.
From the early days of the school, students who had played sports from the time they could walk wanted to continue playing at the collegiate level. Famous athletes, coaches and personalities got their start here...
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Badger Sports Legacy
Yes, AC used to have intercollegiate athletics
Published: Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Updated: Thursday, January 14, 2010
 "Photo: 1958 AC yearbook, the Palo Duro")
1958 AC yearbook, the Palo Duro
Danny Lynch, left, and Royce Hardaway played for the Badgers against Howard County in the 1957-58 season.
 "Photo: 1967 AC yearbook, the Palo Duro")
1967 AC yearbook, the Palo Duro
The Amarillo College 1967 women's tennis team: Vivian Sims, Monica Denton, Sherry Shackleford, Gayle Mooreland, Alinga Allen and Cheryl Webb.
 "Photo: The Ranger/March 14, 1985")
The Ranger/March 14, 1985
Athletic Director Kelly Chadwick reacts to the bad news of an announcement concerning the deletion of the basketball program in 1985.
 "Photo: 1958 AC yearbook, the Palo Duro")
1958 AC yearbook, the Palo Duro
The 1958 men's tennis team: Leon Neal, coach; Mike Carmichael, Rex Radcliff, Gene Shelburne.
Although sports have changed and grown through the years, interest in sports has continued in the Panhandle up to the present day. Right in the middle of that sporting activity has been Amarillo College.
From the early days of the school, students who had played sports from the time they could walk wanted to continue playing at the collegiate level. Famous athletes, coaches and personalities got their start here.
The days of AC’s intercollegiate athletic competition have long since passed. The last varsity sports, men’s basketball, was dropped in 1984. At first glance there is no evidence that the college ever had sports of any kind above the intramural level. Furthermore, there is no public pressure on the administration or board of regents to start up a new program.
Dig a little deeper though, and not only does AC have a rich athletic tradition, but there may be more support for a varsity athletic program among students and faculty than it seems on the surface.
The 1930s were the golden age of football in the Panhandle. The Depression saw many great gridiron teams, none better than the Golden Sandstorm of Amarillo High School. Led by the legendary Blair Cherry, the Sandies’ dynasty roared in full throttle, winning the state championship three consecutive years from 1934 to 1936. Right alongside AHS were the Amarillo College Badgers.
They were led at first by a man who would go on to immortality at West Texas A&M University. Frank Kimbrough came to AC after stints at Wayland College and Plainview High School.
Kimbrough wasted no time bringing gridiron success to the Badgers. With his tough, no-nonsense style, he led AC to the Texas state junior college championship in 1933 and 1934.
Kimbrough would coach at Hardin-Simmons and Baylor before becoming a legend at WT. The Buffalo Bowl would be renamed Kimbrough Memorial Stadium in his honor, and he was inducted into the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame in 1963. But Kimbrough first tasted success at Amarillo College.
Kimbrough was succeeded as football coach at AC by W.W. “Windy” Nicklaus. He was a football legend in his own right. After captaining Amarillo High School to the state quarterfinals in 1922 and 1923, he was the first captain of the football team at Texas Tech University during the school’s inaugural season of 1925.
Following graduation, Nicklaus accepted the coaching job at AC and promptly led the Badgers to their third consecutive state junior college championship in 1935. In another of his many firsts, Nicklaus went on to become the first principal of Palo Duro High School in 1955. He was inducted into the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame in 1967.
Sadly, success and interest in AC football declined in the years following Nicklaus’s departure from the school, and football was dropped by 1946.
The Badgers brought a rare glimmer of hope to a region wracked by the depths of the Great Depression. But varsity sports did not die with the demise of football. The school was entering its second golden age of sports.
Despite the early success of football and the men who led the program, the story of AC varsity athletics really begins and ends with the story of one man: Bob Carter.
Originally from New Jersey and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Carter came to Amarillo in 1936. He founded the physical education department and during the next 29 years coached most of the varsity sports at AC, including basketball, baseball, tennis, track and golf. He even drove the team bus to events.
Wearing his trademark bow tie, Carter and his teams were successful and won championships. In 15 years as baseball coach, he never had a losing team. He produced a 289-175 record in basketball. The golf team won three consecutive state junior college championships from 1949 to 1951, and the track team won a state title.
Carter’s impact on AC varsity sports can be measured by the state of athletics after he left the school. In 1965, Carter accepted the athletic director’s job at Angelo State University.
Sports programs suffered from lack of participation and support and gradually began to be dropped. Basketball was the last varsity sport at AC, being axed in 1984.
Carter left two permanent marks at Amarillo College. In 1981, the board of regents voted to rename Badger Gym, calling it Carter Gym. It now is known as Carter Fitness Center.
Thousands of students exercise and play sports at the center, putting into practice the academic ideal of a sound mind and body. In the same year, Carter was inducted as the 53rd member of the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame.
The legacy of athletics at Amarillo College might have faded into history were it not for institutions such as the PSHOF and books like “Pride of the Plains.” The question now is: Can varsity sports be revived at a two-year community college that doesn’t even have on-campus housing and seems to be prospering without them?
Red Myers is a living testament to the time when sports flourished at AC. He was a coach at Amarillo College from 1956 to his retirement in 1992 and was the last coach of men’s basketball, heading the team from 1966 until its demise in 1984. Myers said that at first, sports teams had good support from students and the community.
“Later on, when they took away the baseball diamond, it diminished,” Myers said. He explained that a baseball diamond stood where the College Union Building now sits. “AC wanted to expand, so baseball was dropped.”
Myers said the quality of athletes never was a problem. Like most two-year colleges, students came to AC because either they lacked the experience or the physical size to attend a four-year university.
“It was convenient to go to AC and get a good background in academics,” Myers said.
So if sports had good support and attracted good athletes, why did AC decide to drop its varsity program?
Myers cited cost as the major factor, both as a reason to discontinue the program and as a hurdle to bringing it back.
“AC had very little to offer for scholarships,” he said. “No room or board, no tuition. Maybe $75 for books and fees.”
Interestingly, Myers also cited Title IX, the landmark legislation enacted in 1972 requiring equal opportunity for both men and women to, among other things, participate in athletics, as another major reason varsity sports were discontinued.
“The main reason sports were dropped was expense,” he said. “Title IX came into play, so whatever you spent on men you had to spend on women. The board of regents decided the expense was a strain on the budget.”
Craig Clifton, Fitness and Life Services department chairman, also said cost is the primary stumbling block to bringing back varsity sports. Although he said he supports the idea of AC athletics and that it would be good for student spirit and student body life, he doesn’t believe the administration would spend the large amount of money it would take to start an athletic program.
“If it was something that didn’t require space or facilities, it could be done,” Clifton said. “The college doesn’t have money for facilities. The community could vote to raise the money through a bond election, but I don’t know if it would spend money on sports, especially when academic programs are busting at the seams.”
Talk to students, though, and the idea of AC varsity sports meets with more enthusiasm. Alexa Ray, a biology major, and her sister Jayna are passionate about volleyball.
They believe young people who otherwise attend other community colleges such as Frank Phillips College or Clarendon College would come to Amarillo College instead if only the school had varsity sports.
“There’s no reason not to have varsity,” Alexa Ray said. “If there was a varsity volleyball team, I’d be on it.”
“I don’t see why they shouldn’t have it if the kids want it,” Jayna Ray said.
But she mentioned the lack of on-campus housing as an impediment to bringing in students from outside the Amarillo area.
“You can’t recruit from, say Wichita Falls, and move them here,” she said.
Cameron Dawn, a general studies major, said it would help the college grow because sports would bring students to Amarillo who otherwise would attend college elsewhere.
“I think it stinks,” Dawn said. “We have enough talent here that we should have at least basketball.”
Student support doesn’t seem to be an issue when discussing whether or not Amarillo College should have a varsity athletic program. Alexa Ray, Jayna Ray and Dawn all believe AC is capable of supporting teams for basketball, volleyball, soccer, even football.
Clifton also believes those sports, except football, could be supported by students.
The issue comes down to what discussion of any issue at AC usually does: money. Perhaps Coach Myers said it best when asked if the school should restart varsity sports.
“I think it would be nice to bring varsity sports back in some degree. But the expenses, such as travel, have gotten out of hand.
“Too much time has passed. Clarendon College and Frank Phillips College are nearby, and they still compete.
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