Lubbock Christian University Athletics

Hugh Rhodes was an founding staff member of Lubbock Christian all the way back when the school first opened its doors in 1957 and at different times coached men's basketball, track and field and tennis, while also serving as the athletic director for many years. Rhodes was a coach at the school from 1957-82 and has long been considered the "Father of Lubbock Christian athletics."

The late Rhodes, who passed away in 2009 at the age of 93, was an institution at Lubbock Christian and will undoubtedly always be remembered at the school because The Fieldhouse, which he was responsible for acquiring and spent countless hours coaching in, now bears his name. 

When the original board of trustees named their first four employees, Rhodes was one of them, along with Lubbock Christian's first president, F.W. Mattox, its first academic dean, Jack Bates and Herman Wilson, the first registrar. 

A 1940 graduate from Harding College, Rhodes went on to get his masters fro Peabody College in Nashville, Tenn. in 1942. Along with his duties as athletic director, he was the head of the physical education department when Lubbock Christian College first opened its doors as a junior college for the 1957-58 school year. 

That first school year, the only Lubbock Christian sports team was a men's basketball team,

which competed only against local church teams. Rhodes led the team of 11 men to a 12-3 record though, winning them the American Church League title. 

Rhodes coached the basketball team just one more season, in 1958-59, when they began competing against other junior college teams in the area and dropped to 6-12 overall. History professor and fellow Hall of Honor inductee Les Perrin took over coaching the team the following season with Rhodes assisting, leaving the latter to focus on the sport he became most well-known for: track & field.

Track & Field actually began at Lubbock Christian during the 1958-59 school year, before The Fieldhouse existed, leaving the team to practice without an actual track. But the nine-man team competed well, even placing sixth out of 19 teams at the state junior college track meet in Abilene.

Although they were competing in the sport for just the second time in the 1959-60 season, you

would not have known it by just looking at the results of the Lubbock Christian men's track team. Rhodes led the Pioneers, as they were still called, to a thid place finish a the state meet in San Antonio, and then to the NJCAA National Meet, the first of eight trips there during LCC's junior college days. LCC got first place finishes in both the sprint medley relay and the mile relay, placing sixth overall at the meet with 34 points. 

"When we entered our first national track meet we didn't have a track," Rhodes once stated. "The national meet was held at Big Spring that year. We only had an enrollment of about 200 at the time, and I think all 200 were down there to watch us."

Lubbock Christian improved its team standing the following year with a fifth-place finish, again capturing the mile relay title and coming in second in the sprint relay. LCC would go on to finish in the top ten at the NJCAA National Meet six more times, including as high as fourth at the 1965 meet, before the school transitioned to senior college status and the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics. 

Rhodes played a key role in that transition as well, not only continuing to serve as the track & field coach, but also becoming the founding member of the former Texoma Conference, which Lubbock Christian competed in athletically from 1972-78. 

In the spring of 1975, Rhodes helped bring another honor to the school, as Paul Perryman recorded a pole vault of 15.0 to claim the first NAIA All-American honor. Another seven Chaparral Track & Field athletes ended up earning All-America status under Rhodes.

Rhodes was succeeded as the athletic director by Larry Hays in 1979, with Hays serving in that role and as the baseball coach until 1986. 

"You can't think of Lubbock Christian University, especially its athletic programs, without thinking of Hugh Rhodes," Hays remarked. "His contributions to the university were too many to document."

Rhodes did stay on to coach track & field through the spring of 1982, before David Conder, a four-year track letterman at Abilene Christian, took over the program. The former officially retired, although he continued to teach a few classes in the physical education department for some time longer.

In 1984, Lubbock Christian began its Athletic Hall of Honor with the induction of just one man: Hugh Rhodes.