Country Club, came to UCC from Suriname where he had been the number
one tennis player at the age of 16. He was named Sportsman of the
Year in Suriname in 1965 and was a member of the Davis Cup squad for
the Netherlands in 1969.Special
Collections
As Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi enters a new era of intercollegiate athletics, memories of the early years are recalled from the archives.
From the very beginning, sports were planned for the University. Intramural basketball began as soon as the University of Corpus Christi (UCC) began operation on Ward Island in 1948. Campus men played in city basketball leagues. Many of the students had just left the military.
Chester “Chatter” Allen officially joined UCC Feb. 7, 1948, with a five-year contract as director of the intercollegiate sports program.
Thirty-four men reported for the first UCC football practice in April 1948. On Sept. 18, 1948, the men’s football team played the first ever UCC football game and lost to Trinity University, 14-0. The inaugural football season ended with a team record of three wins and seven losses.
Baseball started at the University April 21, 1948, with games lined up against independent teams in South Texas. The team won two of the five games played. Emery Nix was the first baseball coach and also worked with the football team's backfield and ends.
Varsity basketball started in 1948 with William “Bill” Bagwell as head coach. The first basketball game was Dec. 17, 1948, against Abilene McMurry College. The UCC team lost that first game, 39-12. The team's first season ended with a record of 5-12.
The first year did not end with winning teams, but nobody appeared ready to quit except football Coach Chester Allen. William “Willie” Walls was selected as the next football coach. After three years, the football program was discontinued for many years. The Korean War was cited as the reason for poor gate receipts at home games. Raymond M. Cavness, UCC president, told the Campus Camera in January 1951, “Corpus Christi is just not a college football town.”
Basketball was one of the more successful programs during the early years of UCC. The basketball team of 1949-50 ran up a 25-1 record. Dr. Kenneth Maroney, professor of education at the University, was a member of that team and would later coach the basketball team.
From the early 1960s, UCC has had a series of successful intercollegiate tennis teams. Henry Parrish, the first tennis coach, was followed by Bob Mapes, who came on in 1963 and remained until 1973. Mapes was also the tennis pro at the H.E.B. Tennis Center in Corpus Christi.
In 1964, four Davis Cup players were on UCC’s roster: Don Kierbow and Chris Crawford of the United States team and Antonio Palafox and Vicente Zarazua representing Mexico. Palafox would later become a Wimbledon doubles champion. During one of his years at UCC, he won 23 straight matches and finished the year 24-1.
The 1968 team featured three national champions. Zarazua was national champion of Mexico and competed in the 1968 Mexico Olympics. Ramiro Benevides was the national champion of Bolivia and Humphrey Hose was the national champion of Venezuela. Mape’s teams had winning records every year he coached here.
Kenneth de Koning, presently
coordinator of tennis at the University and director of tennis at
King’s Crossing
Country Club, came to UCC from Suriname where he had been the number
one tennis player at the age of 16. He was named Sportsman of the
Year in Suriname in 1965 and was a member of the Davis Cup squad for
the Netherlands in 1969.
The boxing teams of UCC featured many golden glove champs and state champions. Billy Joe Butler was Texas flyweight champ in 1957, Bobby Wilhelm was state welterweight champ in 1958 and Wayne Tedder was state lightweight champ in 1959. “Whitey” Moore was the UCC boxing coach.
In 1960, Lee Palmer became UCC boxing coach. That same year, six of eight Regional Golden Gloves champs were UCC men. Gene Sunderman was named boxing coach in 1962. The boxing program ended after 1962.
During the final year of sports at the University in 1973, Charles Emery was the golf team coach, James Markel was the swim team coach and Joe Ash was the track team and cross country team coach.
