FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar University President James Simmons and Beaumont Mayor Becky Ames will formally dedicate Jim Gilligan Way at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in ceremonies adjacent to Vincent-Beck Stadium.
Jim Gilligan and his wife, LaVerne, will be joined by well-wishers, Lamar baseball players, cheerleaders and fans as a ribbon is cut commemorating the renaming of a section of East Florida Avenue as Jim Gilligan Way.
Gilligan is one of Lamar University’s winningest coaches. He has guided Lamar baseball through 33 seasons as head coach, chalking up 1,167 victories. It is very likely he will top the 1,200-victory mark in the Cardinals’ 2011 season. Last season, Gilligan led Lamar to the Southland Conference Tournament championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. It was the 12th time that Lamar has gone to the NCAA Tournament under Gilligan.
Beaumont City Council voted unanimously to rename the street section in honor of the head coach, who ranks sixth among the NCAA’s active Division I coaches in career victories with 1,177 (his first 10 came in one season at Western New Mexico).
Jim Gilligan Way extends from Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and past Vincent-Beck Stadium to University Drive.
