Don Williams

Sports Writer
Sports
don.williams@lubbockonline.com

Don Williams has covered Texas Tech football as either a beat writer or columnist for all but one year beginning in 1986. That counts three seasons he spent at the University Daily. He joined the A-J full-time in 1988. Since then, he's covered around 200 Tech football games, including 15 bowls. In the 1990s, he also staffed Dallas Cowboys home games and three Super Bowls. Some of his other beats include Tech track and field and small college basketball and baseball. He was on hand in Lewiston, Idaho, when Lubbock Christian University won the NAIA World Series in 2009. Williams graduated from Midland College in 1985, following the Chaparrals to the NJCAA final four one year, and from Texas Tech in 1988. He interned at the Arizona Republic in 1987, where he spent the summer covering the Triple-A Phoenix Firebirds and future major leaguers Matt Williams, Terry Mulholland, Dennis Cook and Jeff Brantley and ex-major leaguer Dave Kingman. (Thankfully, Kingman, a renowned media hater, did not send a rat to Don in the press box.)

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13 - 1:36am

South Plains sweeps Midland Christian

To finish high in the Sooner Athletic Conference men’s basketball race, Lubbock Christian University needs to win every game it can at the Rip Griffin Center. Thursday night’s outcome was a big step in the right direction. Freshman guard A.J. Luckey scored a season-high 25 points, and LCU knocked off No. 22 Oklahoma City 81-71 in overtime to stay perfect in seven home games this season.

Oklahoma City University hands #1 Lady Chaps first loss of season 01/11/13 - 8:07am

Strong Oklahoma city defense stymies LCU

With only two starters and two other players returning from last season, Oklahoma City University isn’t the same team that won the women’s NAIA championship in March. But the Stars remain a handful and then some for Lubbock Christian University. The defending national champions beat this year’s top-ranked team, 79-68, Thursday night in the Rip Griffin Center, dealing LCU its first loss of the season and knocking the Lady Chaparrals out of the Sooner Athletic Conference lead.

Special sophs buoy LCU's fast start 01/10/13 - 1:32am

Lubbock Christian University’s 2011 recruiting class seemed to ensure the Lady Chaparrals’ run of success in women’s basketball would continue indefinitely. Nicole Hampton from Canyon and Kelsey Hoppel from Midland were major signing coups for an NAIA powerhouse. So far, they’re adding to their reputations. Hampton started immediately for a team that went 28-6 last season, and Hoppel has joined her this season as a major-impact player. The 5-foot-9 sophomore guard has doubled her scoring average — to 12.3 points per game from 5.6 her freshman year.

Reports: Tech hires successful San Antonio-area high school coach as assistant 01/10/13 - 11:46am

Mike Jinks is 76-18 in 8 years at Steele High School

Texas Tech has hired Cibolo Steele High School coach Mike Jinks to be part of Kliff Kingsbury’s new staff, according to media reports Wednesday in San Antonio. Jason Minnix with 1250 ESPN radio in San Antonio posted on Twitter that Jinks confirmed to him in a text message he is leaving Steele to become the Red Raiders’ running backs coach. WOAI-TV and the San Antonio Express-News also reported Jinks’ departure. There was no announcement from Tech

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Former Tech tennis coach, administrator dies 01/08/13 - 4:42pm

Damron, 71, retired from Tech in June

Not long after Bob Bockrath took over as Texas Tech athletic director in 1993, he remembers Ron Damron approaching him with a concern about game management: What would happen, Damron asked, in the event of an on-field catastrophe involving the Tech Masked Rider and the horse? Shouldn’t there be a plan for that? Sure enough, in the 1994 season opener, the horse Double T slipped its rider, bolted into the southwest tunnel of Jones AT&T Stadium and ran into a concrete wall. The black quarterhorse died instantly.

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Texans face rough patch after streak ends 01/07/13 - 1:21am

South Plains College saw its 46-game basketball winning streak end last week, then lost again two days later with its top player serving a one-game suspension. And the top-ranked Texans just thought it couldn’t get any worse. On the way home from their three-game Arizona trip, they spent a night on the highway. About 20 miles outside of Las Cruces, N.M., where the team planned to stop for the night, Interstate 10 was closed for icy conditions. The Texans spent from 11:30 p.m. Thursday until 7:30 a.m. Friday parked in the bus.

New-look Pioneers off to promising start 01/05/13 - 1:37am

With Wayland Baptist having wallowed through four consecutive losing seasons, Matt Garnett felt motivated to change the culture back to what it was when he was a Pioneers basketball player. Nearly the entire roster turned over from the end of last season, which Wayland finished 11-19. With an all-new cast, the Pioneers are 10-5 and 1-1 in the Sooner Athletic Conference going into today’s road game at No. 1 Oklahoma Baptist.

Longtime Estacado basketball coach dies 01/08/13 - 10:56pm

J.J. Wood was head basketball coach at Estacado for nearly half school’s years in existence

It’s accepted as normal when coaches move to one school after another, in search of a better job, a higher rung on the ladder or a new challenge. J.J. Wood, on the other hand, settled in for a long stay in one place. He was head basketball coach at Estacado for nearly half the school’s years in existence. Wood died Sunday at age 71. Two of his Estacado coaching colleagues, Louis Kelley and Larry York, said Wood had battled health problems for several months.

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Undefeated Lady Chaparrals face Okla. Baptist today 01/03/13 - 1:41am

Lubbock Christian University coach Steve Gomez says at the start of most seasons one of his team’s goals is finishing in the top three in the Sooner Athletic Conference. LCU (14-0, 1-0 SAC) plays its first conference game since Dec. 4 today when the Lady Chaparrals visit Oklahoma Baptist for a 6 p.m. women’s/men’s doubleheader. Right now, with LCU undefeated and ranked No. 1 in NAIA women’s basketball, the top-three conference finish might seem like a low bar — especially with the league shrinking from 12 teams to nine since the end of last season.

Haverty returning to Tech to join Kingsbury staff 12/31/12 - 9:20am

Former Red Raiders receiver to coach safeties

Sunday was the eighth anniversary of Trey Haverty’s catching eight passes for 147 yards in Texas Tech’s Holiday Bowl upset of a fourth-ranked California team. Haverty found a good way to celebrate: By coming back to the Tech program. The former Red Raiders receiver said via text message Sunday that he resigned as a TCU assistant coach and will be joining Kliff Kingsbury’s new Tech staff. “I resigned earlier this afternoon,” Haverty wrote in a text message. “I’m excited to get back to Lubbock!”

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