Cardinal Hall of Honor
The most successful Lamar ex-student in the coaching profession, O.A. “Bum” Phillips began his distinguished career as a football player at Lamar Junior College.
He played for the Cardinals in 1941 and returned for two more years, 1946 and 1947, following a four-year stint in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. Outstanding as a lineman, Phillips was the captain of the 1946 and 1947 teams. He was also a letterman on the 1948 state junior college basketball championship team.
Phillips began his great coaching career at Nederland High School in the early 1950s. Noted as a great motivator, the native of Orange also tutored successful prep teams at Port Neches-Groves and Amarillo high schools. He was an assistant under Paul “Bear” Bryant at Texas A&M and also coached at the University of Houston, SMU, Oklahoma State and UTEP. Considered a master of defensive strategy, Phillips became head coach of the NFL’s Houston Oilers in 1975, and is the only Lamar product ever to attain that level in the coaching profession.
