COMMERCE – Texas A&M University-Commerce mourns the death of legendary East Texas State football coach Ernest Hawkins, who passed away Sunday night. He was 91.
 
Hawkins was the Lions' head coach from 1964-85 and is the winningest coach in the program's history with an all-time record of 132-92-6. He led East Texas State to the NAIA National Championship in 1972 and won four Lone Star Conference championships in 1966, 1969, 1972, and 1983, earning LSC Coach of the Year honors in each of those seasons.
 
Hawkins was inducted into the Lion Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor in 2004.
 
The football field at Memorial Stadium was named Ernest Hawkins Field in 2017. The naming was announced at Homecoming, then officially unveiled on November 2 against UT Permian Basin.
 
Coach Hawkins is survived by daughters LuAnne Bourland and Kathy Campbell, and son Ray Hawkins - a former Lion Football letterwinner, and their families.
 
As Coach Hawkins always placed a premium on the value of a scholarship and the difference it made in his life, the Hawkins family has requested - in lieu of flowers - that donations be made to the existing Ernest Hawkins Scholarship Endowment at the Texas A&M-Commerce Foundation. To make a gift to the fund, please click HERE.

Arrangements 

Visitation	Friday, February 2	5:30-7:30 p.m.	First Baptist Church of Commerce, Fellowship Hall
Service	Saturday, February 3	10 a.m.	First Baptist Church of Commerce, Sanctuary
Celebration of Light and Life Lunch for ALL GUESTS	Saturday, February 3	11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.	First Baptist Church of Commerce, Fellowship Hall
Military Burial	Saturday, February 3	2 p.m.	Rosemound Cemetery, Commerce