Sports shorts for the week of Oct 20, 2022

Sports shorts for the week of Oct. 20, 2022 --------

Vidor Homecoming

The Vidor Pirates Football Homecoming Game has become a can’t miss annual event. This year, the stakes are even higher as country music sensation Clay Walker will be the Grand Marshal of the parade down Main Street, which begins at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21.

If that’s not enough, Walker will also sing the National Anthem later that evening before the Pirates play the Livingston Lions at 7:30 p.m.

“Clay and I developed a good friendship about 10 months ago,” said Vidor City Manager Robbie Hood. “We talked a lot about hometowns, football games and the next thing you know Clay wanted to come back home and be a part of this year’s festivities.”

Walker, a 1986 graduate of Vidor High School, went on to become one of country music’s top stars while recording more than a dozen albums that included several No. 1 songs such as “What’s It to You,” “Live Until I Die,” “Dreaming with My Eyes Open,” “If I Could Make a Living,” “This Woman and This Man,” “Rumor Has It,” “Then What,” “Hypnotize the Moon,” “Live, Laugh, Love” and “She Won’t Be Lonely Long.”

Hood said everyone in Southeast Texas is invited to come out.

“Clay is honored to come back,” said Hood. “He wants his kids to experience what he was able to when he was growing up here.”

Golf

It was professional golfer Sam Snead who once said, “Forget your opponents and always play against par.” And that’s what is on tap next weekend for area golfers as the 81st annual Beaumont City Golf Tournament on Oct. 22-23 at Henry Homberg Golf Course.

“We picked the middle of October since we typically have good weather and the chance of storms are over,” said Andy Hebert, director of golf at Homberg. “We’ve already had lots of interest in this year’s event and golfers are signing up.”

Paul Borque, the superintendent at Homberg, has the course in terrific shape and it’ll be ready for championship play.

Entry is $60 for 36-hole medal play, flighted by handicap. Players must have an established handicap for flighting purposes. Carts are also available for $10.

The city champion must be a permanent resident of Beaumont, but anyone can enter the competition.

Austin Williams was last year’s winner and is expected to defend his championship. Williams is the most productive and creative of the past City Champions as he has captured the trophy 10 times.

One must also never forget the most famous and notable golfer from the area who won the tournament three consecutive years from 1971-73. It was Bruce Lietzke, who passed away in 2017. Lietzke was a 13-time PGA winner and seven-time winner on The Champions Tour.

Henry Homberg Golf Course is located at 5940 Babe Zaharias Drive. For more information, interested participants can call Andy Hebert or Gregory Brown at (409) 842-3220.

Lamar Cardinals

LU’s soccer team has made it a habit of receiving player of the week honors from the Southland Conference and last week was no exception. Despite playing one game this past weekend, the Cardinals added another award as Cariel Ellis earned her second offensive player of the week award.
With the Cardinals trailing Texas A&M-Commerce 1-0 entering the 20th minute, Ellis would equalize the game from a long pass by Christine Kitaru and she scored in the box.  Five minutes later, she would score off the left goal from another Kitaru assist. Those two goals were enough to give LU a 2-1 win. Ellis’ two goals were a season high and she currently has eight goals on the year.
The Cards (10-1-2, 7-1-1) will play at Houston Christian on Friday, Oct. 21, at 5 p.m. and then head south against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday, Oct. 23, at 1 p.m.

After a bye week, the LU football team will look to their first win of the season when the host Prairie View A&M on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 4 p.m.

Before the game, LU will introduce Bruce Aven (baseball, 1991-94), Reggie Begelton (football, 2012-15), Donald Davis (football, 1973-76, and track & field, 1974-77), Herbert Harris (football, 1980-82) and Jennifer Heisler (volleyball and track & field, 1988-91) into the Cardinal Hall of Honor on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. in the Setzer Center Ballroom.