BEAUMONT, Texas — Three Lamar University baseball legends will be honored on Saturday, May 7, 2022, before the Cardinals' home game against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
If you've been to a Lamar baseball game recently, you may have noticed a new addition to Vincent-Beck Stadium.
Just beyond the left-field fence stands a large sign honoring these legends of Lamar.
It's hard to think of Lamar baseball without thinking of former Cardinals Jim Gilligan, David Bernsen, and Kevin Millar.
They all came from different backgrounds but share the same love for the team in red and white.
Gilligan, originally from Long Island, played in Lamar's inaugural baseball season in 1967.
"Went off and played a little pro ball and then I came back, got a chance to coach the great David Bernsen," Gilligan said.
Gilligan would return to Lamar as a graduate assistant in 1969 before going on to be the head coach for over 40 years.
More than 1,300 wins, 12 conference titles, and 12 NCAA regional appearances later, Gilligan hung up his cleats in 2016.
He credits his players like Bernsen for his successful run as skipper of the Cardinals.
"We've been very blessed with having great players over the years," Gilligan said.
That's 81 major league draft picks to be exact.
Gilligan said one of his favorite things about his time at the helm was seeing kids develop both at Lamar and in professional baseball.
"You take a guy like Kevin Millar, the most coachable guy I've ever had and I've had great players, but the most coachable,” Gilligan said. “You told 'em one time and it was done. You didn't have to revisit what you told him the time before."
Bernsen is a Beaumont native who played in West End Little League's first-ever season back in 1958. He graduated from Forest Park High School and pitched for Lamar from 1969 to 1972.
His six shutouts as a Cardinal remain a school record, and his era of 2.01 still stands as the lowest of any pitcher who threw for three or more years with the team.
For Bernsen, Gilligan was instrumental in his success.
"That one year, I learned more from Jim Gilligan than any of the other coaches I ever had," Bernsen said.
Bernsen, now a prominent Beaumont attorney, enjoyed a successful career after Lamar in which he served as chairman of the Texas Department of Transportation and was a state senator.
He said while Lamar’s baseball diamond looked a little different back then, a love for the game transcends time.
"There was a cow pasture, and the balls would go out and we'd have to climb the fence and go get the ball but at that point all of us that we're playing we would've played in a parking lot on asphalt with a broomstick," Bernsen said.
Millar came to Lamar from the west coast in the early 90s and enjoyed a stellar four seasons with the Cardinals, helping the team win a conference title in 1992 and batting .324 his senior year.
He would go on to play 12 seasons in the majors, but many baseball fans remember this iconic moment
"But let me tell ya, don't let us win today,” Millar said in a file video. “Then we got Pede tomorrow, then we got Schill game 6. And then game 7 anything can happen."
Millar prophetically called the Red Sox's infamous four-game comeback against the Yankees in 2004 before Boston would go on to win its first World Series since 1918, breaking an 86-year-long curse.
Gilligan and Bernsen said besides being a great hitter, Millar was more importantly a great clubhouse guy who garnered a lot of respect from his teammates from Lamar to the big leagues.
"He's an unbelievable guy,” Gilligan said. “One of the most popular guys that have ever played the game. That's the thing that I love about Kevin."
Bernsen and Gilligan call each other lifelong friends and still get out to every Lamar home game. You can usually find them talking baseball in their seats by the Cardinals dugout.
They're looking forward to catching up with Millar who will be making the drive down from Austin for Saturday’s celebration.
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