Willard Tate honored with "Wildcat Den"

There might not be a more beloved figure among our current coaching and athletics administrative staff than former men's basketball coach Willard Tate. He's always right there – after a win or a loss – with an encouraging word for the coach and the players. And always, always with his signature "thumbs-up."

Thursday afternoon almost 75 of his family and friends gathered outside the men's basketball locker room for a ceremony in which Tate was honored for almost 35 years of service to ACU as a coach, teacher and cheerleader. The men's lockerroom has been re-furbished and re-named the "Willard Tate Wildcat Den" in honor of the former coach. The men's program has 16 brand-new lockers in the room, along with a new video room where the coaches can watch film.

"This is such a great thing for our program, and I'm so glad we could honor Coach Tate in this way," ACU head coach Jason Copeland said. "I've got to give credit to (track and field coach) Don D. Hood, who came to me a few months ago with this idea about honoring Coach Tate. It didn't take long to raise the money we needed to get this done, and that's because of the love and respect the people on this campus and in this community have for Coach Tate."

ACU director of athletics Jared Mosley spoke movingly about how when he was a young coach and a young administrator Coach Tate was always in his office with the right words, "no matter how badly I had messed up."

ACU director of athletics emeritus Wally Bullington spoke as well, telling the story of how he came to hire Tate away from Alabama Christian University (now Faulkner University) in 1974.

"I called my brother and told him we were looking for a basketball coach, and asked if he knew anyone," Bullington said. "He told me they had a good one at Alabama Christian, but that he didn't want me to get him. Well, after talking to Willard I decided he was the right fit for this job, and for the next 35 years he's touched thousands of lives on this campus and abroad.

"Most of you know that Willard has preached and taught all over this country and the world, and he's done so with great passion for ACU," Bullington said. "In fact, one of the things that (ACU president) Dr. Royce Money has always said is that his goal is to go and preach somewhere where Willard Tate hasn't been before."

Tate -- who has been battling cancer for more than a year -- then spoke in his own humorous way, mixing jokes with sometimes serious talk. He talked about how blessed he and his family had been to be at ACU since the mid-1970s and how it had changed his life from a spiritual standpoint, a financial standpoint and a professional standpoint.

Randy Scott -- who at 6-8 played in the middle for some of Tate's best teams -- was in attendance, and Tate said he told Randy to pretend there was a circle in the lane and to not let anyone inside it. "I think that worked out pretty well."

Coach Tate concluded his remarks by thanking his long-time friend, Bullington and the late Dr. John Stevens, for taking a chance "on a country boy from Alabama. I hope that when I'm gone people will know that I was here for a short time."

Don't worry about that, Coach. None of us will forget.