Longtime South Plains College Athletic Director Joe Tubb recently was honored at Texan Dome in recognition of his induction into the Western Junior College Athletic Conference Hall of Fame.
He as presented with a plaque during halftime of the men’s basketball game against Howard College on Feb. 8.
“Well, this is a tremendous honor,” Tubb said. “I was here for 33 years and this kind of shows the feeling of the conference. The WJCAC is the greatest conference in the nation as far as community college goes. If you really read the people that are in it, it makes me even more proud. There’s a lot of names in there that are way more accomplished than I am. So it makes me feel very good.”
Tubb served as the athletic director at SPC for 33 years before he retired in 2015.
“We were here for 33 years,” said Tubb, “so we raised that family here in Levelland. The community and the college have been great to all of us. Levelland started out as my home along time ago, but it became my home again, and that makes me proud.”
During those 33 years, Tubb had overseen 42 NJCAA Championships in men’s and women’s track and field, cross country, half-marathon, and men’s basketball. Under Tubb’s direction, the Texans and the Lady Texans basketball teams have claimed a combined 15 WJCAC championships and five tournament titles. The college has also hosted 14 National Junior College Athletic Association championship events under Tubb, such as the 2016 Outdoor Track and Field National Championship meet, in which the Texans made collegiate history by capturing their 10th consecutive Outdoor national championship.
At SPC, Tubb was in charge of supervising all sports programs and coordinating activities designed to promote athletics at the college. Tubb was also responsible for events hosted by the college at the Texan Dome, including both intramural and recreational programs at SPC and Texas High School University Interscholastic League (UIL) events.
Tubb also served a three-year term as president of the NJCAA, where he was responsible for presiding over annual executive and special meetings for the nation’s second largest intercollegiate athletic association.
Tubb was instrumental in the growth of two-year collegiate athletics during his time at SPC. He received the highest honor bestowed by the National Alliance of Two-Year Collegiate Athletic Administrators, the L. William Miller Award. He was also named Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of College Athletic Directors.
Tubb said he misses his time at SPC and all he did while here.
“I was in athletics for 45 years in schools, and now there’s no alarm ringing at 6-6:30 a.m. getting me up in the morning,” Tubb said. “Some time when you have coffee, you sit there and think, ‘What am I going to do today?’ And I didn’t have to do that for a long time, but I drive down here, and these guys are still my friends. I’ll always be a South Plains College Texan, and I support them and will continue to do that.”
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