It's about giving back. UTPA basketball alumnus Jim Board is returning to the university what he got out of it. He was an outstanding student-athlete, a successful alumnus and is today one of the most instrumental pieces of the UTPA Athletics puzzle.
 
When Board was three, his dad put up a basketball goal at his home so he, his older brother Tom and his younger brother Jerry, started playing basketball at a young age.
 
Board started playing organized basketball when he was in fourth grade at Holy Trinity Elementary School, and he played varsity basketball for four years while at Our Lady of Providence High School in Indiana.
 
Following high school, Board moved to Austin to attend St. Edward's University and returned to Indiana after playing there for two years. Since he knew about Pan American College he contacted coach Sam Williams and returned to Texas to become a Bronc after taking a year off.
 
"I played against Pan Am when I was at St. Ed's, so I knew about Pan Am and I knew that they played good basketball," he said. "I contacted coach Sam Williams telling him that I was considering getting back in school and finishing my education, packed my bags two days later... I came down on a train to take classes so that I could be eligible."
 
Board started playing for Pan American College during the 1963-64 season and was part of the team for two years.
 
Board's role as a player changed from scorer to play maker when he got to Pan Am, but what remained constant was his leadership role, which was, and still is, essential for the program.
 
"The coaches always told me I was (good)," he said followed by brief laughter. "I was always a starter and the leader. I was the captain at St. Ed's, in high school and here."

Board was selected most valuable player in several tournaments during that period and made the All-NAIA National Tournament Second Team in 1965. Both of the teams he played for made the NAIA Tournament, including a runner-up finish in 1964, leaving Board with many great memories.
 
"When I played here, we were just Pan American College. That probably means more to me personally. We helped put Pan American College on the map," he said. "We were known nationwide... so everyone eventually knew where Pan American College was."
 
The institution was founded in 1927 as Pan American College and became Pan American University in 1971. In 1989, PAU joined the University of Texas System to become The University of Texas-Pan American.
 
Being able to play for legendary head coach Sam Williams is Board's fondest memory of all.
 
”We always thought that he was ahead of his time. He was recruiting well and he's the one that pretty much broke the barrier of integration," Board said. "He was one of the first coaches to integrate black players in a predominantly white school."
 
Pan American College was mainly white until its population became more diverse in the 1970s.
 
Williams served the University as an educator for more than three decades, coaching the Broncs men's basketball team for 15 seasons. He remains UTPA's all-time leader in career wins with 244 and coached the Broncs to their only national championship in 1963.
 
Williams was a pioneer in collegiate athletics in the late 1950s, as one of the first coaches to integrate his basketball program. Williams is a member of both the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame and the UTPA Athletics Hall of Fame.
 
Besides being an important part of UTPA basketball history and making a social difference in the area, the opportunity that Williams gave to Board of being part of the Broncs defined the outcome of his life.
 
"He was very instrumental in what I've accomplished because naturally, he got me back in school and paid for my education so I owe him a lot," Board said.
 
After getting a degree in Physical Education from Pan American College, Board entered the insurance business, at which he is still successful.
 
For the past 18 years, Board has been one of the most important supporters of UTPA Athletics. He started the Sam Williams scholarship fund and has helped raise more than $265,000 for the endowment, which provides funds for basketball scholarships. Today, he leads the Bronc Basketball Athletic Association. The money that the organization raises is allocated to cover needs that any of the UTPA athletic programs may have.
 
"Sam Williams got me back in school and I appreciate it," he said. "I've never been in a position to write a check for 15 thousand dollars, but I do have time that I can give, and that's what I try to give. I give my time back to raising money in the name of coach Sam Williams and that's what inspired me to do that.
 
"The work we're doing is for Sam, but it's also for student-athletes and that's going to give a student athlete a scholarship in his name."
 
In addition, Board was part of a group of Broncs alumni that joined to name the court at the UTPA Fieldhouse, which was built in 1969, after the legendary coach.
 
After the UTPA Fieldhouse got remodeled in 2010, the Athletic Department rededicated the court to Sam Williams and named him Head Coach Emeritus in November 2010.
 
ADOPTED BY THE VALLEY
 
Board arrived in the Rio Grande Valley in 1963 and started working part-time in the insurance business while he was still a student at Pan American College. His wife, Donna, who he met when she was a cheerleader at Our Lady of Providence High School and he was a basketball player, moved to the Valley with him.
 
One day, they were sitting at a movie theater, watching the pre-movie news. They saw that it was snowing in New York.
 
"It was snowing, it was cold and it was sloppy, sloppy, sloppy," he said. "We looked at each other and we said 'We're not going to leave this place. We're not going to move back to that stuff.'"
 
Donna Board worked at UTPA for 28 years, 22 of which she spent as physical plant director.
 
For Board, being a student-athlete was instrumental to his professional success because being known helped him create relationships with businessmen in the area.
 
Because he was once given the opportunity to continue studying, and this opportunity defined the way his life would turn out, Board focuses on trying to give the same opportunities to other student-athletes. By helping these individuals, his actions help UTPA and its Department of Intercollegiate Athletics to keep moving in the right direction.
 
"I always like to feel that I've been a small part in helping the university grow," he said.