JONESBORO, Ark. — On Wednesday morning, former Arkansas State football coach and former A-State Athletic Director Larry Lacewell died at the age of 85.
The Fordyce native attended Arkansas-Monticello from 1955 to 1958 and was an All-AIC running back there.
After that, he started his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Bear Bryant at Alabama in 1959. He was also on Oklahoma's staff, where he won two national titles and six Big Eight championships with the Sooners as their defensive coordinator/associate head coach.
He coached for over a decade in Jonesboro and led Arkansas State to 69 wins, 2 Southland Conference titles, and four straight 1-AA playoff appearances, including the 1986 National Championship game.
Lacewell was the athletic director at Arkansas State from 1979 to 1990.
He helped the Red Wolves make the move from Division I-AA to Division I-A, which is now the FBS.
Lacewell also made it possible for A-State to get their football games nationally televised.
The former AD also raised money for new football facilities like the First National Bank Arena which opened in 1987.
After he was the athletic director, he went on to the Dallas Cowboys. Lacewell won three Super Bowl rings with the Cowboys as a longtime director of scouting.
He was inducted into the Arkansas State Hall of Honor in 1987, the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, and the A-State Ring of Honor in 2001.
Lacewell's impact on the Red Wolves is still here today. Every football season, the most valuable player on the A-State football team wins the Larry Lacewell award.
Arkansas State University plans on lighting its library tower scarlet in memory of Lacewell on Thursday.