Legendary McMurry basketball coach; Hershel Kimbrell passes away at 97
ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – McMurry University’s students and staff of both past and present are mourning the loss and commemorating the life of the institution’s “winningest” coach, Hershel Kimbrell.
McMurry College. The Totem, Yearbook of McMurry College, 1968, yearbook, 1968; Abilene, Texas. (https://trib.al/HYc3xlP: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting McMurry University Library. McMurry College. The Totem, Yearbook of McMurry College, 1968, yearbook, 1968; Abilene, Texas. (https://trib.al/HYc3xlP: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting McMurry University Library.
In an obituary McMurry posted on Thursday, the school revered Kimbrell as something of a war horse.
It reads in part:
“Hershel Kimbrell ’50 was McMurry’s longest running and winningest basketball coach, serving from 1959 to 1990. Under Kimbrell, the men’s basketball team won the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA) title every year but one between 1978 and 1988, advanced to the postseason playoffs 16 times, and competed in the NAIA national tournament in 1962. In 1987, he won his 400th game as a college coach and retired in 1990 with 448 wins.”
Starting his career in 1959, Kimbrell would be inducted into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1985. By 1987, McMurry began a program in his honor; the Hershel and Georgia Kimbrell Scholarship. Then, grant him “Distinguished Alumni” status in 1995 and named the Kimbrell Arena in his honor.
![[Photograph of Holland Evans and Hershel Kimbrell], photograph, 1996; (<a href="https://trib.al/glXDXyW" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:https://trib.al/glXDXyW;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">https://trib.al/glXDXyW</a>: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting McMurry University Library.](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/4Lg2PG4KQARg68Ckn1OuSg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY4OA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/ktab_abilene_articles_934/5c70f008d16e369d9854ae28c5578ff1)
Most recently for the institute’s 100-year celebrations, Kimbrell was listed as one of the McMurry 100.
Longtime McMurry coach honored in Biography
In 2021, Caleb Pirtle III wrote a book titled Never Afraid, Never A Doubt: The Legacy of Hall of Fame Basketball Coach Hershel Kimbrell, thoroughly celebrating the local legend.
McMurry College. The Totem, Yearbook of McMurry College, 1947, yearbook, 1947; Abilene, Texas. (https://trib.al/ixalJ8x: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting McMurry University Library. McMurry College. The Totem, Yearbook of McMurry College, 1949, yearbook, 1949; Abilene, Texas. (https://trib.al/Y7xndYH: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting McMurry University Library.
McMurry says he joins his late wife in his passing, and is survived by his son and daughter who are also graduates of McMurry. When Georgia Kimbrell passed, the family even asked for memorials to be sent to the McMurry University Men’s Basketball team in lieu of flowers.
Details on a memorial service, cause of and date of death for Hershel Kimbrell have yet to be released. Kimbrell recently celebrated his 97th birthday on April 1.
McMurry hosted a 90th birthday celebration for the “Bird Dog” in 2017, as reported by the Abilene Reporter News.
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