Glen Whitis of Kempner was one of Howard Payne’s most successful basketball coaches, turning the Yellow Jacket program into a national small-college powerhouse in the late 1950s and the 1960s. His record of 265-140 over 15 seasons from 1955-70 leads all Howard Payne coaches in victories and is third in winning percentage at .654. His teams won three Lone Star Conference championships and two LSC co-championships. He was LSC Coach of the Year in 1967. His 1968-69 and 1969–70 teams were ranked third among small colleges by the Associated Press. In his first game as a college coach, the Yellow Jackets defeated Southwest Conference foe Baylor. Whitis served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II and then played basketball at Howard Payne from 1947-50 as a standout center, earning four letters and All-Texas Conference honors. As a senior, his Yellow Jacket team upset SMU of the Southwest Conference 57-56. After graduation, he coached at Pyote, Monahans and Coleman and earned a master’s degree at Sul Ross before returning to Howard Payne. Whitis left Howard Payne in 1970 to coach at Hardin-Simmons in Abilene. In 1972, while on his way from his farm in Brown County to Abilene, he died in a car accident. He was 46. Whitis was posthumously inducted into the HPU Athletics Hall of Fame in its inaugural class.