It is fitting that J. Vernon Hilliard be among the first class of inductees into the Wayland Athletics Hall of Honor, as Hilliard was the founder and first head coach of the university’s immensely successful track and field team.
             A 1933 Baylor University graduate, Hilliard coached at 11 different colleges and schools in his career, including Wayland in 1963-64. Wayland President Roy C. McClung brought Hilliard to Wayland as special assistant to the president, with special attention to starting a track and field program. The program began in 1964, and Hilliard not only recruited athletes, but also helped design the institution’s track facility, which was built later that year and named J.V. Hilliard Field in his honor in 1981. Hilliard stayed at Wayland only one year before becoming the first head track coach in the history of another West Texas institution, Texas Tech.
            Even after the move to Lubbock, Hilliard continued to provide advice and consultation to Wayland’s fledgling program and eventually returned to WBU in 1975 as athletic advisor, a position he would hold formally for six years and informally until his death at age 76 on February 28, 1988. His Leadership was instrumental in founding a program that had won 10 NAIA National team championships at the time of his induction in 1992.