Editor’s Note: Caprock Chronicles is written by Jack Becker, Librarian Emeritus, Texas Tech University Libraries. He can be reached at Jack.becker@ttu.edu. Today’s article is by Juan H. Molina, a graduate History student at Texas Tech and past contributor to this column.
As he reflected on the role sports played in his life, Dr. Jesus Arenas Jr. remarked that one of the things he learned playing basketball was that he “just needed a chance” to show his abilities, and that from there, he could “work [his] way up.”
Arenas was born in Lubbock in 1978. His father was born and raised in Camargo, Mexico and moved to Lubbock sometime around 1973. Around this same time, Arenas’ mother came to the area from Corpus Christi.
Arenas’ first opportunity to play organized sports came in the seventh grade at O. L. Slaton Junior High School, where he made the 7th Grade A Team in football and basketball. “I loved it,” Arenas recalled. He remembered that the coaches and teachers stressed the importance of making good grades if he wanted to continue playing on the team, which for Arenas, came fairly naturally.
Arenas, always tall for his age, eventually grew to an imposing 6 feet, 7 inches, which shielded him from some racist experiences in the hallways and classrooms. As an athlete, however, he remembered name-calling during games and practices.
After Junior high Arenas picked Monterey H.S. because it had the best basketball program in the district and produced Craig Ehlo, who played in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Arenas figured, “if Ehlo could make it into the NBA from Monterey, then he could too”.
The prospect of going to college materialized for Arenas the summer before his senior year of high school, when he played on a traveling team that played tournaments in several neighboring states. Scouts came to watch the players and soon letters and phone calls came to his house.
He picked Wayland because it was close to home. After his first year at Wayland, he transferred to Harris Stowe, an HBCU in St. Louis. His time at Harris Stowe proved to be difficult, so he decided that his basketball playing days were over, although he did well on the basketball court. Accordingly, he decided to come back home to Lubbock to finish college at Tech.
In September of 1999, the Head Coach for the men’s basketball team announced that open tryouts would be held to replace two players who had sustained season-ending injuries. Arenas figured he would give it a shot. After a two-hour try-out involving 75 hopefuls, he and another young man were all that remained. He was to become a Red Raider, although he had to sit out one year.
At the end of the 2000-2001 campaign legendary Bobby Knight was hired as coach. Coach Knight motivated Arenas and he began to feel that the many hours he had invested into the game of basketball just might pay off. So, did Coach Knight apparently, for he gave Arenas a full scholarship, which allowed him to focus on his classes and enjoying his final year of college.
Towards the end of April of 2002, Arenas realized that graduation was on the horizon but he felt “lost.” So, decided to visit with Coach Knight and solicit his advice. Knight encouraged him to consider coaching and to visit with the College of Education. So, he did. A post-baccalaureate certification program was offered, which would entail taking courses over the summer. After a semester of student teaching in the fall, the certification process would be complete. Coach Knight offered to fund Arenas’ participation in the program, to which Arenas agreed. Following the completion of the courses, Arenas began student teaching in the fall of 2002 teaching and coaching at Lubbock High School.
Arenas learned several important lessons during his first year as a teacher, the most important- there was a lot more to teaching and coaching than he realized as a student. For example, during basketball season he had very little time for himself, basketball and teaching took up all his time. But eventually he learned to make practices more efficient and cut them down to under two hours.
As the people around him got to know him, many encouraged him to become a principle or a superintendent. At first, he was hesitant but, finally he decided to give it a try. It would take four years to finish the graduate work required to earn a master’s degree but he finished the program in 2012, but a position did not open up until 2016 when he became the Assistant Principal at Levelland Middle School. Arenas steadily moved up his career ladder holding down jobs as principal and Chief Financial Officer, a job he currently holds. Along the way he earned a Doctorate in Education.
As Arenas reflected on the many different changes he has faced in his career, he attributes his success to a combination of hard work and the guiding hand of God.