Angelina College names baseball field after longest sitting board of trustees members

LUFKIN, Texas (KTRE) - On Friday Angelina College officially named its baseball field. Poland Field was dedicated to honor a father and son who spent years serving the college.

Hundreds gathered at Angelina College baseball field to honor the late Robert Poland, Sr. and his son Robert Poland, Jr., two of the longest-serving members of the Angelina College Board of Trustees.

“Both loved Lufkin and the college, and athletics and Robert, his son really loved baseball and he had a lot to do with the facilities that we have now,” said Angelina College Athletic Director Guy Davis.

Family, friends, and students stood together to honor the memory of the Polands, including the widow of Robert Poland Jr.

“He talks to me in my ear frequently, he talks to my daughters, he talks to my granddaughter Claire, he is so there with us still,” said Poland.

A blessing to the family, and Angelina College to name the field after the Polands and to share the memory of such longtime supporters of Angelina College shared Athletic Director Guy Davis.

“They both did so much for AC and on the board, but as individuals, too, and just like his wife kept saying, ‘the field of dreams,’ and this was one of Robert Poland’s dreams, was to have this complex. He got to see it before he had to go,” said Davis.

Robert Poland senior died in 2013. His son died in 2021.

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