SMU – Contributor
Lester Jordan was an Honorary Inductee to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Hall of Fame in 1990.
Lester Jordan retired from his assistant athletic director position at Southern Methodist University in 1969 after reaching the school’s mandatory age requirement of 65, but continued for a number of years as a special assistant to the department.
He joined the SMU staff in 1936 to chair the journalism department. Six years later, he was persuaded to add sports information director duties.
Jordan was named business manager of athletics in 1945 and a year later he resigned from his journalism department duties. Soon there after, athletic director Matty Bell asked Jordan to coach the tennis team on a temporary basis, a job which lasted 11 years. Jordan became assistant athletic director in 1964.
He was a charter member of CoSIDA and was the first recipient of its Distinguished Service Award, later named the Arch Ward Award. He was a charter member of the CoSIDA Hall of Fame and was an honorary inductee into the Academic All-America Hall of Fame.
His contributions to the organization were many, but his most notable was founding the Academic All-America football team, recognizing athletes who excelled on the field and in the classroom.
Jordan was a past national president of the College Athletic Business Managers Association and secretary of Athletic Directors and Business Managers Association of the Southwest Conference. The CABMA also honored him with its Distinguished Service Award.
A native of Red Oak, Texas, Jordan attended Trinity University at Waxahachie and graduated with honors in 1926. He earned his master’s degree at Northwestern University in 1927.
Jordan returned to Trinity the following fall and was named head of the journalism department, a position he held until he joined the SMU faculty in 1936. Jordan also was the university’s publicity director.