Howard Payne president Lanny Hall announced that the university will be receiving a significant gift from Brownwood's TexasBank to be used for the basketball program.

The gift will make possible the purchase of a portable basketball floor and portable goal systems to be used in Brownwood Coliseum, replacing homemade backboards and a 50-year-old floor. A published report suggested that the state of the floor was the reason why Howard Payne was not awarded sectional hosting privileges this past season in women's basketball.

“On behalf of Howard Payne University, I want to express deep gratitude to TexasBank for this very generous grant which will greatly enhance our basketball program,” Hall said. “The new floor and goals will be enjoyed by players, spectators and the entire community for decades to come.”

The gift was made known to the university by vice chairman and CEO C. Norman Tinkler, a 1975 graduate of HPU and former men's basketball team member.

“TexasBank is very proud to provide this grant to Howard Payne University to upgrade its basketball equipment. Our desire is to help continue the momentum that has been building over a number of years through the success of the men's and women's basketball programs,” Tinkler said. “HPU is such an important partner, both in business and in our community. Its success is vital to the continuing growth that Brownwood and surrounding areas are experiencing. We are committed to helping HPU achieve its goals.”

For more than four decades, Howard Payne's basketball teams have played their games in Brownwood Coliseum. The facility opened in 1964 and HPU reached an agreement with the city of Brownwood to play its collegiate basketball games in the facility.

The portable floor that the men's and women's basketball teams have been playing on is actually 10 years older than the coliseum itself. As a result of countless basketball games played on it, the floor has had to be sanded and finished multiple times through the years to the point at which further refurbishment is not possible. The floor to be acquired meets 2007 NCAA standards and should have a lifetime of at least 50 years.

The portable basketball goals currently in use were made in Brownwood in the early 1960s. The goals are very out of date and are of non-standard dimensions. Despite the use of outdated equipment, the HPU basketball teams have had a great success in the recent years. For the past two consecutive years, HPU has hosted American Southwest Conference Basketball Tournaments at the Brownwood Coliseum, the men in 2006 and women in 2007. HPU set a Division III all-time attendance record for any women's basketball game in its second-round NCAA Tournament game with an attendance of 4,020.