BEAUMONT – Ben Stewart, Jr., a true icon of Texas high school baseball, Colmesneil ISD and the city of Colmesneil, was posthumously honored last weekend, as he was inducted into the Southeast Texas Coaches Association (SETCA) Hall of Fame.
The ceremony took place on Saturday, Jan. 31, at the MCM Elegante Hotel in Beaumont. Stewart was inducted alongside Ed Dyer, Willie Wilson and Bobby Woodard. Stewart, who died in December of 2023, was represented by family members.
Stewart’s daughter, Dena Kay Stewart Settlocker called the induction “a validation of his life’s work.”
“His dedication, talent and love of Colmesneil and the students and athletes he worked with has left behind a legacy we are all proud to be a part of,” she said.
Stewart was one of the most legendary coaches in Texas high school baseball history, with four state championship victories to his credit, and having led the Colmesneil Bulldogs to six appearances at the UIL State Baseball Finals.
A Tyler County native, Stewart grew up in Rockland and graduated from Colmesneil High School. After college, he coached and taught in Mineola and Corpus Christi for a year in each locale, and then returned to his alma mater, where he coached, taught and worked as an administrator for 38 years, before retiring.
It was noted in the awards ceremony that Stewart, while growing up, participated in every extracurricular activity offered at school, and still tackled a wealth of chores on the family farm on which he grew up.
Stewart coached the Bulldog baseball team for decades, with championship titles in 1980, 85, 86 and 1990, which put him in the record books of Texas high school baseball as the coach with the most state championship rings, and as one of the first coaches with consecutive wins. In the 1986 season, the ‘Dogs earned a 28-0 record defending their title under Stewart’s leadership. The school also earned the titles of State Finalists for the 1979 season and Semi-Finalist in 1989.
Stewart’s son, BJ, accepted the award on his father’s behalf, and said that the honor was one that he would have loved. “He would’ve loved to have been here,” he said, and added that because of his father, he knew what path he wanted to take in life, himself, as he attended the same college (Stephen F. Austin State University), married his high school sweetheart and went on to coach in a high school program, just like his father.
Stewart’s career was one “defined by passion, discipline and integrity,” the program at the SETCA ceremony noted. Although he retired from his full-time duties of teaching and administration in the early 2000s from CISD, he continued to work part-time as a coach until around 2008, according to his daughter.
His accomplishments on the diamond also earned him a place in the Texas Baseball Coaches’ Hall of Fame.
In 2019, the Colmesneil ISD baseball field was renamed to honor Stewart, as the Handley-Stewart Field, which also co-honored the late CISD administrator James Handley.
