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By DAVID VANTRESS Herald Sports Writer Porter High School boys ‘bas ketball coach Jim Nellums, ar rested last month amid allega tions he hired four men to rob his estranged wife in Galveston County, is back in Brownsville, reassigned to a position at Sams Stadium, school district officials, said. Charles Bright, Brownsville Independent School District area administrator in charge of personnel, confirmed on Friday that Nellums had been reas signed. Until Nellums’ legal situation is cleared up, Bright said, he will not be allowed to have any contact with students or the Porter basketball program. Nellums, in a brief interview Friday, said he is assisting BISD Athletic Director Joe Ro driguez and declined comment on his legal situation. Bright said that if that situa tion is not resolved in the next few weeks, a decision may need to be made on naming an in terim coach for the Cowboy bas ketball program. Porter Athletic Coordinator Leonard Tolbert said Assistant Coach George Sierra, who has been handling the head coach ing duties in Nellum’s absence, is likely to be named interim coach if it comes to that. “Our concern is that the legal system does not always move swiftly,” Bright said. The legal system in Galveston County is not moving at all, ac cording to Nellums’ attorney, Wendle Smith of Houston. “They haven’t even indicted him yet,” Smith said Friday. Smith said that Nellums plans to aggressively fight the charges. “We hope to have him back on the basketball court in Brownsville very soon,” Smith said. Smith said that he has filed a legal document called a “motion for an examining trial,” which is an attempt to get prosecutors to demonstrate probable cause. The judge in the case has not yet ruled on the motion, ac cording to Smith. Galveston County First As sistant District Attorney Wayne Mallin said the Nellums matter is pending before the grand jury there, but was unsure when the case would be heard. “The date has not been set yet,” Mallin said. The grand jurors can either vote to indict Nellums, or “no bill” him if they think the evi dence doesn’t support the charg es against him. Nellums, who was hired for the Porter job in June after spending 15 years at La Marque High School, was charged last month with criminal solicitation of aggravated robbery, ag gravated robbery, and engaging in organized criminal activity in connection with a March 25 rob bery at the Hitchcock, Texas home of Nellums’ estranged wife. Hitchcock Police Chief Glenn Manis told reporters at the time of the arrest he thought it pos sible that Nellums conspired to have his wife killed, but the Galveston County District At torney’s office did not support that theory and filed the lesser charges. A Brownsville basketball coach who has known Nellums for more than 20 years said he believes he is innocent. Larry Gibson, boys basketball coach at Pace High School, at tended McMurray State Univer sity in Abilene with Nellums in the mid-1970s. Both men were on the basketball team there in 1975-76. “It really hurts,” Gibson said of Nellums’ situation. “It was a total shock. ... I will not believe it until he’s proven guilty. I pray to God he’s found in nocent.” Gibson said he and Nellums kept in contact over the years as both pursued careers as high school basketball coaches. “We would see each other at coaching schools, the state tour nament, that sort of thing,” Gib son said. In fact, it was at the state tournament this year that Gib son informed Nellums that there was an opening at Porter, with the retirement of longtime coach Jim Griffin. “He mentioned that he was interested in coaching boys, and I told him that there was an opening in Brownsville, and he should apply,” Gibson said. “Ie never heard anyone say a bad word about him,” Gibson added. Gibson said he is keeping in contact with Nellums. “He was real down,” Gibson said of a conversation he and Nellums had a few days after Nellums’ arrest. “I asked him point-blank, ‘Did you do this?’ and he said no. ... He told me to have faith in him.” “I told him to have faith in the system,” Gibson said. “He’s innocent until proven guilty, and that’s what the justice sys tem is for. We’re hoping for the best.”
Newspaper Details
Brownsville Herald
Brownsville, Texas, US
Sun, Sep 07, 1997
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Clarissa M.
USA 17 Jun 2026
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