By Darragh Doiron

The News staff writer

Coach Branden Faircloth said he was already sitting down when he got the news that made him jump out of his chair.

He’d heard a memorial contribution was coming to his Port Neches-Groves High School football players, but he couldn’t have imagined how generous it would be.

Eilene Patricia Nolen, who died recently, willed about $97,000 in honor of her late son, Steve. The Port Neches-Groves Independent School District on Wednesday approved using about $60,660 of that money on wooden lockers for the varsity football team. The rest of the money could go to the girls athletic department or distributed for other sports uses, as the board discussed.

Steve Nolen, who died in a traffic accident shortly after his 1983 graduation from Port Neches-Groves High School, where he played football.

Laura Shipman, who attended the meeting, said she graduated with Nolen and remembered him as being a “tremendous athlete” and “well-liked by everyone.”

Faircloth said someone representing Eilene Nolen’s estate told him about the will in the spring, but didn’t mention the amount. He said that when he called to check up, he got the news of the size of the donation.

The high school this season debuted a new stadium and the field house is currently getting an upgrade, as is the team room. Faircloth said he’d already purchased paint to dress up the current lockers, but now varsity players will get red oak lockers. A plaque will honor Nolen, he said.

“We’ll make as big a one as we can,” Faircloth said.

Eilene Patricia Nolen, nee Cordes, died unexpectedly on April 1. She was born in North Dakota and lived in the area since 1959. She worked 26 years in the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department Correction System.

ddoiron@panews.com