The Texas High Plains cotton industry scored a big win Saturday at the fifth annual Celebrate Cotton football game in Lubbock.

Fans attending the Texas Tech vs. Louisiana Tech game were surrounded by several cotton-themed displays as 56 cotton bales, weighing 500 pounds each, lined each entrance to Jones AT&T Stadium. Farm equipment from Hurst Farm Supply and Wylie Implement was displayed around the stadium. Sponsors also gave away thousands of white T-shirts to fans.

“This community wouldn’t be where it is without the presence of cotton. Agriculture, mainly cotton, education and medicine, that’s the three pillars of this community,” said Dr. Lawrence Schovanec, president of Texas Tech University, in an interview with the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “Tech is very fortunate to have such a great relationship with the cotton industry. A lot of our research is based on cotton. It’s just a wonderful partnership.”

Cotton growers on the High Plains produce, on average, four million bales per year, which is roughly two-thirds of the Texas cotton crop, one-third on the nation’s crop and four percent of the world’s cotton crop. On the Texas Tech campus, cotton is represented on the university seal and is studied thoroughly in research labs across the university.

Dr. Schovanec said he values the agriculture community. He was raised on a farm in Oklahoma, one of six boys, along with five sisters. He said it was the best possible way to be raised.

“If I have a chance to hire somebody, and I know they have a rural connection, it makes a difference. They know what work is,” he said. “I’m not diminishing any other segment of our population, but you can’t do better than people who come from a rural background in terms of work ethic and character. I’m very proud to have had that. It’s really helped me a lot.”

Schovanec was named the 17th president of Texas Tech University on July 7.

Sponsors for Saturday’s game included City Bank, Ag Texas Farm Credit Service, FiberMax, Deltapine, Plains Cotton Growers, NexGen, EcoDrip, BASF, Cavender’s, Netafim and Crop Production Services.