In September 1991 Lamar was one of 32 HISD schools that had capped enrollments: The school was at capacity and excess students had to attend other schools. Fran Callahan, a resident of the Old Braeswood neighborhood of Houston, founded the Lamar Alumni Association in 1998 and became its executive director. She decided to create an alumni association after she inquired about making a large-scale fundraising campaign and learned that Lamar, which had many famous individuals as alumni, had no alumni association.