A word of advice for my Roo friends. Always, ALWAYS wear your Roo gear. The #1 reason I wear my Roo gear is to collect Roos. They’ll let you know when they see you. It happened again this past weekend. I was recruited to play in a USTA tennis league this summer in Austin. Sunday
Kilgore, TX lies right in the heart of the Pine Curtain of East Texas, within 30 miles of Tyler, Longview, Marshall. Kilgore was on its way to ghost town status in 1930 with a population of only 500, until the discovery of the “East Texas Oil Field” changed the fortunes of the town overnight. By
What are my summer plans? Write a Memorial Day Roo Tale of course. This year’s tale will honor Richard Earl (R.E.) St. John (AC ’36), who died in the Atlantic saving his fellow sailors after an attack by a Nazi U-Boat. What are my summer plans? Attend Legends 2023 of course. Gordon Eiland (’79), Matt
While digging for some boring billing documents last weekend, I came across this 1988 letter to me from Dr. Carol Daeley. Dr. Daeley, a former Austin College Professor of English, mentioned a number of potential classes I might take that fall as a freshman. She also said that if I “have questions about anything before
In honor of NASA’s announcement yesterday of the crew which will return to the moon, here’s a photo of Neil Armstrong training for the original moon landing in Sherman, TX not far from Austin College. Neil was in Grayson County for parachute training on May 27, 1968. Three weeks earlier, a lunar module testing malfunction
I just got back from a week in Nacogdoches, helping Stephen F. Austin State University transition into their new family within the University of Texas System. Hey, a big public Higher Education project like that sounds like a great opportunity for something smaller & private: a Roo Tale! Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches
No school dominated Texas basketball like Bowie High School in the 1950s. During that decade, the Bowie Jackrabbits won four Texas High School crowns and reached the title game in Austin twice more. The centerpiece of those great Bowie teams was 6’11” Temple Tucker (uncle of Austin College Kangaroo Margaret McMahen!), who later earned All-American
“Records are made to be broken. How many years did people go thinking that anybody could ever beat Spitz? It happens. Just when, that’s the question.” – Swimmer Michael Phelps, whose 8 gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics topped Mark Spitz. “Way to go Emma! Records are made to be broken!” – Swimmer Katie
Luckett Hall on Grand Avenue is no more, which makes a lot of us old timers sad. I was a resident assistant (RA) in Luckett back in 1989-90, “technically” policing a bunch of guys I now call friends. What was my RA philosophy? I’ll admit it wasn’t much of one: “If I don’t get in
Today’s big news brings us the return of Barney the Purple Dinosaur, the PBS children’s character born in 1992 who raised a generation of Millennial Roos. Barney received blowback from older Generation X Roos like me, probably due in part to the demands of parenting. Still, that’s not nice. Oddly enough though, I’m sympathetic to
