I
was planning on doing some writing tonight now that the kids are headed
to bed, and here I am writing as planned. Only, I wasn’t planning to
write about this particular topic. But hey, some things just can’t
wait.
One of the joys of writing is the learning. As writer Bobby Hawthorne
said to a Longhorn crowd recently, “the research is the fun part.” I
know barely anything when I start a story. But with research comes
knowledge. If writing is anything, it is the sharing of knowledge for
those interested in a common topic. I’ve learned a lot about people
associated with Austin College who otherwise would have just quietly
passed me by like a boat headed downstream.
This winter’s Roo
Tale is the story of the 1922 perfect game pitched by AC’s Charlie
Robertson against Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers. Robertson returned to
coach Roo football in the fall of 1922, and devoted himself full time
to baseball in 1923. He spent the 1924 season back in Chicago. One of
his White Sox teammates was Ray Morehart, a fellow Roo who would later
play with Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig.
Things were also happening
on campus back in 1924. AC was celebrating its 75th anniversary (SMU
& Rice were a mere 12 years old in 1924, and plans for Texas Tech
were just getting off the ground). Austin College had only recently
gone coed, and a 5-year old literary society for Kangaroo women named
Kappa Gamma Chi constructed an iconic fountain to mark the occasion. A
Sherman landscape architect whose son attended AC was hired by President
Clyce to oversee construction of some of the “Diamond” anniversary
festivities.
That architect also had a two-year old son named
Clyde who got to participate. Clyde’s father bought him a crimson
sweater, and his older Roo brother had a gold “AC” knitted in front. A
family photo of Clyde wearing the sweater was taken in 1924, the same
year that Robertson was pitching for the White Sox, the Roos were
beating John Heisman and Rice, and the rest of the AC community was
marveling at 75 years of existence.
1924 was 95 years ago.
What’s Clyde up to now? Oh, you know. The usual. Wearing his AC
stuff. Spending time on campus. Helping the next generation of Roo
students. That ol’ chestnut. He participated last month in an AC Speed
Mentoring event on campus with Jenny King and Wayne Whitmire.
Jenny posted a photo of the evening with Clyde; he’s still showing off
his crimson and gold gear in 2019, just as he did in 1924. Thanks for
letting me borrow the photo Jenny.
Between 1924 and 2019, Dr.
Clyde Hall was a student, soldier, alum, professor, and living AC
legend. He retired from teaching in the spring of 1988, the semester
before Jenny, Wayne, and I showed up on campus. You can read a lot more
about Dr. Hall in the most recent Austin College magazine issue, which I
received today.
Some of you may know Dr. Hall, and a few of you
may know him very well. But I bet a good number of you do not. I
certainly did not. But now we do. That’s the joy of writing, and the
research that comes along with it. It’s the sharing of knowledge.
There will be another Charlie Robertson preview this Saturday. You
know ol’ Charlie. He’s the Roo who threw a perfect game in the Major
Leagues against Ty Cobb in 1922, the same year that Clyde Hall was born
and began nearly 100 years of service to Austin College. You and I knew
about neither Roo just a few years ago, and now we know a little about
both. Lucky us.
Dr. Hall, you have an open invitation to offer your memories on any and every Roo Tale. Glad I know your story.
