Page 2
THE BATTALION
Friday, May 15, 1953
Battalion Editor Originated
Committee for Sportsmanship
Lawrence Sullivan Ross
(Editor’s Note: City Editor
Hand Baker is executive secre
tary of the Southwest Conference
Sportsmanship Committee, a po
sition always held by a Battalion
staff member.)
By KARRI BAKER
The Battalion was responsible
for the organization of one of the
most outstanding intercollegiate
organizations in the country, the
Southwest Conference Sportsman
ship Committee, which has gained
national recognition for its active
part in the promotion of better re
lations between conference schools.
Six years old this year, the
Sportsmanship committee was de
veloped here in 1947 by Jimmy K.
B. Nelson, then co-editor of The
Battalion.
Working through the Student
Life Committee, Nelson got au
thority for The Battalion to ap
propriate from its funds enough
money to buy a three-foot trophy
to be presented annually to the
Southwest Conference School that
showed the best sportsmanship
each year.
Basis for Award
In a Battalion story in the
spring of 1948, Nelson explained
the basis for awarding the trophy:
“The trophy will be given as
recognition for the conference
school whose student body and ath
letic teams display the best sports
manship in connection with inter
collegiate athletics and their asso
ciated activities.”
Editors of other student news
papers and athletic directors of the
conference schools were consulted
in forming the committee’s consti
tution and Sportsmanship Code.
Since the beginning, the consti
tution has been changed slightly,
but its purpose remains the same—
“ . . . the furtherance of sports
manship and good relations in eve
ry field of student endeavor.”
The first presentation of the
trophy was in Houston on May 15,
1948, when Southern Methodist
University was named winner for
the year. That year, votes were
SWC Sportsmanship Trophy Winners
1948— Southern Methodist University
1949— Texas A&M
1950— Rice Institute
1951— Southern Methodist University
1952— University of Arkansas
1953— Rice Institute
SWC
Sportsmanship Trophy
★
cast 'by the conference schools,
members of the Associated Press,
16 conference officials, the execu
tive seci’etary of the conference,
the secretary of each school’s
alumni association, and each
school’s athletic director. The vot
ing px’ocedure has remained essen
tially the same.
Publications’ Program
(Continued from Page 4)
Student Publications operates on
a budget of about $100,000 a year.
More than half this amount is
gained through advertising carried
by the publications and the rest is
supported by student and outside
subscriptions.
With about 100 students on its
payroll, Student Publications dis
tributes about $12^500 yearly.
Many of th§ students could not at
tend college without the small
compensation they receive from
these salaries.
Completely self-supporting
through its advertising and sub
scriptions, Student Publications
pays the full salaries of its man
ager, assistant manager, and the
student employees. It pays part of
the salaries for two secretaries and
a bookkeeper who also work for
the Student Activities Office.
Students responsible for the pub
lications are:
The Commentator—Editor Arvis
Noak, Art Editor Bob Bynes, Bus
iness Manager Bob Travis.
The Engineer—Editor James E.
Richardson, Associate Editor E. L.
Walker Jr., Business Manager C.
H. LeBlanc.
The Southwestern Veterinarian
—Editor-in-Chief J. G. Goodwin,
Associate Editors E. D. Besch and
J. E. T. Laningham, Business Man
ager J. E, Allison.
Aggieland ’53—Co-Editors Har
vey (Spider) Miller and Guy De
laney, Business Manager Phil Tun
is.
The Battalion—Co-Editors Joel
E. Austin and Frank N. Manitzas,
Managing Editors Jerry Bennett
and Ed Holder.
The Agriculturist, which quit
publication earlier this year be
cause of lack of funds, was edited
by O. C. (Putter) Jarvis and As
sociate Editor Herb Harkrider.
After this first presentation,
students of the conference schools
wanted to get together and talk
the thing over. The first meeting
was held here Oct. 15, 1948.
Speaking to this group, James
Stewart, the SWC secretary, said,
“You students have begun a pro-
gram that will probably be taken
up in each major athletic confer
ence in the country. It was my
pleasure to give a report of your
efforts to encourage better sports
manship at a meeting in St. Louis
of the officials of the major con
ferences. They were amazed at
the work you had started. It was
the first such "student program
reported to them and they were
interested in it.”
The membership of the Commit
tee is now composed of the student
government president, the student
newspaper editor, the head cheer
leader, and an athletic representa
tive from each of the seven SWC
schools.
The executive secretary of the
organization is always an A&M
student, since the permanent files
of the Committee are kept in The
Battalion office.
The Committee meets three
times a year to coordinate their
work and discuss methods of im
proving sportsmanship.
The trophy is awarded at the
Cotton Bowl game in Dallas each
year. Since the trophy is x-otated
fi'om year to year, a peimanent
plaque is pi'esented by The Bat
talion to each school that wins the
tx-ophy.
Voting for the ti'ophy is done
twice a yeaiy once in the spx'ing
and once before the Cotton Bowl
game. Results of the two ballot-
ings are added. together, and the
school with the most votes is de
clared winnei - of the ti'ophy.
Vote^ From 63
The 63 votei*s judge the behavior
of each school’s teams, students,
alumni, and fans.
The Spoi-tsmanship Committee
has been x-esponsible for many oth
er things besides the ti'ophy: the
saying of a prayer before each
game, welcoming committees from
the schools making visits befoi’e
games, editors of school paper’s
exchanging articles, giving infor
mation about the schools, and es
tablishing sub - committees f o r
sportsmanship on each campus.
In 1951, the Faculty Committee
of the Southwest Conference una
nimously passed the following res
olution:
“That the president of each con-
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ference school be written and ad
vised of the fine contribution which
the Southwest Conference Sports
manship Committee is making to
the athletic program of the con
ference; further, that the presi
dents of the schools be requested,
in the name of the Faculty Com
mittee of the Southwest Confer
ence, to encourage and further the
work of this committee during the
coming years.”
Famous A&M President
Founded Aggie Traditions
By JERRY BENNETT
The founder of Aggie traditions
had one of the most violent lives
in the history of college adminis
trators.
Few college presidents ever kill
ed Indians in hand to hand combat
or had seven horses shot from un
der them during pitch battles.
Lawrence Sullivan Ross, whose
name is revered in The Battalion
masthead as “Soldier, Statesman,
and Knightly Gentleman, Founder
of Aggie Traditions,” lived these
experiences and many more like
them before becoming governor of
Texas and subsequently president
of A&M.
Baptism of Fire
Born in 1838 in Bentonport, la.,
Ross had his baptism of fire in
1858 when he left Florence Wes
leyan University of Alabama to
fight the Comanche Indians. Dur
ing this campaign, Ross took part
in a desperate battle in which 95
Indians were killed. In addition
to winning the battle, the soldiers
freed a little white girl which the
Indians were holding captive. Since
her parents could not be found,
Ross raised the child and named
her Lizzie Ross.
In 1859, Ross was put in charge
of Texas' frontier army. Under
his command the army destroyed
a Comanche stronghold and res
cued Cynthia Ann Parker, the fa
mous Indian white captive. Dur
ing this battle, Ross killed the
chief, Pete Nocona, in hand-to-hand
combat.
When the Civil War started,
Ross entered the Confederate Army
as a private and quickly rose to
brigadier general. He was 25
years old at the time. He took
part in 135 engagements of im
portance and had seven horses
shot down from under him. In the
battle of Corinth, he lost 50 out of
350 men in a charge on an enemy
battery.
Ross was cited for showing the
most distinguished gallantry durJr
ing this battle.
After the war, he returned to
Texas where he started farming
for a livelihood. In 1873 he be-*
came sheriff of his county. Six
years later, he was elected to the
state senate, where he served as
chairman of the finance committee.
From that position, he moved to
the governorship in 1886. Upon
his retirement, Ross carried with
him the plaudits of friends and op
ponents for having given the state
one of the most popular adminis
trations in its history.
(See FAMOUS, Pgge 4)
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