Date: 11/21/2017 1:47:31 PM
I
18,440
iEADliS
Published Daily on the Texas A&M College Campus
Number 77: Volume 57
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1958
Wi GOT
A COACH
Price Five Cents
Jim Myers Chosen To Fill Vacancy
After 51 Coachless Days at Aggieland
He Was Asked
* • •
— stun ciioto
80-foot Invitation to Aggieland
Gerald Garies, senior in E Infantry, pounds athletic director. Jim Neighbors, Battalion
out an 80-foot telegram to Coach Jim Myers managing.editor holds up part of some 2,292
from A&M students asking him to reconsider signatures sent with the telegram,
taking the job as head football coach and
Mrs. Gray One of Many
Prospective Girl-Ags
By J. J. BITSER
A fund to defray court costs in
volved in the possible attempt of
Mrs. Myrna Gray to seek judicial
help in securing admittance to
A&M was started yesterday, under
direction of a Bryan newspapei\
One offer of a contribution of
$100 has already come from Wil
liam Prescott Allen, publisher of
the Laredo Times.
Mrs. Gray yesterday confei’red
with John Barron, Bryan attorney,
who said that “legal steps in be
half of the 27 year old wife of an
A&M student is being considered.”
Mrs. Gray, whose application for
Baylor Boys
Offers Coach,
Money To Ags
Coaches, coaches everywhere;
and now A&M has one all its own.
But even before Jim Myers was
Aggieland bound and the situation
looked coachless, it seems a couple
of Baylor students would have
gladly traded circumstances.
In a letter addressed to The Bat
talion, the two boys of the green
and gold wrote:
Dear Editor (The one who likes
girls),
Due to the difficulty you have
had in finding a coach for A&M,
we the 7th man of the Baylor Line
suggest that you take ours. Not
only can you have him, but we will
pay you $60,000 to take him.
Also we will throw in a basket
ball coach, optional at no extra
cost.
It was signed with the initials
S.W. and R.C., who referred to
themselves as the Baylor 7th Man.
Maybe Baylor has resorted to
six-man football.
admission was turned down Mon
day, is the latest in a long line of
girls who have sought admission
to the all male college.
And, although no evidence can
be found to prove that the college
was ever completely co-education-
al, girls have attended the school at
various times since 1903, and one
girl received a degree!
Mrs. Gray said she didn’t know
about the one girl to receive a de
gree from A&M, but asked, “How
did SHE arrange it?”
As far back as 1903, mention was
made of girls attending A&M.
Austin Burges in “A Local History
of A&M College” said “Misses
Mary and Sophie Hutson . . . pro
bably the first girl students to at
tend A&M . . . were doing senior
work in the technical departments
of the college and expected to re
ceive certificates at commence
ment. .
No records have yet been found
showing that they did receive
cei'tificates, but a thorough search
of archives for that and other
facts on co-eds is being made.
The one woman who definitely
received a sheepskin was Mary
Evelyn Locke, Nee Crawford. She
got a degree in liberal arts in
August, 1925.
She attended A&M during the
1924-25 long session, under a
temporary condition then existing,
allowing the admittance of im
mediate families of teachers.
She was then living in Bryan
with her brother, Charles W. Craw
ford, now acting associate dean of
engineering here.
According to local historians, the
diploma was dated on Sunday, and
it was presented in a “special cere
mony.”
NO GIRLS . . . EVER
On Sept. 25, 1925, about a month
after Mr. Locke received the de
gree in English, the Board of Di
rectors passed a resolution fn,
Houston . . . “that no girls will be
admitted to A&M. . . ever.” Search
of board minutes since then is also
being made to determine if other
rulings have been, made, over
ruling this proclamation.
Other documents have been found
indicating that in 1933 this rule
was challenged in District Court in
Brazos County. Mrs. W. E. Neely
of Bryan sued from a mandamus
to force the Directors to admit
five Bryan girls.
However, District Judge W. C.
Davis rendered judgment without a
jury on Jan. 5, 1934, refusing to
issue the mandamus. He held that
the board clearly had authority to
set admission requirements, based
on Article 2613, Section 6 of the
Acts of 1861, which set up the
Board of Directors.
Briefs from the trial included
mention of the establishment of
the College of Industrial Arts,
(Now Texas Woman’s University,)
under the Acts of 1901. The act
reads, in part,
“ . . . The fact that there is now
no institution for the industrial
training of the white girls of Tex
as . . .” At the time, A&M was 35
years old, being established in
1876.
The briefs also included
mention of “four times from 1901
to 1933 when A&M has admitted
girls during long sessions. . ” and
that they had always attended dur
ing the summer sessions.
However, at least once more,
girls were admitted to A&M during
regular terms. This was in the
summer of 1933, when “as a
temporary, emergency action,” the
immediate families were allowed to
send girls to A&M for the 1933-34
term. This was probably based on
an economic situation, resulting
from a 25 per cent cut in staff
member salaries.
Coming Soon As
Iowa Snow Melts
By the ASSOCIATED PRESS
After 51 days without a coach, A&M yesterday named
Jim Myers of Iowa State as head football coach and athletic
director.
“He’s coming' as soon as he can get out of the snow,”
President M. T. Harrington said in making the announce
ment.
He said Myers’ salary will be $16,000 a year plus a rent-
free house under a four-year contract which becomes effec
tive today.
The A&M board of directors last week had tabled a
motion, 5-4, to hire Myers and tried to engage Navy coach
Eddie Erdelatz. Myers heard about this move and at that
♦‘time withdrew from consider
ation. Erdelatz then got out of
. . . And He Came
-
-
»:
ifcl!
. .. ...
6,500 Aggies
To Register
For 2nd Term
Approximately 6,500 stu
dents are expected to register
Feb. 1, in Sbisa Hall, for the
1958 spring semester, H. L.
Heaton, registrar and direc
tor of admissions said yesterday.
He said he expected about a 1,000
drop in enrollment from the 7,474
students who had registered for
the 1957 fall semester when reg
istration closed last Oct. 15.
Heaton also said that students
must pay their first fee install
ment and present the yellow re
ceipt slip before they can register.
Fees are payable at the fiscal of
fice, the first installment $103.20
or the entire semester payment
$311.95.
Students who register at 7:30
a. m. may pick up their assign
ment cards on the afternoon of
Jan. 31 at the news stand south of
Sbisa Hall and avoid standing in
line the next morning, Heaton re
minded.
Students will register according
to the following schedule:
7:30-8 a.m.—all whose surnames
begin with G, H, I, J, K.
8- 9 a.m. — all whose surnames
begin with A, B.
9- 10 a.m.—all whose surnames
begin with T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.
10- 11 a.m.—all whose surnames
begin with L, M, N, O.
1- 2 p.m.—all whose surnames
begin with P, Q, R, S.
2- 3 p.m. — all whose surnames
begin with C, D, E, F.
Tindel To Speak
To Houston Club
Joe Tindel, editor of The Bat
talion, will be guest speaker at the
regular meeting of the Houston
Sigma Delta Chi chapter tonight.
He will speak on the problems
of an uncensored college editor’s
job, and particularly, the events at
A&M that have led to a request
by the Student Senate that he
resign as editor.
Accompanying Tindel to Houston
will be Don Burchard, head of the
Department of Journalism, Wesley
Calvert, also of that department,
and Joe Buser, news editor of the
Batt.
the picture as fast as he had
entered it.
Harrington said the board
pledged unanimous support to
Myers but during the afternoon
four board members left, includ
ing supporters of Erdelatz for the
job.
Two hours passed before Har
rington made his announcement.
Undoubtedly responsible for*
helping change Myers’ mind and
that of the board of directors was
the work of students organized
by Gary Rollins from Houston,
sports editor of The Battalion. He
masterminded an 80-foot telegram
carrying 2,229 signatures which
was sent to Myers asking him to
reconsider.
With cadet Col. Jon Hagler of
LaGrange, Tex., Rollins ti’aveled
Sunday to Ames, Iowa, and they
stayed with Myers until their
return this morning.
Rollins had aid from All-Amer
ica halfback John Crow, who said
he telephoned board member Jack
Finney of Greenville, Tex., and
told him the boys wanted Myers.
Finney confirmed he received
the call but would not elaborate.
Myers is a single-wing football
coach and even Paul Bryant said,
when he went to Alabama, that his
team coming up next year would be
better for that formation.
Crow said the players were look
ing forward to playing single
wing football.
The long period was filled with
embarrassing moments for the all
male college of 7,200 students. An
outbreak of disagreements between
board members and the all-facul
ty athletic council saw big- name
coaches come and go.
(See BOARD, Page 4)
Jim Myers
A&M Athletic Director, Head Coach
Murder Trial
Al O IS Friday
Did Karen Andre commit a
murder or not ? That is the question
that will be answered by an un
rehearsed jury at the Consolidated
High School Auditorium tomorrow
night.
The curtain rises at 8 p. m. on
the murder trial play, “Night of
January 16.” The unique tiling
about the play is that no one, not
even the cast, will know the verdict
until the play ends. The jury is
selected, they hear the case and
are then left to reach a decision.
Bets on the verdict, although
never encouraged, are regular
features of performances of “Night
of January 16.”
Doris Nolan, who played the
defendant in the professional pro
duction, had a standing wager with
Edmund Breese the prosecuting
attorney, that hinged on her ability
to “fix” one of the jurors.
At each performance she selected
one juror in the box and con
centrated on him for the dotation
of the performance. She caught his
eye in the beginning and held it for
long periods of time. Her bet with
Breese was to the effect that this
particular juror would vote “not
guilty.” She never lost.
Karen Andre, the defendant, is
played by Carolyn Wilson. The
part of the prosecuting attorney is
taken by David McNeely and the
defense counsel is John Hamner.
Twenty-one other CHS seniors
form the complete cast of the play
which will be presented both to
morrow .and Saturday night, with
a different jury, and possibly a
different verdict, each night.
Weather Today
Cloudy with intermittent rain
throughout the day is the forecast
for the College Station area. A
high of 55 degrees and a low of 38
tonight are expected.
By 8 this morning rainfall total
ing .15 inch had been recorded.
Yesterdays high was 62 degrees
at 2 p. m. and; this morning’s low,
45 degrees at 7 a. iru
sf .
—Battalion Staff Photo
President Congratulates Rollins, Hagler
President M. T. Harrington congratulates success in influencing Coach Jim Myers to
Battalion sports editor Gary Rollins (left) come to A&M as athletic director and head
and Corps commander Jon L. Hagler on their football coach.