THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 1977
Page 11
1
nnouncer s voice
n Aggie tradition
By DAVID BOGGAN
spring and the Texas A&M
team won’t take the field
until September. But when
lo, Aggie fans will be greeted
the familiar words from the
of Kyle Field: “Good after
football fans. Welcome to
Field, home of the fighting
Aggies.”
fans, however, know who
an behind the unique voice is.
C. K. Esten, 69-year-old
father and retired English pro-
, a Rhode Island native and
or graduate, taught English at
A&M from 1946 until his re
nt four years ago.
en has been announcing Aggie
games since 1950, longer
my announcer in the South-
onference. “I’m the dean of
casters of the Southwest Con-
he says.
distinct, New England voice
chos across Kyle Field on au-
Saturdays has brought Esten
compliments. “Thank you,”
Is his fans, “I’m glad you enjoy
:n regards his unique voice as
important part of his job. “I
oo many public speakers get
re and mumble and it irritates
no end,” he says. “I have
taught speech for a good many years
and that’s one of the basic princi
ples: be distinct, be brief, shut up
and sit down.”
Esten is dedicated to impartiality
in the ball games he announces. “I
don’t take sides during a ball game,”
he says. “You can’t tell from my
voice whether Tm rooting for one
side or the other.”
However, he admits, “I’m loyal to
this institution (A&M). I want to see
these guys win. I’ll support this ball
club whether they win or whether
they loose.”
John Adams, spotter for Aggie
football games, says of Esten, “He’s
a real pro. He knows his bysiness.”
In his three years as spotter, only
once, on a Bubba Bean run, has
Adams seen Esten get excited
enough to forget he was the an
nouncer and jump out of his seat.
With Esten’s sense of humor
“there is never a dull moment up
there,” Adams says. He says Esten
kept an ABC announcer laughing
the entire time during one of the
televised A&M games.
Showing his sense of humor,
Esten tells how he would intention
ally mispronounce a player’s name
during roll call in his class to tease
the player. During games, though,
he made sure he pronounced the
player’s name correctly.
“You should pronounce a guy’s
On first try
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lid, or you could check out
orm quiz file (if you’re lucky
to have one), or you could go
library and find every other
■ of your class checking to see
instructor is on file in the
room. As you begin to de-
he Corps Quiz File pops into
ind.
Corps Quiz File isn’t just
to the corps members; it is
|oanyone who wants to use it.
d in Corps Headquarters,
0, the quiz file can be utilized
rs a day, and there is always
ne on duty there to assist
in finding quizzes or making
on the machine,
quiz file has gotten very popu-
s year, commented Corps
tic Officer Mike Cox. “We’ve
dirough a ream of paper a
With approximately 500
in a ream, and several people
Jon’t make copies, “that adds
dot ofpeople,” he explained,
p quiz file area could be ex-
d in a few years, if it becomes
ary,’’said Corps Scholastic
like Humphrey, who is in
charge of the quiz file. He feels that
as of right now, facilities are
adequate. There has been no need to
change since the file was started.
“Originally, the file was started as
a public relations tool between the
corps and the civilian students,”
explained Humphrey. “One of the
premises when the concept was
formed was that everyone could use
it, not just the Corps.”
The idea of a corps-wide file origi
nated with Corps Scholastic Person
nel Robert Harvey and Mark Probst
several years ago. It was started in
the fall of 1975 when each of the 40
outfits in the Corps donated tests
from their own quiz files.
“We now have well over 2,000
tests from all different areas,” said
Cox. “Certainly there are a lot of
courses that are not covered as well
as teachers we don’t have, but one of
the advantages of having the entire
Corps involved is the wide variety of
courses that we do have.”
The quiz file is loaded primarily
with lower level courses. Not many
400 level course quizzes are availa
ble, but Cox explained that “we are
constantly adding new quizzes.” The
file is kept up to date with quizzes
less than three years old.
He also asked that people who
have old tests they would like to do
nate contact him or Humphrey.
name the way he wants it pro
nounced,” Esten says.
Esten and Lugean, his wife of 41
years, live in College Station and at
tend the First Baptist Church in
Bryan. They have two daughters
and four grandchildren. Getting
married was “the smartest thing I
ever did,” Esten says. “She’s the
finest woman God ever made.”
In the off season, Esten enjoys
gardening, walking and traveling.
He and his wife toured Western
Europe two years ago. They plan a
trip to the Holy Land this summer.
Despite these activities, Esten
Photo by Molly McMillan
says he has too much idle time be
cause of the mandatory retirement
law. “I just don’t feel that I’m pro
ductive,” he says of his retirement
years. “In my last years (at A&M) I
was a better teacher than I was 30 or
40 years ago.”
Aggie football fans know that
Esten is, indeed, productive. The
voice of C. K. Esten is an Aggie
tradition. How long does Esten plan
to announce Aggie games? “As long
as the good Lord gives me a voice
and a high sight I’ll be up there,” he
says.
Champion A&M stud
has prized UT name
-BY JEANNE GRAHAM
It’s the breeding season for lives
tock at Texas A&M University, and
at the horse center on Jersey Street,
“Eyes of Texas” are literally show
ing up in herds.
Eyes of Texas is the center’s prin
ciple stallion, whose origin, em-
barassingly enough, is obvious.
“Eyes” was donated to A&M in 1969
by Louis Pearce Jr., a graduate of—
you guessed it — The University of
Texas.
Eyes of Texas, however, is no or
dinary, give-away type horse. He is
a son of Three Bars and a grandson
of King, two of the most sought-
after bloodlines in the quarter horse
business. He is an American Quarter
Horse Association Champion — a
very high honor in the horse world.
With his coal-black coat and beauti
ful conformation, he is an impressive
animal.
“Of the five stallions standing at
stud at the horse center, ‘Eyes’ is our
most valuable,” said Dr. Gary Pot
ter, associate professor of Animal
Science in charge of horses. About
six of A&M’s mares are bred to Eyes
of Texas each year, along with eight
to ten outside mares. In addition to
breeding, he is used for class demon
strations and clinics.
“And he has a wonderful disposi
tion,” Dr. Potter continued. “A
child could handle him — even dur
ing the breeding season.” Best yet,
Eyes of Texas gives his personality
and style to his offspring. “Two of
the best fillies at the center are out
of him,” said Dr. Potter.
Louis Pearce bought Eyes of
Texas when he was a yearling, and
Denim record review
First album good
By PAUL MUELLER
Denim has been playing in Texas,
and especially in Austin, for several
years, but did not record an album
until this year. I’ll be honest — I
didn’t expect as much out of this
album as I ended up getting. I was
prepared for some fairly gutless
country-style pop, but what I found
instead was some fine writing and
high-quality playing, things that
aren’t always present on a band’s
first album.
The band’s leader is Bill Brow
der, who plays lead guitar and
keyboards and sings most of the lead
vocals. He also wrote most of the
songs. The other musicians are
David Moerbe, drums and vocals;
Richard Mullen, guitar, pedal steel,
and mandolin; Jerry Crow, bass;
and Fred Krc, congas and percus
sion.
The basic sound of the album is
soft cpuntry-rock, like the Eagles
New playwright is horn
By SUE MUTZEL
Years have been spent writing
plays in the past. Beau Sharbrough
did it in a matter of hours.
“I got awfully excited,” he said,
adjusting his Lone Star cap. “I
wrote it in one night.”
Sharbrough, a senior at Texas
A&M, sipped his beer in a local bar
and talked about his new career as a
playwright.
“Here Comes the Rain”, a musi
cal, is the first play he has written.
“It didn’t form all at once,” he
said. “Several of the songs were
written before the play was writ
ten.”
Sharbrough didn’t write the play
for audience appeal. He wrote it be
cause he wanted to see it.
“I’m not as concerned with the
popular reception of the show as I
am with seeing it myself,” he said.
The Aggie Players production of
“Here Comes the Rain” runs from
March 31 to April 2 in the Rudder
Forum.
“Two nights before it, I’m going
to sit in the second row and just
watch,” he said. “After that we’re
just going to go through the steps.”
Being director of the play as well
as playwright, Sharbrough is also in
charge of sending the actors
“through the steps ”.
“All the theater is is storytelling, ”
he said. “The director just exter
nalizes the actors. It’s my job to see
that the story gets externalized in
full.”
Working with about 70 people on
a show can be frustrating at times.
“I’ll tell those people ‘Don’t tell
me how hard it is—tell me how well
you can do it’,” Sharbrough said. “I
can’t stand the word can’t.”
He said the production is going
better than he had imagined possi
ble.
A lot of the actors are rookies so
they get real excited about it, he
said. The veterans just like the
show.
“Actors are like trained athletes,”
according to Sharbrough. They
condition themselves, train and do
the job, he said.
“Our department is as good at
what it does as George Woodard
and Steve Jones are at what they do, ”
he said.
Sharbrough said he thinks more
people should go to theater produc
tions.
“I think theater should get some
of people’s beer money,” he said.
You shouldn’t have to do
vaudeville or Laurel and Hardy to
attract people, according to Shar
brough. Shakespeare is the greatest
example of that, he added.
There may not be any Laurel and
Hardy in Sharbrough’s play, but
there is quite a bit of obscenity, he
admitted.
“I only use it (cussing) to show
intensity,” he said. “My dad (a Bap
tist preacher) will probably walk
out.”
But people can come and learn
something, be entertained and see
some pretty girls, he said.
“In rny own opinion, this is the
biggest thing, excluding the Bicen
tennial, in ten years,” said Shar
brough.
“If that’s not worth a six-pack,” he
said, “I’ll eat the program.”
kept him until he was seven y^ars
old. He had “Eyes” on the track
long enough to get a register of
merit, then he campaigned him in
quarter horse shows, earning
enough points in halter, reining,
and cutting to get the AQHA
Championship. Pearce then used
him for his own breeding purposes.
Eyes of Texas stood at stud for sev
eral years at a ranch in Utopia,
Texas.
Louis Pearce, himself, is quite
well-known in the horse and live
stock business. He is on the board of
Alamo Quarter Horse Breeder’s
Assn, and was previously president
of the Houston Livestock Show and
Rodeo. However, having graduated
from University of Texas, his busi
ness profession is not livestock, but
rather industrial engines. He is a
Longhorn to the core, and even
drives an orange automobile.
So why would Louis Pearce do
nate this very valuable animal to
Texas A&M? Without a livestock
program at The University of Texas,
it was just logical, said Pearce. The
gift, though, was given with one
stipulation. “This was my one chance
to add a little class to that svhool on
the Brazos,” Pearce explained.
“He’s yours,” Pearce told the
livestock directors, “but you can’t
change his name.”
Louis Pearce, despite his alma
mater, is actually a big supporter of
A&M, and is an honorary member of
the Saddle and Sirloin Club on cam
pus. And Eyes of Texas, quite at
home at A&M, will continue to be a
great asset to the college.
Some never fired
Photo by Molly McMillan
Fare gun display re-opens
By CHERIE HEDRICK
Through the fog of the river Seine
he could see his adversary coming
toward him. Although there would
be man-to-man combat in the Paris
underworld of 1789, one man had a
better chance. His pin fire revolver
also had a combination set of brass
knuckles and knife.
This gun and hundreds of others
can be seen on the third floor of the
Memorial Student Center above the
main desk.
After three years storage in a vault
in Zachry Engineering Center, the
Metzger-Sanders gun collection was
reopened last autumn.
Reopening was made possible by
James C. Stribling, a recreation and
parks professor at Texas A&M. A
student of firearms, he has drawn
sketches of the guns to show their
evolution.
The collection is worth $1 mil
lion, Stribling said. Some of the guns
are very ornate, their barrels inlaid
with ivory carved into hunting
scenes.
Sizes range from a pistol having a
16-inch barrel to a handgun with no
barrel at all.
The guns were made for a variety
of reasons, Stribling said. For
example, small guns weigh less and
can be concealed or placed in a wo
man’s purse easier"
Carl Metzger was a Texas dairy
farmer and hunter who collected an
tique guns and delighted in showing
them to his friends. Sam H. Sanders
is a 1922 graduate of Texas A&M
who donated his collection to the
school in 1973.
These guns are “not necessarily
tools to perpetrate violence,” Strib
ling said. Some are novelties, like
the gun with a 18-inch long cutlass
used primarily by sailors.
The oldest item in the collection
is a Chinese hand cannon from the
14th century.
Also included are some guns
made by Eli Whitney, inventor of
the cotton gin. The guns he man
ufactured have interchangeable
parts.
The Sanders Collection includes
the “most outstanding collection of
Colts today, Stribling said. It con
tains 88 out of 92 commemorative
issues. These mint condition pieces
have never been fired, cocked or
snapped. A 30-pound Colt sniper’s
rifle was the first to have a scope on
it.
A large amount of literature that
came with the collection is located
in the University library. The col
lection can be seen from 8 a.m. to 10
p.m. daily in the Memorial Student
Center.
used to play. Several of the songs
are in this vein: “I’d be lost Without
You” and “Panhandle Memory” are
two of the best. Some south-of-
the-border influence is apparent in
a lively tribute called “Tequila” and
in “Venezuela!”
There are several other songs that
I won’t go into here, but it’s all good
quality stuff and should bring some
favorable attention to the band.
Student crafts Indian clothing
KANM album playlist
f\M ALBUM PLAYLIST
HITS
rshall Tucker Band Carolina Dreams
od Mac Rumours
leftoverture
iuffett Changes in Latitudes, Changes
iudcs
ye Miller Band Fly Like an Eagle
lotel California
!er and the Silver Bullet Band Night
Tejas
i'ings over America
Yonder Songs in the Key of Life
>yd Animals
Light Orchestra A New World Record
art Hear of the Cat
Benson In Flight
Browne The Pretender
RISERS
'el Sea Level
Lriel Peter Gabriel
America Harbor
Procol Harum Something Magic
Jennifer Warnes Jennifer Wames
The Kinks Sleepwalker
Gentle Giant Playing the Fool
Journey Next
Jean-Luc Ponty Imaginary Voyage
Renaissance Novella
Leo Kottke Leo Kottke
Genesis Wind and Wuthering
Valerie Carter Just a Stone’s Throw Away
Average White Band Person to Person
Janis Ian Miracle Row
FADERS
Rod Stewart A Night on the Town
Starcastle Fountains of Light
Gary Wright The Light of Smiles
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band The Roaring Si
lence
Boston Boston
Rufus Ask Rufus
Led Zeppelin The Song Remains the Same
George Harrison Thirty-three and a Third
Linda Ronstadt Greatest Hits
David Bowie Low
Queen A Day at the Races
Peter Frampton Frampton Comes Alive
Santana Festival
Elton John Blue Moves
Joni Mitchell Hejira
NEW ALBUMS
Doug Kershaw Flip, Flop and Fly
John Handy Carnival
Eric Kloss and Barry Miles Together
Elliott Randall Elliott Randall's New York
Bonnie Koloc At Her Best
Keith Jarrett Shades
Neil Diamond Love at the Greek
Flora Purim Nothing Will Be As It Was .
Tomorrow
Tangerine Dream Stratosfear
Rich Mountain Tower Can’t You Feel It?
Delbert McClinton Love Rustler
Sid Linard Juke Box Angel
Jelly A True Story
Urbie Green The Fox
Moe Bandy I’m Sorry for you, my friend
A&M sophomore Robert Wayne
Helton uses eagle feathers for his
Indian craft hobby and risks going to
jail for possessing them.
Helton, a member of the Texas
Indian Hobbyist Association (TIHA,
a recognized nationwide society for
Indians and non-Indians), makes au
thentic looking Indian costumes and
does bead and ribbon work. The
costumes, bead and ribbon work re
semble those worn by TIHA mem
bers during annual Indian dances
held throughout the United States.
Helton started his hobby about
five years ago and since then has
gotten “fairly good at it.” At least
qood enough to sell some of his
beadwork.
Questioned about the biggest
problem Indian hobbyists face Hel
ton said, “The most important ma
terial we need (eagle feathers) is il
legal to have.”
Helton explained Indians highly
admired the eagle because it is a
wild bird, warlike and not a
scavenger.
As a result, eagle feathers are one
of the Indian’s instruments of wor
ship and meditation, a symbol for
their reverence for life, and fre
quently found on their costumes.
Section 668-668d of the conserva
tion law protecting eagles says,
“...It is unlawful to kill, shoot at.
hunt, pursue, trap, or poison bald
eagles and golden eagles. Futher-
more, it is unlawful to possess any
part of an eagle, its nest, or its eggs.
It is also illegal to sell, purchase,
barter, transport, export, import, or
offer to do the same with any part of
an eagle, it nest or eggs...”
The present penalty provides for
a maximum $5,000 fine and/or one
year imprisonment. The golden
eagle and the bald eagle are also
protected under federal migratory
bird laws.
Helton says he has never shot any
birds for Indian costume material.
He gets his eagle feathers from zoo
cages and more common bird feath
ers from dead birds found while
backpacking.
Helton said, “The finest Indian
outfits are made from genuine
leather. An outfit can take a lifetime
to make because you are constantly
replacing pieces.”
Genuine leather is durable and
used for making moccasins, backing
beadwork and other pieces of
leather.
Helton sold his own leather outfit
for about $300, but outfits often sell
for $1,000 or more depending on
the amount of handiwork on them.
Helton obtains his colorful beads
from Europe, Italy and Czechos
lovakia. He uses small needles and
thin thread to work his beads into
intricate and original designs.
Besides using his imagination for
bead and ribbon work designs, Hel
ton uses authentic Sioux or Wood
land type patterns.
Each tribal group uses different
color combinations or varying re
petitious patterns. For example, the
Sioux use their lucky numbers four
and seven in complicated geometric
designs.
Because beadwork is so time con
suming and tedious, it often takes
Helton about two months to finish
one item.
Asked why people go into this
hobby Helton responded, “Not very
many people are in this to make
money, most are in it because they
enjoy it.”
“My materials cost me virtually
nothing and I figure my labor as
roughly sixty cents an hour,” com
mented Helton.
Helton is currently working on
one of the “harder things to do. ” A
beautiful piece of hand-sewn rib-
bonwork on bright red taffeta. The
finished set with bound edges sells
for $90 or more.
Asked for his opinion of America’s
treatment toward the Indians Hel
ton remarked, “We shafted the In
dians pretty good by not making it
any easier for them to adjust, but
the Indians live the way they want
to now.”
“The level of life on Indian Res
ervations is kind of low, but there
are a lot of educational things
around if they have the desire to
better themselves,” said Helton.
Helton noted that Indians prefer
to be called Native Americans
rather than Indians because they
didn’t come from India, they came
from America and are proud of it.
Helton said, “Most older Indians
are very proud of being World War
II veterans and of having won a
purple heart.”
Asked if he was an admirer of
Michael Murphey and the work the
singer tries to accomplish through
his music Helton said, "I like the
stuff Michael Murphey has tried to
do. He’s more interested in the
present Indians problems. He’s in
terested in their traditions, what’s
happening to them now and what
will happen to them in the future.”
During Christmas and summer
break, Helton works at “Kiva”, an
Indian hobbyist store in Pasadena,
his hometown. He does a lot of cos
tume work for the store and helps
other hobbyists make contacts for
different goods and material.
After graduating from A&M, Hel
ton would like to go back to
Pasadena and teach Wildlife and
Fisheries to high school students.