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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1980)
THE BATTALION Page 5 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1980 infection, h h fever and known at ;ed murder I, Hewassl retried, obinson HI nd, but ad iinion,”Ha There wi nt in the la wyer, Rich ock syndnj W.A. Tolson at controls of radio station 5YA, Which became WTAW in 1957. The first foot- Photo courtesy of Texas A&M University Archives. ball play-by-play broadcast in history was made of the Texas A&M-Texas game in 1921. egister loon for ig travel /f ticipatedii t have diedBe Memorial Student Center be knowilftl Committee is providing sev- ■rips during the spring semester tbers Hesi 1086 P ersons interested in leijig Europe, Mexico or New lyone interested in the trip to ipefrom May 20 to June 15 can ipnow in the Student Programs in the MSC. A $500 deposit is red upon signing up. Total cost of the trip is $1,499 ex- ng cost of airfare, c. 1 is the registration date for I ips to Ixtapa, Mexico and New | ms. The trip to Ixtapa, which is west of Acapulco, will be May | rough May 23. Cost of that trip, includes round trip airfare and Jnights’ accommodation. | deposit of $100 is required to ip in the SPO. e bus trip to New Orleans for Gras will be Feb. 27 through 1. Price of the trip is $79 h includes bus fare and two lodging. Full payment for the is required at registration. ITS hurance ims due s A&M University faculty and jvho wish to file claims against [group medical insurance for |es incurred during 1979 must [by Dec. 31, 1980. [Ray Smith, director of person- laid claims should be submitted i insurance claims office of the Innel Department by Dec. 5 to [time for processing before the [31 deadline with Southwestern Insurance Co. HIS 'H HER'S HAIR DESIGNS Specializing in: Perms, Hennas, Frosts Lifts, Tints and Bacstat AUTHORIZED SEBRING DESIGN CENTER Walk-ins Welcome! Behind Ramada Inn on University Drive 846-3877 846-29 2 JJt rs ID I 1 1 I 1 I n i— MANSKE ROLL THANKSGIVING COUPON OFF ON ONE DOZEN Manske Rolls Your moms gonna feed you something extra special for lunch — treat her to EXTRA SPECIAL MANSKE ROLLS for breakfast! She’ll love you for it!!! in/Aimdijiv 50£ 693-8276 Coupon Expires Nov. 29. 1980 nons, oard ( 1513 S. Texas Ave. Culpepper Plaza MSC Town Hall presents: LACY J. DALTON and the Dalton Gang with special guest DON RING December 2 — 8 p.m. Rudder Auditorium Tickets: Zone I $6.50 Zone II $5.75 Zone III $5.00 iT 1 h; ifT r, - Battalion Classifieds Call 845-2611 First football broadcast recalled By KATHLEEN A. WAKE FIELD Battalion Reporter A radio station which orginally op erated as a ham system was set up at Texas A&M University in 1921, and by a chain of occurrences came to broadcast the first play-by-play foot ball game known in history. The events which led to the trans mission of the game was originally intended to be a stunt, said W. A. Tolson, a former Texas A&M student who was the builder and broadcaster of the transmitter as written in docu ments procured from the Texas A&M University Archives. After the war, when civilians were permitted to use ham radios, Tolson and his friend, B. Lewis Wilson, who was in charge of electrical mainte nance in the electrical engineering laboratories, set out to build a ham transmitter. In order to get a transmitter, Tol son and Wilson had to “steal” a high- voltage transformer from a profes sor’s laboratory. The next step was to “procure” about 100 glass photo graphic plates from the Campus Photo Studio that were to be used as a transmitting condenser. The third step proved to be the most difficult when Tolson and Wil son found they needed a rotary spark gap. This problem was solved when “in Professor W. G. James’ office was an object which made our mouths water” — an electric fan. Here is the story as Tolson and Wilson remembered it: “The progress of science was somewhat delayed by the adamant refusal of Professor James to allow his fan to be placed in winter storage until the weather got cool.” However, “fate intervened in the favor of science” and somehow the fan miraculously fell out of a window where “someone had carelessly placed it. ” Once the fan was re trieved, the only part of the object not damaged was the motor which could easily find a useful purpose as a rotary spark gap. The first transmitter was born at Texas A&M. F. C. Bolton, professor of electric al engineering, got a transmitter license for the project, which carried the call letters 5YA. Station 5YA operated as a ham re lay until the idea came up to give a play-by-play account of the Thank sgiving Day football game on Nov. 24, 1921 between the arch rivals, the Texas Aggies and the Texas Lon ghorns. Before the game could be aired, a major problem had to be overcome. The Morse Code system that would be used to send the game over the wires was much too slow to keep up with the action of the game. To solve the problem, the legendary Texas A&M football coach, Dana X. Bible, developed some football abbreviations which could be sent over the wires. Copies of the abbreviations were then sent to the amateur stations that would be interested in receiving the broadcast. Some examples of the abbrevia tions are “TB A 45Y” which meant “Texas’ ball on the Aggie’s 45 yard line” and “T FP &Y L” which meant “Texas forward pass and yards lost. ” The fans went wild as they listened to the Texas Aggies defeat the Texas Longhorns to a what may have been either a 7-0 win or a 0-0 tie, records at the archives are contradictory. If the score was 7-0, the Aggies had an “undefeated, untied, and unscored upon” season. New Fall Arrivals at the Locker Room! Warm-Ups by: JOG-JOY HANG TEN WINNING WAYS OPEN 9:30-6:00 ^ r % l ockn Koont "SPORTSHOES UNLIMITED" 800 VILLA MARIA RD. ACROSS FROM MANOR EAST MALL 779 9484 nO*' ‘ Kl "' ' l l:, TUESDAY WIGHT ALL YOU CAN EAT Pizza, Salad and Spaghetti from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight for *2™ Pitchers PJLzzalxmi gct^Moie of the c Hjingsy0ifIovec Texas Ave. College Station 846-6164 Construction is about to begin on the site of the old Circle Drive-In. Consequently, this area will no longer be available for student parking. We regret any inconvenience, but as of MONDAY DEC. P* all cars parked on the grounds of the Circle Drive-In will be towed away. University/North Gate Texas A&M Campus The Mesa Construction Company. Inc.