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.