Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 26, 1981)
\ ,ocal arly Aggie footballer efleets on rich past By GAYE DENLEY Battalion Staff The Aggie yearbook was called le Longhorn. E. King Gill, the iginal Twelfth Man, was not old iugh to shave, and Legett Hall, dormitory for the cadets at A&M College, was still ider construction. Itwas 1911, and Clayton Wheat illiams, a Class of ’15 electrical igineer and noted Texas histo- was carrying a 42-hour demic load while playing foot- for the Aggies. In the seven decades since Wil- ams, 86, first suited up for the armers, many characteristics of le Texas A&M he remembers ave become chapters in the hoofs rich history. The year- ook staff abandoned The Lon- hom when the University of exas adopted the animal as its ~~~ Bicialmascot. Legett Hall, one of epWl voidest buildings on campus, is iw a female civilian dormitory. On the other hand, some things 1 Univesi - like trying to get a room — ever change. T went there in 1911 — took an am to get in and got in on a lonth’s trial,” the Fort Stockton ative said. “I was barely 16 years rs patingint nutepresa is A&Mf John ;nt de ioutherlas “fdbeen sent down a little ear- by my father to get a good he semia ” Williams said in an inter- theE\sij j ew “At that time, they were ard up for rooms, just building m. Web jilnerand Legett Halls. When I to not b id get a room, I got a tent. ” The rigors of being a freshman Company K and living in “Tent was divii ■b” eventually forced Williams e segim 'drop roost of his 42 hours as well his position on the football m. But even hazing by the up- erclassmen couldn’t dampen the nava | s :st for a constant challenge, the peme that seems to characterize s entire life. OverthelastTO years, Williams ersity pn 15 instructed artillery units in e maM 'orldWarl, played an important Maj Jam ’ n the development of the lest Texas oil industry and irved as a Pecos County commis- onerfor 18 years. Most recently, livided ii e has put together a comprehen- versity d ve four-volume history of Texas ship topii ititled “Never Again.” be follow^ As a full-time author, his works iclude a collection of his father’s id other old-timers’ animal stor- aul Abbo s, “Animal Tales of the West,” lent Pra nd a history of the Fort Stockton municatii 'ea. hscussliit Since all of his work is handled 8, Dr. Ve ly the Texas A&M University Counsel ress, Williams still visits College itress n» iation several times a year, but O’ConM lecomingand going, he said, is a willdiscu! it faster than it was in 1911. The first time I went to A&M bllege, it took a day to get to the diroad in Monahans, another day get to Dallas, and then you had ) take one or two more trains and change,” he said. “It would take three or four days to get to A&M College.” As far back as 1911, one traditon had already taken root — upper classmen in the then-mandatory Corps of Cadets did their best to make life miserable for the fresh men, Williams said. “They had all kinds of tricks,” he said. “They’d send you for a reveille horn, and you didn’t know even what a reveille horn was, and The rigors of being a freshman in Company K and living in “Tent City"' eventually forced Wil liams to drop most of his 42 hours as well as his position on the football team. But even hazing by the upperclassmen couldn t dampen the zest for a constant challenge;, the theme that seems to characterize his entire life. there wasn’t any such thing as a reveille horn. You couldn’t be right any way you did it. And then you’d have to sing some more ab out ‘how dry I am,’ and they’d pour ice water on you.” A strike by the student body in 1912 over such hazing cost Texas A&M President Robert T. Milner his position and almost cost Wil liams his degree. “The faculty had fired — kicked out of school — two or three soph omores and juniors who commit ted hazing,” Williams said. “And they got up petitions, and a bunch of us walked out. “I was fool enough to walk out, but I didn’t go very far. I went to Bryan, and by the time my father got down here — he read about it and he didn’t wait to get down here — I’d already read (a state ment from Texas A&M that said) if you’d agree to abide by all the rules of the school, you could go back to school. And I signed that up pretty soon, even before my father got there. “Poor old R.T. Milner was the president’s name. The legislature kicked him out over this strike, and he didn’t deserve it.” Despite the scare, Williams did obtain his degree from Texas A&M and still wears the ring, worn nearly smooth, that proves it. Williams was born in Fort Stockton on April 5, 1895, in one of the old “Officers’ Row” homes that are now historical landmarks. His father, Oscar W. Williams, a jack-of-all-trades, was a judge, surveyor and cotton farmer in Fort Stockton’s early days. The younger Williams finished the 10 grades offered by the Fort Stockton school system in 1911, but there was no graduating class that year and no commencement. Consequently, he had to pass an entrance exam to be admitted to Texas A&M. Between his graduation in 1915 and the outbreak of World War I, Williams worked as an engineer in a copper mine in Hurley, New Mexico. During the war, he was stationed overseas as a coast artil lery instructor. “I volunteered to go into that— those were the big guns,” Wil liams said. “I thought that would be farther away from the enemy and still get credit for volun teering.” Williams spent the next several years surveying, managing a movie theater, and engineering roads for the New Mexico highway department. Meanwhile, the West Texas oil boom was getting under way, and before long Wil liams was head engineer of Texon Oil and Land Co. He worked with the legendary oil magnate Frank Pickrell and was instrumental in the drilling of the first Ellenberger zone producer, for years the deepest well in the world. While Williams was at Texon, a fellow employee introduced him to Chicora Graham, and they were married in San Angelo in 1928. Three years later, their first child was born. Clayton Williams Jr., a 1954 Texas A&M graduate and well-known Midland oilman, was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of the University at last spring’s commencement. The Depression brought a second child, Janet, and a new business for Williams. His oil money gone, he ran for Pecos County commissioner and served in that capacity for 18 years. In the mid-1970’s, he began the transition from engineer/politi cian to author/historian. All his works have enjoyed critical suc cess and have earned him mem berships in several state and local historical societies. Ironically, his only previous writing experience was as athletic editor of The Longhorn his senior year. This year’s Aggieland, the mod em counterpart of The Longhorn, will feature two more generations of Aggies from the Williams clan — son Clayton Jr., who will appear in a section on the Disting uished Alumni, and grandson Clay Pollard, a 1981 senior. Student Y holding benefit to aid UNICEF campaign Contributors to the United Na- ions Children’s Fund could win fees as well as benefit needy lliildren in the Student Y Associa- ion’s fund drive, which runs to- lay through Friday. A booth will be set up in the Jemorial Student Center to col- ect donations, said Lisa Ablard, ^-chairman of Student Y’s com- nunity services division. A fish bowl filled with candy ml be displayed at the booth. Contributors will be eligible to guess the amount of candy in the bowl for prizes. Those who come closest to the correct amount will win prizes ranging from a free dinner for two at a local restamant to a Texas A&M T-shirt, Ablard said. “UNICEF’ donations assist the needs of children in underde veloped countries,” Ablard said. “It’s amazing what (the) little money you give can do.” National UNICEF Day is Oct. 31, Camille Dalton, chairman of the drive, said, and the commun ity service division will be collect ing donations by trick-or-treating at campus residence halls. All money collected by volun teers should be brought to the Student Programs Office, 216 MSC, Dalton said. Last year the community ser vice of the Student Y collected $400, she said. Their goal this year is to reach $1,000 or more. n. VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE DARRELL PICKARD STEWART LAING AND * * * if * * * * if * * * * * * i * m l VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE OCTOBER 27TH > PAID POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT . JAIME LOPEZ FOR SENATOR * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * S/U1C! Utah, yceai yaazi... The J2ondony* / TJt£. STOWS J20A2>0A/ GATAJ10Q 0H SAJIS! /7 /J//wnd /J// *7Ae Siuted Se/eo&ostd/ HOT ROCKS THE ROLUNG STONES - , 64-’71 3,-flecoAid Seti Oh. Sale. $ 9 9S (Alia *Jf? 9 fL&i diicj ROLLING STONES MORE HOT ROCKS (big hits €c fazed cookies) Sottstactton • Brown Sugar • Hanky fcnk Woman • Sympathy For The Devil • 19th Nervous Breakdown • Get Oft My Cloud • Gimme Shelter • Let's Spend The Night Together • Ruby Tuesday I *7/10 fa/o4>/c0'd' /2ed7 iRoeTz & Ro// ^ Sale Smdi Wexi., 0ct. 2Sttt ^ fyUe.'ue' (jot tlte> /ie&t. . . JleAA>!!! ~lH€ RoLLIDG STOn€3 Their roots ore on London Records