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Thursday, January 26, 1984/The Battalion/Page 3B
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DENVER — Old soldiers
never die, they just fade away.
And old rodeo riders? They
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Well, boots actually, and
shirts, sport coats, jeans and
belts. In fact, six-time Pro
Rodeo All-Round Champion
Larry Mahan has an entire
line of clothing named after
him.
Mahan, 39, looks more like
a well-off western business
man than a rodeo rider.
With a distinguished
graying head of hair, conser
vative plaid shirt and western-
cut sport coat, he could fit in at
just about any country club
west of the Mississippi, and
probably a lot on the other
side of the river.
He even has a son at an ex
pensive New England prep
school.
Larry Mahan has always
run against the grain, and if
there is one thing you can say
about him, he defies
stereotypes.
Mahan became a member
of the Professional Rodeo
Cowboys Association in 1963
when he was 18, and rode full
time until 1973. During his 10
years on the circuit, Mahan
competed in approximately
120 rodeos a year. He would
often ride in one rodeo in the
morning, then jump in his
plane and fly 500 miles to par
ticipate in another that after
noon.
Today he is riding in an
occasional team-roping com
petition, like the one being
held at the National Western
Stock Show in Denver.
Those who have followed
rodeo say Mahan was one of a
new breed of riders who
changed the face of rodeo.
That is true, Mahan con
cedes.
“We were more intense,” he
said of the group of men with
whom he competed. “As in
other sports, our group was
different from the group be
fore us. The group before us
was closer to the ‘Old West.’
We were trying to get to more
rodeos. The game was grow
ing at the same time,” and the
combination meant rodeo rid
ers started making more
money.
Mahan was the first pro
Since his rodeo riding
days, Mahan has seen
entry fees go from $30
to $200 per event. The
most money he ever
earned in a year was
$63,000. This year,
Roy Cooper, one o/
the pro rodeo’s best
riders, will take in
close to $150,000.
rodeo rider to win more than
$50,000 a year.
He also set a new style for
the rodeo rider in the way he
dressed and promoted him
self and the sport.
“Larry never turned down
an interview,” said one pro
rodeo observer, Mahan’s wife
Robyn. “He always made him
self available to the press.”
He also brought in flashy
western shirts, and an old style
by tucking his pant legs into
his cowboy boots.
Says Mahan, rodeo never
was a conservative way to
make a living, and he was just
dressing the way he liked to
dress.
“There was a certain
amount of just stretching out
involved,’’ he said of his
appearance and demeanor.
He admits he received
some ribbing for his antics.
“When I started winning a
lot, everybody seemed to wear
their hair short. As my hair
started to grow, I was terro
rized because of it,” he said.
At the same time, he said,
his group of rodeo riders be
came more professional in
their approach to the sport.
And the sport has con
tinued to grow in popularity
and financial size. Since his
rodeo riding days, Mahan has
seen entry fees go from $30 to
$200 per event. The most
money he ever earned in a
year was $63,000. This year,
Roy Cooper, one of the pro
rodeo’s best riders, will take in
close to $150,000.
Mahan said he is glad he is
out of thej business, which he
calls “an endurance test.”
He has become primarily a
businessman, with a line of
clothing, the Larry Mahan
Cowboy Collection. He
spends his time at one of his
two horse ranches, in Arizona
and in mountain valley near
Guffey, Colo.
When in Guffey, Mahan and
his wife, Robyn, who were
married in November, live in a
three-room bunkhouse, with
a wood stove for heat.
He said he rarely misses the
life of a pro rodeo rider.
“It’s nice to he able to do it
on occasion, but I’m spoiled
now,” said Mahan. “I enjoy a
slower pace, and I like to take
time to smell the flowers.”
iteak-and-lobster dinner
free for dorm residents
By MICHAEL
RAULERSON
Reporter
A steak-and-lobster dinner is
Jihced at $12.25 at a local restur-
ght, but it’s a free dining experi
ence again this semester for
Texas A&M students who are on
board plan.
About 160 seats are available dresses. A maitre d’ gi
each wedk, afid the dinners guests, captains seat'tn
80
per-
usually average about
cent to 85 percent full.
“I feel it’s (the dinners) been
very successful,” Smith said. “I
think the ones that have
attended enjoyed it.”
e guests,
__ “We hope we can send one
fflvitation to each board student
luring the year,” said Lloyd
[mith, assistant director for
j)od services. “We’re trying to
live all students the opportunity
participate.”
The dinners, held in the base
ment of Sbisa Dinning Hall, will
begin again Feb. 1 and will be
leld once a week during the
emester, Smith said.
The menu for the candlelight
dinners will be the same as last
semester with soup and salad,
lobster tail and rib eye steak,
snow peas and rice, Sparkling
Catawba, a “non-alcoholic grape
juice”, and a Napolean, or eclair,
for desert. Each course is
brought separately, so the meal
takes about two hours to com
plete, Smith said.
The dinners are formal. Men
wear coats and ties and women
Paper checks near extinction?
and waiters and waitresses wait
on the guests. In addition to
these, a guitarist strolls around
playing softly. Students who are
already employed by the food
services department serve in
these positions, so the dinners
become a learning experience
for the personnel as well as the
guests, Smith said.
Dorm residents, as well as off-
campus students who are on the
board plan, are invited on a ran
dom basis. Those invited also
may bring a date (non-board
plan dates are charged $25 for
the meal). Some students bring
dates while others pair up with
their friends at the door, Smith
said.
United Press International
NEW YORK — Every busi
ness transaction comes equip
ped with its train of paperwork,
and all that documentation car
ries its own substantial pricetag.
The costs are high enough to
make some executives yearn for
a system that would computerize
the process. Westinghouse esti
mates it could save more than $2
million a year if bills, invoices,
payments and receipts all moved
through an automatic transfer
system.
The present Westinghouse
system is “paper intensive and
highly reliant on the post office
— two areas that alone indicate
there may be room for improve
ment,” said Robert Caruso,
director of cash administration.
Westinghouse was one of a
handful of major corporations
that took part in a pilot program
testing an automatic system
known as Corporate Trade Pay
ments (CTP). The recently-
completed pilot was dubbed a
big success, but all those con
cerned admitted there’s still a
long way to go before the paper
check is eliminated from the
world of business.
Automatic transfers of funds
have become commonplace in
an increasingly computerized
world. Consumers are getting
used to doing their banking with
automatic tellers. The federal
government has been using
automatic transfers to deposit
social security payments directly
in some recipients’ bank
accounts.
The problem with corporate
trade payments is that they in
volve so much documentation.
In the CTP pilot, records cover
ing each transaction ranged
from 1 to 130. But in a less struc
tured system, the number of in
voices involved in one electronic
payment could reach into the
thousands.
During the six-month pilot
program only 300 transactions
were processed, with a total dol
lar value of $14.5 million. They
involved 45 companies, of
whom eight, including Westing
house and Sears Roebuck, ori
ginated the payments.
“The CTP system is more
accurate and efficient than the
paper check-based system,” said
Caruso, “and in the long run we
anticipate significant cost sav
ings through the use of this pro
duct.”
The National Automated
Clearing House Association
sponsored the experiment. The
clearing houses are set up by ma-
iks
other payment transfers, and
are a crucial link in the CTP loop
of seller-buyer, bank-hank-
seller.
NACHA said its research
showed there was surprisingly
little concern among businesses
about the “float impact” of auto
matic payment transfers. The
float, which can go on for days, is
the period between when a
check is made out and when the
money actually is extracted from
a corporate account.
While the float has become an
increasingly important financial
tool in an era of high interest
rates, most businesses said they
thought they could make adjust
ments to a new system, NACHA
said.
“The float is a two-edged
sword,” said Caruso. “It slows
the inflow of funds to an
account, but it also slows the out
flow. You can neutralize the im-
oact, and control it.”
Now that the tests are over.
. . ' P 1
NACHA said, it will be possible
to offer CTPs “to companies of
all sizes, from Mom and Pop
operations to the largest in the
country.”
The Treasury Department,
he added, is planning to begin
making some corporate trade
payments through the clearing
house net
network sometime this
year. “Their involvement will be
a major catalyst in stimulating
acceptance and utilization.”
DELTA UPSILON
a non-secret, non-hazing Fraternity
announces Spring Rush
Thursday, January 26 - K-Mart Party
(Wear your Blue Light Special)
Southwest Village Apts., #101 S.W. Parkway 8 p.m.
Friday, February 3 - Hawaiian Party
White Rock Hall, across from main gate of TAMU, 8 p.m.
-For more information call Nigel 693-6515 or
Chip 693-6365-
jor hanks to process checks and
MSC Hospitality Proudly Presents
Ifs Showtime*..
The 5th Annual
Miss Texas A&M
Scholarship Pageant
Saturday, Feb. 25, 1984 7:00 p.m.
Tickets on Sale Now at Rudder Box Office
845-1234
Student &, Senior Citizens $3.50
All other $6.00
(It will be a great time!)
THE LOW-DOWN
ON A HIGH-PAYING
CAREER WITH
LUBY’S.
To become a manager of one of our cafeterias is a very special business oppor
tunity. You'll be joining an ambitious and progressive company that requires
more of its managers than any food chain in the Sunbelt. Local managers are
decision making executives who are responsible for all purchasing, menu
planning, and hiring of personnel. We grant our managers a great deal of
autonomy, and treat them as business partners. Luby's Cafeterias, Inc. is a firm
believer in promoting from within; hence, most Corporate Officers are former unit
managers.
Luby's Cafeterias, Inc. is not restricting interviews to only Business majors; we're
open to all degrees. We're looking for people who are interested in becoming
dynamic, aggressive, and well paid business people. If that's your goal, then
we're looking for you!
INTERVIEWING IN YOUR PLACEMENT CENTER
ON THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2 & 3
Luby s
LUBY’S CAFETERIAS, INC. 2211 N.E. LOOP 410, P.O. BOX 33069, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS 78233
Luby * is a registered trademark of Luby’s Cafeterias, Inc.