Spring, 1949 —
The Longhorn, A&M's
yearbook changes its name to
The Aggieland. mmmmmmm
1950'
1953-
“Cadet Slouch” first appears in
The Battalion. Dr. Jim Earle
earned his undergraduate,
master’s and doctorate degree
while drawing the cartoon
Feb. 23, 1954 -
Co-editors Jerry Bennett and
Ed Holder resign after the
Faculty Student Life Committee
established an editorial board
for The Battalion.
Holder —
Feb. 24,1954-
The entire news siaff,#:
the exception ofafsa
writers, resigns from ft
Battalion, momm.
— Bennett
rch 23, 1954
:w staff is named ft
alion after the ma:
nation in Februan
Page 8
1893 • The Battalion • 1993
Thursday, September 30, W urs d a y, Septei
1939
Aggies win national championship
AMC football rides flawless road to fame, first national title
Tan
ntinued fror
By Michael Plumer
The Ba ttalion
AMC running back John Kimbrough helped lead
the Aggies to its third undefeated season and its
first national championship in 1939.
T here it sits in all its glory,
untarnished and un
matched. Nothing could
ever top it unless the Texas
A&M football team could win
another one.
It’s the national champi
onship trophy.
The Aggies’ 1939 squad, led
by head coach Homer H. Nor
ton, stormed to an 11-0 season
and became the undisputed
kings of college football, in that
season, A&M gave up only 31
points while racking up 212
yards on offense.
A&M started off the year
with a victory over the Aggies
— the Oklahoma A&M ver
sion, that is. Texas A&M won
32-0 in Stillwater and prompt
ed this response from the los
ing coach.
“1 would like to buy (run
ning back) John Kimbrough
and (quarterback) Marion
Pugh.’ Coach Stidham said.
“And the rest of the money, I
would spend on (tackle) Mar
shall Robnett.”
Sportswriters for The Battal
ion picked Notre Dame to win
the national championship and
excluded A&M from its Top 20
poll. But the Aggies did sneak
in at number seven in the
Southwest poll.
Centenary tried to sneak into
College Station and gain a win in
the second game of the season,
but Kimbrough smashed its
hopes as he scored the only two
touchdowns A&M would need.
The Aggies cruised to a 14-0 vic
tory to up their record to 2-0.
What was A&M’s reward? A
two-day train trip to play Santa
Clara in California, a team that
had beaten the Aggies in 1938
by a score of 7-0.
Battalion sports editor E.C.
“Jeep” Oates traveled with the
team and wrote that he was in
for a surprise once the Aggies
reached their destination.
“The West Coast sportswrit
ers are picking the Aggies num
ber one,” Oates wirea back to
College Station. “They really
think the Aggies are the best
team and should return the fa
vor of defeat to Santa Clara.”
The writers were right.
A&M beat Santa Clara, 7-3.
After an off-week, A&M trav
eled to Tyler, Texas, to play the
Villanova Wildcats in the Rose
Festival Classic. The Wildcats
had not lost since 1936.
A&M scout Harry Falkner
watched Villanova play and re
lated his feelings to Oates con
cerning the Wildcats.
“I am like the farmer who
saw a giraffe for the first time,”
Falkner said. “There just ain’t
no such animal.”
Writers around the country,
Oates wrote, seemed to agree
with Falkner. At that time, vil
lanova ran a play called the
“Notre Dame shift,” where the
tight end and running backs
would shift to one side of the
field before the ball is snapped.
Writers were predicting that the
Notre Dame shift would lead to
a Villanova blowout.
They were right about the
blowout, but wrong about the
team.
A&M smashed the Wildcats,
33-7, but not before a humor
ous incident that Oates filed
with his game report.
“After (Bill) Dawson kicked
an extra point, it landed in a
drunk’s lap. The drunk took a
liking to tne ball and would not
give it back.”
So the Wildcats were not the
only ones that were knocked sil
ly during the game.
Also, now about that shift?
“The Yankees came down
with the once famous Notre
Dame shift, and they looked very
good shifting, but after the shift
was over it was all A&M,” Oates
wrote with a touch of sarcasm.
Legendary football coach
Pop Warner was impressed with
A&M and addressed a letter to
The Battalion sports section af-
Aggies gather around a radio to listen to the Aggies beatly.
lane, 14-13, in the 1939 Sugar Bowl.
The next <
ansas to pi;
sportswrit
not worried
Hogs, Frogs
look like the
:mers and wi.
jy-a slaugh
the day of th
Cokinos pr
( as the Ag
med the nut
nation. Tac
a end round
iok longer th;
score.”
A&M had r
ose smiles <
iwns as Sot
ter he witnessed the Santa Clara
game and listened to the Vil
lanova game on the radio.
“I have heard nothing but
for the A&M team, and
To retort, Oates puts lii tie to visit.
thoughts in the paper.
(Shook) tackles
brough’s) knee it is going to i* 1 dd be overcc
pr;
Ki
full-
imbrough was as fine a
back as we have ever seen out
here (in California) ...”
The praises kept piling up
as A&M moved to number
nine in the national polls. The
Aggies prepared to open
Southwest Conference play
against Texas Christian in Ft.
Worth. A&M sought its first
win there since 1919.
Horned Frog noseguard Fred
Shook provided a litue bulletin
board material for the Aggies by
predicting he would shut down
Kimbrough.
blow the sirens, Katy, anottti
poor fool crashed in where
gels fear to tread.”
It’s not Kimbrough’s bet
that ended up
mouth, but rather the Hotnei
Frog’s foot. A&M rolled,
to run its record to 5-0 overall.
The Aggies next pla;
to Baylor and won, IN. b meeting
A&M moved to number five
the nation
With all their success, tkt
Aggies still had numerous
dies to clear.
See Champions/ Page 1 )
1963 — Texas A & M College becomes A&M University
School name change sparks three-year debate, opposition between students, alumni
By Lisa Elliott
The Battalion
Thirty years ago, on September
23, Texas A&M gained recognition
as a University, but not without
heated controversy.
Texas Agricultural and Mechani
cal College started out as a small
school for Agriculture and Engi
neering but grew at an alarming
rate until it reached the “Universi
ty” level.
According to an article in The
Battalion on Aug. 22, 1963, the
name change was just a move to
make the status of the school offi
cial although it was previously con
sidered to be a university.
The article said, “A&M has been
a university in fact for many years,
since its educational offerings include
undergraduate and graduate studies,
engineering, arts, science, agriculture,
business, architecture, veterinary
medicine and teacher education.”
The three-year debate over the
name change started in March,
1961 when a bill was introduced
into the Senate. Sen. William
Moore, Class of‘41, told The Bat
talion in March 1961 the current
name of the school was misleading
and implied a limited range of top
ics taught.
President Earl Rudder said in
the article the name change was a
positive step for the University and
would not effect the traditions of
the school.
However, the student body was
split on the idea.
Former student, Charles Elliott,
Class of ‘64, said he favored the
name change from the beginning.
“A few of the hard-core tradi
tionalists were against the change
but the majority were in favor of
the new name,” he said.
Half of the students argued the
costs of making a big change such
as this would not be worth the ben
efits. They argued the difficulty of
changing all signs, letterheads and
official papers.
They also argued the changes
would cause problems. A&M would
have to change the lyrics of the
school 'songs and yells, redesign the
senior rings and Corps uniforms.
The students said A&M would lose
its identity and cut off the former
students and, therefore, affect fund
ing and decrease enrollment.
These students were afraid that,
if A&M changed its name, Texas
Tech would also want a new name
along with other Texas colleges.
The half of the student body
that favored the name change ar
gued the new name would add
prestige to the school and attract
more and better professors and
would allow the school to apply for
more grants and associations that
are open to universities.
Dr. Michale Keeling, Class of
‘64, said he remembers feelings of
concern about traditions.
“It’s difficult to go through
change when you’re traditionalists,”
he said.
Keeling said the students did their
best to keep the new name from
changing-the yells and school songs.
After months of debate about
whether the name should be
changed, it was established that
A&M had to have its name change
“...ITS TO MOT KMOW Vv04£n4£R
TO SAY TOLLEOL' OR 'UNIVERSITY' OR
4*M 1"
Slouch is a creation of Jim Earle, a Batt cartoonist in the 1950s and 60s
to include the word “university.”
The new task set upon by students
and former students was debating
about what the new name should be.
Among the suggestions were
Texas State University and Agricul
tural and Mechanical College
(which The Battalion editorial
board officially supported), South
Texas University, The University of
Texas at College Station and A&M
University of Texas.
The two names that finally
made it to the final round were
Texas State University and Texas
A&M University.
In order to aid the Senate in
making a final decision, petitions
were circulated around the dormi
tories to get students’ opinion of
the name they preferred. Many
students wrote letters to the editor
of The Battalion pleading with
their classmates to write to their
senators and voice their opinions.
One senior wrote in saying he
felt the name Texas State University
should be adopted because “if we
fail to accept this name, Texas Tech
may receive it.”
Another group of seniors wrote
in to tell the students about their
own trip to Austin topersuade
senators in their favor. 1 hey were
surprised at the lack of input the
senators were receiving for the
name change.
“These senators and representa
tives want you, the student body, to
tell them by letter, telegram and
telephone what you feel about the
name change,” the letter said.
After input from the students,
the final decision was reached to
adopt the name Texas A&M Uni
versity. Gov. John Connally
signed the bill into a law on May
14, 1963. The students were told
the A&M did not stand for any
thing but stood alone as a word in
itself.
One article in The Battalion said,
“In this name A&M’ stands alone,
and does not mean Agriculture and
Mechanical.’ In this sense, A&M’ is
a name by itself and would be used
much the same as ‘Rice’ is used Rice
University or ‘Baylor’ is used in Bay
lor University.”
After the name was officially
changed, many students expressed
concern about their Aggie Senior
Ring.
One former student, Robert W.
Baker, wrote a letter to The Battal
ion as well as President Rudder and
Sterling Evans, chairman of the
Board of Directors, in which he ex
pressed his concerns about the Ag
gie ring.
“Those students who entered
Texas A&M
name change
prior to
certainK
Collej
shou
ranted the option of having Tc
A&M College appear on tneir
nior ring,” ne wrote. “Being
graduate of A&M and bein
proud possessor of an Aggie r
with anything on it other [ha«
Texas A&M College.”
The questior
ttalion spoi
ered that wi
dsaid “... Ai
out of SMI
o phlegm
aeaked by, G-.
The Aggies i
the Ric
Ifth shutc
score of 19-<
Texas.
After the gar
ived a letter
igeles com pi i
their fine fot
“This guy 1
in his leti
nd he want
tas Aggies
ilM. ft they
inly had a s 1
congratulat
d brains.”
During the
tethe Texas g;
fC champs f<
*27. Oates wr
>w, we can gei
The first sal
lily Texan,
res
too
Because of such an outpour t:|
ponses, the Ring Committffj
iK steps to satisfy everyone.
One Battalion article said, “Sc«-
timentalists now ordering their das
rings can still have “college” in
scribed on them, although ‘univer
sity” is now available for those th*
prefer the newer name.”
In addition to the senior ring
students expressed concern over
school songs and yells.
Shortly after the new name wai
made official, the last line of tk
“Spirit of Aggieland” was changed
from “The Aggies are we, we an
from Texas AMC” to “The Agg
so true, we are from Texas AMU.
The change was approved bj
Marvin H. Mam ms, Class of 192(>
the author of the song.
However, today the song is
sung with its original wording.
Although most of the student!
expressed concern about changinj
the name, Keeling said, they real
ized the progress of the University
was inevitable.
Keeling said he is proud of tk
changes made to A&M over
past 30 years and the name changt
helped A&M.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to
part in slowing down the progresi
of A&M,” he said.
Th
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Ronnie
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614 Villa Maria Rd.
779-0402