Mem'ries Sweet Blog
Remembrances of TCU Horned Frog days of yore
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Prepared for takeoff
Friday, March 15, 2013
Catching air at KTCU
Adkins is seated at a conference-room table in his Fort Worth Club office, thumbing through a thick file folder. “Now where did I put this?” the retired Carter Publications personnel manager asks himself. The “aha” moment comes soon enough and Adkins retrieves a 30-year-old newspaper clipping that references the founding of the station. He reads a sentence aloud about the role played by WBAP radio in KTCU’s inception.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Clark Hall Spirit Marauders
They were determined to improve school spirit.
"The whole idea behind the group is that we wanted to build some spirit around TCU and create a tradition," group leader and Clark Hall resident Mike Kerner was quoted as saying in the 1989 Horned Frog yearbook.
Among other activities, the Spirit Marauders took groups of children with cystic fibrosis to football and basketball games.
Monday, October 15, 2012
A fresh slate in 1983-84
Having graduated all eight of the seniors who truly were the Killer Frogs, the TCU men's basketball team of 1983-84 was starting with a clean slate. That became the theme of that season's media guide, shown above. It was Jim Killingsworth's fifth season in Fort Worth, and only one player remained from the previous season's 23-11 squad that finished tied for fourth in the Southwest Conference and reached the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.
Youth would be the theme and depicted by wide-eyed Tommy Carley watching Killingsworth erase the Killer Frogs tag. The new crop, which included Frog greats Jamie Dixon, Dennis Nutt, Carven Holcombe, Tracy Mitchell and Tony Papa. would struggle to an 11-17 mark that season, but they would rebound to a 16-12 mark in 1984-85, setting up back-to-back years of 20-plus wins and SWC crowns in 1985-86 and 1986-87.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Frog Blog is now Mem'ries Sweet Blog
TCU has begun its 140th academic year and there is lots of history from which to choose. A few times a week, we aim to share with the TCU community short items from the TCU Daily Skiff, The TCU Magazine (or its old moniker This Is TCU), the Horned Frog yearbook and stuff our readers send to us.
We invite you to comment, share, expound and add to what we post. You're a part of TCU's great history and lore. In this space, we'll celebrate it together.
If you have ideas for content, email your thoughts to tcumagazine@tcu.edu and put Mem'ries Sweet in the subject line.
Go Frogs!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Emeritus professor Bill Watson active in art world.
From time to time in the late 1990s, Emeritus Chemistry Professor Bill Watson and I shared an elevator as we headed to our respective offices in the Sid Richardson building. By day, the highly respected Watson guided students through the mental maze of chemistry and conducted research on x-ray crystallography, among other areas of chemical interest.
But, as I eventually discovered, Bill Watson is quite the Renaissance man, with many interests, including art. While still at TCU, he painted an outdoor-scene on one wall of his crowded office, turned old CDs into a mobile and added graffiti-like cartoon faces to a row of gray filing cabinets.
Retired for several years, Watson — who lives in Santa Fe — is now enjoying the art scene full time. Check out his work and activities at www.watson-online-art-gallery.com
Here’s what Joyce Asper with the Agora Gallery recently said about Watson’s creations on display at their gallery:
“Drawing inspiration from science, shamanistic ritual and medicine and native art, Bill Watson creates dreamscapes of exploration and connectivity. Highly stylized, many compositions feature animal or spirit forms and illustrate variations on folk tales and Native American beliefs.
Watson’s themes are emphasized by the intense, joyous colors he uses, running through a wide range of bright earth tones juxtaposed so as to create high impact and luminous draw. The various elements of the paintings are linked — often by lines or strings of abstracted shapes — and fill the canvas organically.
Watson employs deftly blended brushstrokes that give his surfaces a warm dappled feeling and leave a light surface texture that adds depth to the otherwise linear represented forms. The overall effect is of a narrative journey — a mysterious one, but one which arouses intense curiosity, pleasure, and sometimes even amusement.”
Check out Watson’s Website— Nancy
Monday, August 24, 2009
TCU offers Web page on swine flu preparedness
In response, TCU has announced an information and resource Web page related to the virus, which includes news updates, information links and fact sheets about symptoms and ways to prevent getting sick.
TCU will work with local health authorities to monitor H1N1 in the Fort Worth-Dallas area and its impact on the university. The university also will monitor the Center for Disease Control and World Health Organization for information about the progression of the flu.
UPDATE: http://www.newsevents.tcu.edu/1659.asp
The Office of Student Affairs informed the campus late Monday afternoon, that officials have confirmed that 10 students have been identified as having H1N1/swine flu. All the cases appear to be mild and all are being treated with Tamiflu.
"Because more is now known about H1N1/swine flu, the CDC recently issued new guidelines for schools and colleges on how to handle H1N1/swine flu cases," said Don Mills, vice chancellor for Student Affairs. "Unlike last spring, the CDC does not recommend closure of institutions but rather recommends that each ill student avoid interaction with the general campus population and not attend classes until fever-free for 24 hours without the assistance of fever reduction medication. Additionally, students who are ill and live in the local area may go home if they wish. In the future, any student confirmed with Influenza Type A will receive medical treatment for H1N1/swine flu. "
The university is reminding faculty, staff and students to practice good hygiene and seek medical attention for any flu-like symptoms. If faculty, staff or students become ill, they are encouraged to seek medical attention as soon as possible and avoid contact with others, Mills said. Students may go to the Brown-Lupton Health Center during clinic hours. Faculty, staff and students also may seek medical attention through private physicians or local hospitals.
Mills also noted that TCU cleans general residence hall areas with hospital grade chemicals on a daily basis.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
1,822 new students at Freshmen Assembly
As for the rest of the TCU Community, as English professor and keynote speaker Richard Enos put it, "We have the privilege of watching what you will become right before our very eyes."
With feelings of hope and promise and potential, a feel-good Freshmen Assembly adjourned. The school year has officially begun.
Enos, Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr., Provost Nowell Donovan, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Don Mills and others spent the hour encouraging and inspiring the group with the simple charge of beginning their college careers being smart and successful.
And they're not the same thing.
"The world is filled with talented individuals who have done nothing," Enos preached. "Don't fall victim to the notion that quickness equals brilliance. Writing an A paper just before deadline or cramming the night before an exam might make you smart. But it is not a pattern for success. The cure for cancer will not be discovered in this way."
Using examples of Victor Hugo, Jean Francios Champollion and Isocrates, Enos urged students to embody three traits of individuals who can outsmart those smarter than they: talent, practice and experience.
"You are all talented," he said. "But talented unrealized is talent wasted. My hope is that as partners in the TCU learning community that we will help one another mature and teach the passion to be great and work hard."
Scharbauer Hall nearing completion
The behemoth structure, which looms over the east side of the Commons in front of a bubbling Frog Fountain, will house the John V. Roach Honors College and AddRan College of Liberal Arts, starting in the Spring 2010 semester in January. It will have LEED certification as a "green" building.
Construction crews have completed the brick work around the perimeter and are working on the top stone harness piece the rest of August, said Harold Leeman, major projects director for the TCU Physical Plant.
Many of the interior details are being checked off the list too. The insides are all painted, save for the fourth floor. Even the ceiling tiles are in place on the first floor. No fixtures or furniture are installed yet, but that will come toward the end of the fall semester. Weather-appropriate landscaping around the building will be planted in December.
Meanwhile, the courtyard between Scharbauer and Reed Hall will be the final items completed, Leeman said. Reed's west side has new windows, but the sidewalks, garden circle and landscaping remain. Reed Hall itself will close for the Spring 2010 semester and open again in August.
In other construction efforts:
- Milton-Daniel Residence Hall, which closed in May for renovation, has gotten a new storm drain in recent weeks, and a new electrical system will be tied in possibly as soon as next week. Milton-Daniel is being renovated to house students of the Honors College. It is estimated to reopen in August 2010.
- Colby Hall will likely follow Milton-Daniel in renovations, and Sadler Hall may be in line for future upgrades.
- The Physical Plant will pursue existing building LEED certification for the Brown-Lupton University Union in September, essentially earning the "green" status on the back end, rather than prior to completion. "We're collecting data from some the meters in the kitchen and air conditioning units and what "green" chemicals are used to clean it," Leeman said. "Basically, it will get LEED status based on how the building operates, as opposed to how it was constructed."
Saturday, August 22, 2009
TCU Football scrimmages after two weeks of fall camp
The Horned Frogs have their highest preseason ranking since 1960, when they were 11th. It's the fifth time since 2000 that TCU has been ranked in the preseason. The previous four occasions saw the Frogs no higher than 20th.
With an 11-2 record in 2008, the Frogs were ranked seventh in last year's final Associated Press and USA Today polls. It was the fifth time in the last seven seasons the Frogs won at least 10 games, including four 11-win campaigns.
TCU opens the 2009 season on Sept. 12 at Virginia.
The AP ranking did not cheer up an upset head coach Gary Patterson, who labeled the defensive effort as "bad."
Pressed to elaborate, Patterson rattled off a list including "enthusiasm, tackling, accountability and heart," then, when pressed more, responded to Star-Telegram beat writer Stefan Stevenson, "Just write 'bad' with a period."
Dealing with a depleted unit, Patterson has been forced to give more reps to third-, fourth-, and fifth-string players. Solid performances from defensive end Jerry Hughes, Daryl Washington and Tejay Johnson did little to temper his mood.
Patterson was complimentary of the offense, saying that the group "played well" and "showed they wanted it more."
Highlights of the day:
- Jeremy Kerley had two long punt returns, one for a touchdown, that drew oohs and ahhs, but were nullified by penalties.
- Kickers Ross Evans and Kevin Sharples were sharp on their field goal attempts. Evans closed practice with a 52-yard effort that cleared the crossbar with a few yards to spare.
- Under good coverage, wide receiver Antoine Hicks hauled in a 50-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Andy Dalton.
- Running backs Chris Smith, Matthew Tucker and Andre Dean had touchdown runs.
2009 Preseason Associated Press Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses and total points received)
1. Florida (58) - 1,498
2. Texas (2) - 1,424
3. Oklahoma - 1,370
4. USC - 1,313
5. Alabama - 1,156
6. Ohio State - 1,113
7. Virginia Tech - 1,054
8. Mississippi - 1,047
T9. Oklahoma State - 989
T9. Penn State - 989
11. LSU - 914
12. California - 746
13. Georgia - 714
14. Boise State - 659
15. Georgia Tech - 593
16. Oregon - 587
17. TCU - 521
18. Florida State - 307
19. Utah - 289
20. BYU - 267
21. North Carolina - 261
22. Iowa - 229
23. Notre Dame - 225
24. Nebraska - 207
25. Kansas - 134