Last Look

Stepping Up for Rice Baseball

The Bixby Family Head Baseball Coach Endowment

Betty Bixby has always loved baseball. For her, watching a game is the perfect way to spend a summer day, and seeing the Owls win the College World Series in 2003 is a treasured memory. Recently, Betty and her husband, Bob, the Noah Harding Professor Emeritus of Computational and Applied Mathematics, funded the Bixby Family Head Baseball Coach Endowment, which supports Coach José Cruz Jr. “We felt very strongly that José was the start of a new era in Rice baseball, and it was paramount to do something that would have the largest possible impact,” Betty explained. “We decided the coaching endowment would do just that.” To read more about the Bixby endowment, visit riceowls.co/Bixby-BB-Coach.

Coaching endowments provide foundational support for Rice Athletics, helping student athletes and teams reach their full potential. To learn more, contact Ginny Jones, executive director of development, at 713-348-2096 or gbjones@rice.edu.

Rice University, Creative Services–MS 95 P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892

Remembering Larry Rachleff

LARRY RACHLEFF, THE LONGTIME CONDUCTOR of the Rice Shepherd School of Music symphony and chamber orchestras, died Aug. 8 after a long battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was 67.

“Those of us lucky enough to have followed his baton from the stage will remember Larry as a once-in-a-generation musician and educator of the highest caliber,” said Matthew Loden, the Lynette S. Autrey Dean of Music.

A ubiquitous presence at the Shepherd School, Rachleff, the Walter Kris Hubert Professor of Orchestral Conducting, had an immeasurable impact on the lives and careers of countless musicians. At Rice since 1991, Rachleff was revered as a dynamic, exacting maestro who expected — and elicited — the very best performance standards from his students and helped bring the Shepherd School to world-class standing.

Rachleff was a familiar face at a number of prestigious music festivals and was highly sought after as a masterclass instructor. An enthusiastic advocate of public school music education, Rachleff conducted all-state orchestras and festivals in virtually every state in the U.S. and throughout Europe and Canada.

The Shepherd School honored Rachleff at the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra opening performance for the 2022–2023 season Sept. 30. — AMY MCCAIG

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Permit #7549 Houston, Texas

ON THE WEB

magazine.rice.edu

VIDEO Keyboard Wizard

Computer science and math major Phillip Tran ’25 explains the process of creating mechanical keyboards in a companion video to this issue’s “I’m a Nerd About” story. After building his own custom PC when he was 13, Tran kept looking for ways to customize his gaming setup. He came across a Reddit community about mechanical keyboards and decided to learn to build his own. “These sound beautiful. They look beautiful,” Tran said.

MUSIC Lunar Stories

In 2019, the Apollo Chamber Players debuted “MoonStrike,” a collection of stories and music inspired by American Indian, French Canadian and Appalachian folk legends and traditions; in 2022, the group, led by Matthew Detrick ’03, released a full recording on CD. Learn more about this performance and watch a video of the making of “MoonStrike.”

PHOTOGRAPHY The Chronicler

We extended former Rice photographer Tommy LaVergne’s photo essay online with more of his favorite images and stories, including photos of writer John Graves ’42 and former Secretary of State James Baker III as well as additional images from the archives of Rice Magazine.