12 minute read
TONY BUZBEE
Giving to Bring Home the Rudder Legacy
Tony Buzbee believed Tarleton should have its own life-size bronze of U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James Earl Rudder.
A member of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, Buzbee believed it so strongly that he agreed to pay for the statue.
“Rudder is a truly great American hero with a great connection to Tarleton,” he said. “Not only is he a Distinguished Alumnus but a past teacher, head football coach and athletic director.
“Having a statue of James Earl Rudder on Tarleton’s Stephenville campus makes perfect sense.”
Like Rudder, Buzbee is a military leader.
He served as battalion commander in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets and in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Persian Gulf and Somali conflicts, earning the rank of captain and receiving numerous awards, including the prestigious Navy Commendation Medal. The Buzbee Leadership Learning Center at A&M is named in his honor.
“I’ve read a lot about the major general and his heroic service,” Buzbee told those at the October unveiling of the Rudder statue. “He was called the greatest man who ever lived by one of his troops. As a former captain and lieutenant, I can tell you that having one of your own make that kind of statement about you is a big deal.”
Buzbee recounted Rudder’s valor and tenacity on D-Day, reminding the audience that he was injured twice during the assault up the perpendicular cliffs of Pointe du Hoc but never gave up.
“Just knowing that Rudder was the man selected to lead the effort to scale the cliffs at Normandy says a lot about his character,” the regent said. “He had an uncompromising dedication to his country and to making the world a better place.”
Just like Buzbee.
In addition to his work as a private attorney and founder of the Buzbee Law Firm in Houston, the regent is involved with the Boy Scouts of America and with The Jesse Tree, a nonprofit that assists the homeless and those in need.
“Rudder had the ability to inspire and lead others to exceptional achievement. This life-size bronze and Rudder Way are testament to that legacy,” Buzbee said. “Tarleton Texans who walk down Rudder Way, lined with the school’s core values, will look deep within themselves to see if they measure up.
“James Earl Rudder will be remembered for many, many years.” Hear more from Regent Buzbee during the dedication ceremony at tarleton.edu/buzbee
He fled Katrina. He found Tarleton.
Jeremiah Fontenot, who graduated this December with a marketing/accounting degree from the College of Business Administration, has never been happier.
Tarleton has been a home, a family, a cause. While his family’s evacuation from New Orleans to Houston was a major life adjustment, Jeremiah found the transition to college easier.
At Tarleton, he participated in MENtal Freedom—a peer support program for minority males that provides tutoring and encouragement.
It’s a program that benefits from donor-funded President’s Circle, Academic Circle and Student Life Circle—a testament to its importance and the range of its impact.
Established in 2010, the President’s Circle provides funds for programs and activities that make a difference in students’ lives and experiences. The President allocates the funds each year, and has supported a variety of programs for scholarships, travel abroad, the Corps of Cadets, fine arts performances at Carnegie Hall and many others.
Academic Circle provides unrestricted funds that allow the University Provost to invest in academic needs when no other funding exists, such as Honors and Washington D.C. internship scholarships.
Student Life Circle is an initiative to expand student experiences and encourage student persistence and success.
Any time is an excellent time to join one of the Circles. An unrestricted gift of $1,000 or more brings you into the President’s Circle, and gifts of any amount to the Academic and Student Life circles make you a member.
As we approach the new year, consider helping Tarleton students like Jeremiah achieve their goals, enrich their student experience and graduate prepared to make a difference in their professions and their lives.
Jeremiah plans to give back. Already engaged in student philanthropy, he values the benefits that a gift can bring.
“Tarleton has been such a blessing for me, and I want to contribute to making it a life-changing experience for those who come behind me. I hope you’ll join me.”
A Circle of Giving
Two, four, six, eight. Who do we appreciate? Tarleton! Cheerleaders!
The Purple and White cheer squad this year celebrates seven decades of spirited support for the Texans and TexAnns and all things Tarleton!
Since 1947—the past 70 years—Tarleton cheerleaders have driven enthusiasm at athletic and other campus activities.
Woody Schober, 81, a cheerleader from the Class of 1956, came to Tarleton, then a junior college, from Waco. A hometown friend talked him into trying out for the squad.
He was hooked.
“I just loved being a part of the spirit of Tarleton,” he said last month from his home in Irving. “The spirit of the school changed my life.”
Still a regular at Homecoming events, Schober wears the same jacket he did when he led yells for the then “Plowboys” 60 years ago.
Pom-poms, Megaphones and Texan Spirit
“Being a cheerleader gave me the opportunity to work with and meet a lot of new friends and to cheer the team and the spirit of the school, which remains important to me after all these years,” he said.
Before a 30-year career as fine arts director for the Irving Independent School District, the music major played trumpet in the Tarleton band, often in the same games where he led cheers.
“Sometimes I would do the cheering in the first half, then go change into a band uniform and march at halftime, then get back into my cheerleading outfit for the second half of the game.”
In Schober’s day, six students led the cheers. Today, 34 cheerleaders charge up Texan fans.
Tarleton alumna Blaine Hamilton is in her fourth season guiding the squad, one of the most recognized student groups on campus.
“The Tarleton cheerleaders have always been an integral part of the spirit and tradition of Tarleton State University,” she said. “From Howdy Week rallies to Family Weekend to the Homecoming parade, the cheerleaders are fixtures at the majority of university events.”
Hamilton, a 2005 business management graduate, returned to Tarleton after coaching cheerleading at the high school level.
“The cheer job at Tarleton came open, and I jumped on the opportunity to get back to my alma mater and a chance to support the Texans and TexAnns from the sidelines,” she said.
With megaphones raised and pom-poms swirling for a variety of games and campus happenings, Hamilton and the cheerleaders also are involved in competitions themselves.
Among the high points in the history of the program is the 2015 second place at the National Cheerleaders Association College Nationals in Daytona, Fla., for Division II national competition in 2015 by Taleton’s coed squads.
“This was a point where we kind of established ourselves as a force to be reckoned with,” said Hamilton. “We had established ourselves as perennial contenders.”
The new-found success came as a result of hard work and generations of student leaders like Schober.
“Seventy years is a landmark for any program,” Hamilton said. “The cheerleaders have been campus leaders and part of Tarleton’s unique set of traditions for all that time.” Hear more from Woody Schober on his Tarleton spirit at tarleton.edu/woodyschober
Pom-poms, Megaphones and Texan Spirit
Rah! Rah! Cheer along! Seventy years And going strong! 13
Alumni Play Key Roles at Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo
BY MARY G. SALTARELLI
Six Tarleton alumni work year-round to drive 30,000 head of livestock and round up more than a million visitors to the Fort Worth cultural district each winter during the annual Stock Show and Rodeo, creating an economic impact of more than $177 million on the community.
These Tarleton graduates make up nearly one-third of the stock show and rodeo’s 20 full-time staff and have cultivated a combined 69 years of service. No other university has educated as many professionals within the non-profit agricultural organization, but the show’s Texan employees don’t hold that over their colleagues who graduated elsewhere.
“As Texans, we’re grass roots and modest—we don’t toot our own horns,” said Livestock Show Manager Stefan Marchman, ’86. “Besides, no one wants to talk to us about which school won the most college rodeo championships,” he added, referring to Tarleton’s seven national titles.
Four Tarleton alumni worked at the stock show and rodeo as students or interns or showed livestock as competitors, including Show Assistant Laura Standley, ’93, who grew up on a ranch and farm and exhibited her steers and hogs.
“This is the toughest stock show,” said Standley, who once placed the Reserve Champion Shorthorn Steer. “I’ve been part of it as a competitor, breed representative or junior livestock association representative for more than 28 years.”
Assistant Operations Manager Jessica Birge, ’98, exhibited hogs, steers and chickens at the stock show in her youth, caught a calf in the show’s scramble and completed Tarleton’s first internship there while earning her bachelor’s degree in agricultural services and development. Now, she works closely with agriculture professionals who attended Tarleton with her.
“So many people we all went to school with are in the industry,” Jessica said. “Our classmates call us because they know us.”
All six alumni said their fellow Tarleton graduates work throughout the agricultural industry as teachers, county agents or professionals who own livestock companies, and they reconnect through the stock show and rodeo.
“They work with us and try to help us do a better job at producing their event during the stock show,” Marchman said. “We do it well, but it’s a good give-andtake with our former classmates that helps us keep our show the best. When we work with our fellow Texans as they successfully place their students’ entries in the junior livestock show, we’re all one heck of a recruitment tool for Tarleton.”
Communications Manager Matt Brockman, ’85, said Tarleton has nurtured the best agricultural programs in the country. Upon completing his junior year in the agricultural education curriculum, professors put Brockman through a rigorous agenda that developed him professionally and taught him to think on his own, speak clearly and handle himself in professional situations.
“Past President Barry Thompson created an environment of enthusiasm, excitement and passion for students,” Brockman said. “He made us feel like we could go out of Tarleton and do anything.”
From internships to traveling abroad to participating in the university’s livestock judging team, all of Tarleton’s graduates at the stock show agree that their Tarleton experiences taught them to represent their organization professionally.
Social Media Manager Jordan D. Simons, ’14, is the only Tarleton graduate at the stock show who did not major in agriculture. But she grew up on a small farm in a family that competed in the show and rodeo for years. While studying communication, Simons spent a semester in Ireland and served a three-year internship at the stock show and rodeo.
Texans Take Stock
“I learned so much about effective communication,” Simons said. “I learned it’s not about me, but about the public we serve. Tarleton allowed me to gain real-world experiences, and that groomed me to be the qualified employee I am today.”
The Fort Worth Stock Show and Tarleton share a rich heritage that began at the end of the 19th century when agriculture drove the local economy. The first show was held in 1896 in the Fort Worth Stockyards as a trade development tool. The year before, philanthropist and rancher John Tarleton passed away, leaving an endowment to create a college in North Central Texas that opened its doors to students in Stephenville in 1899. In 1918, the world’s first indoor roundup competition was held at Northside Coliseum during the annual Fort Worth Stock Show and organizers coined the name “rodeo.”
“Tarleton and the stock show grew up together,” said Special Events Manager Pamela Wright, ’87, who has worked at the stock show and rodeo for 20 years. “They’re about the same age and have lived parallel lives. Pioneers of both organizations shared the belief that education was key. The stock show’s mission is education and improving our community and Tarleton betters the community by building better people. Those values are where we all come from—they’re why we went to Tarleton and have our jobs today.”
Connections between Tarleton and the stock show remain strong, with Tarleton professors helping Marchman develop an agricultural mechanics show, which is in its fifth year. The Tarleton alumni see strong bonds between their employer and their alma mater continuing in the future.
“Tarleton and the stock show aren’t stuck in the 1920s,” Simons said. “We’re both still evolving during the 21st century through effective education and communication tools like social media.”
2018 Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo
Will Rogers Memorial Center January 12 to February 3
For information or to purchase tickets: fwssr.com | 817-877-2400
Texans Take Stock
Brockman believes that Tarleton graduates are successful in their careers at the premier livestock organization in North Texas because of the university’s commitment to its agricultural college, and his fellow alumni agree.
Tarleton is dedicated to agricultural education excellence, agrees Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Karen Murray, and has exciting plans for the college.
“Tarleton is committed to providing additional resources to maintain the high quality and outstanding role of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in supporting Texas agriculture,” Dr. Murray said. “The Agricultural Center, the college’s teaching laboratory, is being transformed with three new buildings, several building renovations and major farming and laboratory equipment additions. “The college is steadfast in its root philosophy of learning while doing,” she added. “With its outstanding faculty, including several recent additions, I am very excited about the college and expect even greater things from it in the future.”
“Tarleton being a strong agricultural college is important to the industry,” Wright said. “The university’s continuing commitment to educate students about production of food is crucial. Fifty years in the future we need educated farmers and ranchers.”
