Rice University History At 6100 South Main St.

[Retama]

My old high school, Baytown REL was full of Rice grads and the football team had long and old ties to Rice. My coach, Ron Kramer, played on the 1957 SWC championship team with King Hill and Dial and Frank Ryan who QBed the Cleveland Browns to the 1964 NFL championship. Our family doctor was George Walmsley an REL gridiron great and a member of the Owls' 1947 Orange Bowl Championship team.

Rice's beating of Purdue in West Lafayette on the same day in 1934 that Texas beat Notre Dame in South Bend help give the SWC national recognition. Rice Stadium (opened in 1950) was built to hold 72,000 because people were crazy for SWC football and the Owls often played before capasity crowds. Rice is one of only a few universities that has played in the Orange, Sugar and Cotton Bowls. The Owls were the SWC's 1994 co-champions.

Edited January 4, 2008 by Retama

[Earlydays]

My old high school, Baytown REL was full of Rice grads and the football team had long and old ties to Rice. My coach, Ron Kramer, played on the 1957 SWC championship team with King Hill and Dial and Frank Ryan who QBed the Cleveland Browns to the 1964 NFL championship. Our family doctor was George Walmsley an REL gridiron great and a member of the Owls' 1947 Orange Bowl Championship team.

Rice's beating of Purdue in West Lafayette on the same day in 1934 that Texas beat Notre Dame in South Bend help give the SWC national recognition. Rice Stadium (opened in 1950) was built to hold 72,000 because people were crazy for SWC football and the Owls often played before capasity crowds. Rice is one of only a few universities that has played in the Orange, Sugar and Cotton Bowls. The Owls were the SWC's 1994 co-champions.

I've also heard that the money to build the stadium was donated by George Brown, the "Brown" in Brown & Root, Inc., today part of Halliburton.

[mkultra25]

I've also heard that the money to build the stadium was donated by George Brown, the "Brown" in Brown & Root, Inc., today part of Halliburton.

Both George and Herman Brown as well as their wives were deeply involved with Rice - they both attended classes (but did not graduate) there, and George later served on the Board of Trustees for 25 years. There are separate buildings on campus named for George Brown, his wife Alice Pratt Brown, Herman Brown, and his wife Margarett Root Brown (Brown & Root cofounder Dan Root's sister).

From http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?8399901:

Despite his far-reaching duties in American industry, however, Brown

[plumber2]

My father and grandfather both told me that the union building trades picketed the stadium when it was built and boycotted functions after it was completed. Brown & Root used (out of town) non-union subcontractors and that triggered a backlash among local contractors. This boycott apparently didn't have much effect on the elites that attended games there. My father and grandfather never stepped foot in the place although I have attended a few games and concerts there through the years.

It's occupying some valuable real estate now and I'm sure the surrounding neighborhoods wouldn't cry too much if it was torn down.

[57Tbird]

.... Frank Ryan who quarterbacked the Cleveland Browns got his degree in Aeronautical Engineering.

I believe his degree was in Math... PhD.

[ThirdGen]

When I was in high school, when someone would say that they knew someone who went to Rice University, other people would automatically say: "He/she must be smart."

They still do.

[readam]

I believe his degree was in Math... PhD.

'57 Tbird you may be right on Dr. Frank Ryan

[Retama]

Ryan got his degree in math. He was athletic director at Yale and later taught at Rice and was on the athletic council.

[jwphillips2]

It's not like Rice has huge signing bonuses/scholarships for football!

Best go-cart driving anywhere, and the close-in parking was FREE (damn you Astros, Oilers, Rockets, Texans!).

I always went to the games to watch "The Mob" band play. Notice I didn't say "Marching" band. Best battles of the football bands were Rice vs A&M. Quite a few altercations. It was great.

[Fringe]

Rice still offers free tuition to many of it's athletes. But unlike state schools, Rice athletes are expected to attend classes and can actually read and write.

There was a time when parents and students looked at the educational benefits first, sports secondary. Not so much anymore.

[northbeaumont]

I believe his degree was in Math... PhD.

Frank Ryan's thesis was entitled: "Characterization of the Set of Asymptotic Values of a Function Holomorphic in the Unit Disc."

[Fringe]

I would be ok if football were eliminated and the stadium torn down. I don't think it adds much to Rice at this point. It should be said that as a functional stadium, it is very well designed.

It's functional for watching a game but every thing else is old and outdated. That’s one reason Rice can’t attract quality football players. There are local high schools with far better facilities then Rice. They won’t tear it down though. They have to retain their football program if they want to compete as a division one tier school, which many of their other sports programs are doing very well in. (Just look at the baseball team). Unfortunately it’s all or none in collegiate sports. You can’t pick different levels for different programs. This means the football program will probably stay exactly where they are now because there are no plans to upgrade the stadium.

[Retama]

That's right. The NCAA specifies that to play at the Div. IA level, you must play in a stdium that seats at least 35,000.

This reminds me of a story Marvin Zindler did about Rice Stadium. Back during the 1985 Bluebonnet Bowl, a black member of the crew televising the game happened to notice that in a concession area by one of the restrooms the faded word "Colored" designating the black restrooms from Jim Crow was still (barely) visible at the Stadium. Marvin struck another blow for civil rights by demanding university officials paint over it, which they did.

So, yeah, not much in the way of work done out there until 2006 when they made some improvements. Didn't get out there to see them, however.

[mwkellner]

My old high school, Baytown REL was full of Rice grads and the football team had long and old ties to Rice. My coach, Ron Kramer, played on the 1957 SWC championship team with King Hill and Dial and Frank Ryan who QBed the Cleveland Browns to the 1964 NFL championship. Our family doctor was George Walmsley an REL gridiron great and a member of the Owls' 1947 Orange Bowl Championship team.

Rice's beating of Purdue in West Lafayette on the same day in 1934 that Texas beat Notre Dame in South Bend help give the SWC national recognition. Rice Stadium (opened in 1950) was built to hold 72,000 because people were crazy for SWC football and the Owls often played before capasity crowds. Rice is one of only a few universities that has played in the Orange, Sugar and Cotton Bowls. The Owls were the SWC's 1994 co-champions.

Retama, I don't know when you graduated, but you probably remeber Bobby Wright at REL. He was a qb on the same rice team (SWC Champs 1953?) with Coach Kramer and the rest that you memtioned. Pete Sultis was also a Rice Grad.

[Retama]

Retama, I don't know when you graduated, but you probably remeber Bobby Wright at REL. He was a qb on the same rice team (SWC Champs 1953?) with Coach Kramer and the rest that you memtioned. Pete Sultis was also a Rice Grad.

Yeah, Bobby Wright was my government teacher. He used to turn his Rice ring upside down and bop me on the head with it. He was one of three different guys who QBed the Owls in 1958. I used to see him around when I'd go back to Baytown from time to time. Crazy cat. I knew Sultis was a Rice grad. Mr. Pete still had a mind like a steel trap when I'd talked to him about six years ago. Don't forget that Henry Armstrong also played football at Rice and coached football at Del Mar JC in Corpus Christi. I still think they should have named the new high school for him.

I recognize your name as well, MWKellner, from the old Suicide Squad days!

[mwkellner]

Yeah, Bobby Wright was my government teacher. He used to turn his Rice ring upside down and bop me on the head with it. He was one of three different guys who QBed the Owls in 1958. I used to see him around when I'd go back to Baytown from time to time. Crazy cat. I knew Sultis was a Rice grad. Mr. Pete still had a mind like a steel trap when I'd talked to him about six years ago. Don't forget that Henry Armstrong also played football at Rice and coached football at Del Mar JC in Corpus Christi. I still think they should have named the new high school for him.

I recognize your name as well, MWKellner, from the old Suicide Squad days!

Henry Armstrong actually coached Ron Kramer at Del Mar. I just saw Mr. Pete last week. His wife passed away. I bet you are thinking of my dad, he is the one that would have coached you on the suicide squad. I was the little kid on the sidelines that was just in the way and extremely excited to be there.

[yuan1274]

Henry Armstrong actually coached Ron Kramer at Del Mar. I just saw Mr. Pete last week. His wife passed away. I bet you are thinking of my dad, he is the one that would have coached you on the suicide squad. I was the little kid on the sidelines that was just in the way and extremely excited to be there.

Oh, how I miss the good ol' days of the Southwest Conference when Arkansas was the only non-Texas team in it. No matter which college one attended, they knew they would meet the same teams again the next year. It was a friendly rivalry, before the problems that SMU had.

[marmer]

OK, I was reading along happily in Stephen Fox's guide to the architecture of Rice, and I came upon this startling fact: (I don't have it in front of me so this will be a close paraphrase)

Entrance Three is aligned with the cross-axis of the Academic Court, and originally a campus street continued along that axis. The growth of the Texas Medical Center led to morning and afternoon rush hours in the Academic Court, so the road was removed in 1959.

As a long-time Rice Krispie, I find this... startling given what it's like now. I would love to see a picture from this time period...

[sevfiv]

Just from a quick look at the Sanborn map (maybe from the 1940s? not quite sure) it looks like N. MacGregor Dr. (Outer Belt Dr., where the 579 is) did cut right through, but maybe dead-ended or went around the area near the Navy/ROTC building and continued to Cherokee St.:

edit - 1949+ since Fondren is there..

[Fringe]

Interesting. I always new there had to have once been a road between Hanszen College and Will Rice College (West Hall and South Hall on the map). It's just a tree lined path now but it's obvious by the location of hydrants and fire department connections that there was a street there at one time.

What I didn't know about was the road shown to go right through the middle of the academic quad, where Willy's statue is located and where the annual commencement is held.

Edited March 16, 2009 by LunaticFringe

[marmer]

I might have just answered my question, thanks to this Life photo:

Rice Aerial from 1940s

and its pretty clear on the Historic Aerials from 1957. The road was just east of Willy's statue and went right between Anderson Hall and the Physics Building, then turned left on what we now call Laboratory Road.

Edited March 16, 2009 by marmer

[Fringe]

That's a great picture. Interesting, there seems to be a house right next to the Physics building.

[57Tbird]

Here's an old one from 1921. About all that was there at the time was Lovett Hall, physics building, mechanical building with the campanile tower, and a dorm.

Here's one from 1953, the year I started there.

[marmer]

Thanks for the pics, TBird! That second one is the best 50s aerial of Rice I have ever seen, and its pretty easy to see how it might have been a tempting cut-through from Rice Blvd to Main. Could that be a little later than '53? The Science triplets and the Memorial Center are not built, nor the College additions, but Wiess College and the Bonner Lab are.

[57Tbird]

Thanks for the pics, TBird! That second one is the best 50s aerial of Rice I have ever seen, and its pretty easy to see how it might have been a tempting cut-through from Rice Blvd to Main. Could that be a little later than '53? The Science triplets and the Memorial Center are not built, nor the College additions, but Wiess College and the Bonner Lab are.

Possibly. I'm sure that's the date that was on my source. I believe that photo came from one of my old Rice publications. I'll check and get back, if I can find it.

[marmer]

OK, I did a little more checking, and '53 is about right. It's between the two big building booms -- the postwar one that gave us Anderson Hall, Abercrombie Lab, the Nuclear Lab, and Wiess Hall (not originally built as a college as I had originally thought); and the late 50's one which gave us the Pierce-Pierce Science twins, Hamman Hall, the RMC, and the WMCA college additions to the old residence halls.

I thought the immediate postwar stuff was later than it actually was.

EDIT: A nuclear research lab built in '49? That was pretty darn cutting edge, I would think.

Now I want to know more about that "house" next to the Physics Building that LunaticFringe noticed. Fox's book, while having a very detailed treatment of the Physics Building, does not mention it.

Edited March 18, 2009 by marmer

[sevfiv]

I saw a small blueprint of the building, and it had a small structure where the "house" would have been but it looked slightly different.

The only label on it was "Dark Room."

[Fringe]

I got this email for a Physics professor there when I questioned him about the structure.

"When I came to Rice in 1977 the old timers claimed there had been some sort of engine or dynamo in the area, perhaps to supply DC power to big magnets. Later, there was an air liquefier plant in the same area, to support the liquid helium system that was installed about 1953. There may have also been some lab space in one of the buildings, as we found radioactive waste (since removed) between the Amp wing and the area around the two buildings shown.

By my arrival it was all gone, although the foundation slab for the square structure was part of a paved parking lot. When the area was 'beautified' for the G7 economic summit the paving and concrete were mostly replaced by grass. Some of the footings were very thick and deep, so there are still traces for a future archaeologist."

[marmer]

By my arrival it was all gone, although the foundation slab for the square structure was part of a paved parking lot. When the area was 'beautified' for the G7 economic summit the paving and concrete were mostly replaced by grass. Some of the footings were very thick and deep, so there are still traces for a future archaeologist."

I remember that parking lot very well, and I remember when they replaced it with grass. Interesting, that there seemed to be two buildings there and they both seemed to have pitched roofs.

Also interesting, given possible uses for the space, that it was allowed to just go away instead of being rehabilitated. This is a fun mystery.

[57Tbird]

OK, I did a little more checking, and '53 is about right. It's between the two big building booms -- the postwar one that gave us Anderson Hall, Abercrombie Lab, the Nuclear Lab, and Wiess Hall (not originally built as a college as I had originally thought); and the late 50's one which gave us the Pierce-Pierce Science twins, Hamman Hall, the RMC, and the WMCA college additions to the old residence halls.

I thought the immediate postwar stuff was later than it actually was.

EDIT: A nuclear research lab built in '49? That was pretty darn cutting edge, I would think.

Now I want to know more about that "house" next to the Physics Building that LunaticFringe noticed. Fox's book, while having a very detailed treatment of the Physics Building, does not mention it.

I didn't remember that building, so I contacted an old classmate of mine from the mid-50's, who was a physics major, and asked him. His reply...

"I'm not sure. There was a small Van de Graaff accelerator in that

vicinity that was used by Prof. Jack Risser and a few students when I

was a grad student, but I think that it was located in the long building

to the right of your mystery building. Somewhat later, Prof. Charlie

Squire got a cryogenic system on a truck-trailer

from the Air Force for condensing liquid nitrogen or oxygen from air

(while burning lots of diesel fuel and making lots of noise), and it was

put in about that location you show, but that was later, about 1958. At

a guess, the building might have been a shack housing the predecessor

system for producing cryogenic liquids.

Another possibility: you will also recall the the Physics Building

used to also house the Biology Department, and that they moved out to

thir own building in about 1957. The mystery building could have been

theirs, perhaps for housing small animals without having the smell

permeate the main building."