Association of Rice Alumni Scrapbook, 1953

The content is a very thorough collection of newsclippings about activities, people, and events associated with Rice from July of 1953 through July of 1954. Athletics figure prominently in the activities covered. The teams that stand out are football, predicted to be the best since 1949, and basketball. The football team was Southwest Conference champion and played Jan. 1, 1954, in the Cotton Bowl. The basketball team was Southwest Conference co-champion. Dickie Moegle was one of the stand-out football players. Other noteworthy activities were the Archi-Arts Ball, Rondelet, Rice Day (described as the student-alumni spring homecoming), and the Second Shakespearean Fete. The theme of the well-photographed Archi-Arts Ball was The Neon Hours—the city at night.

There was press coverage of Philosophy Professor Dr. R. Tsanoff twice, once for a speech on intellectual freedom and in a rotogravure section story titled “Don’t Sell Our Youth Short.” Sandy Havens is announced to be one of two student co- ordinators of Rice Players. An article features Board of Governors member Herbert Allen, described as having begun his career as an inventor while a student At Rice. The long career of J. T. McCants at Rice is covered on the occasion of his retirement. He began in 1910 as secretary to President Lovett, and subsequently taught English, business administration, and money and banking before be- coming bursar. Other noteworthy individuals covered are Dr. Carey Croneis, who arrived to become the provost and to head the Wiess School of Geology, and James Dickey, who was briefly an instructor in English (but became a nationally- known poet and novelist).

Coverage of events begins with the July 17, 1953, crash of a marine cargo plane killing ten Rice Naval ROTC men and seriously injuring one. Announcement is made of plans to open the Hillel Center at Rice. 1953 is the year that the bronze bust of Gertrude Stein by Jacques Lipschitz was presented to Rice by Mrs. Kenneth Dale Owen. The International Conference of Low Temperature Physics and Chemistry was held at Rice, significant because of being the first time this meeting was held in the U.S. On April 2 and 3, 1954, the 14th Biennial Exposi- tion of Engineering and the Arts took place. The final noteworthy event covered was the first annual dinner for Rice Associates, which 180 guests attended.