HomeMy WebLinkAboutHerschel Burgess Recollections aeCOLLeCTf011f
by Marguerite Anthony
HERSCHEL BURGESS
Each September young men and women arrive at Texas A &M as new students and most of these
young people return to other places in four years. Fortunately for our community, a few, such as
Herschel Burgess, chose to remain in Bryan - College Station to share their talents and add to our
progress. He is a prime example of someone who journeyed here to attend school and remained to
become a strong and important port in the development of our area.
Mr. Burgess is a delightful man whose conversations are sprinkled with humor, wisdom and the
deepest appreciation for the many people who offered him a helping hand at the times in his life when
he truly needed it In turn. as he has found himself in a position to reciprocate. he and his wife Ethyl,
have quietly made the same kind of assistance and faith available to others.
Successful business man, devoted family man, rancher, horseman, philanthrophist, active athletic
patron, a courtly Texas gentleman, and a good of Aggie. Herschel Burgess is all of these.
"The way that I ended up in Brazos county is
a long story. My mother died when I was four or
five years old and my father moved around a lot
after that. I lived pretty much with relatives on .... r r . - 1
my mother's s for two or three years. My �, t . � f .
father married again and it worked out very well i if, .., '' '
for them, but it wasn't good for me. I had rather
an unhappy childhood, 1 suppose you could v,
say.
My family ended up in Knox county where
my father was a farmer and a rancher. We had a ��
family run -in when 1 was about 14 that made c �
me very unhappy and 1 ran away from home. -
had a pretty rough time for a year and a half
or so when I'd gone away from home and
wherever I went, of course, I gave my name but
0 I never did tell anyone where I was from. Those something but 1 didn't know what it was
were rough and lonely times and if it had not 1 enrolled in school there and by luck. 1 got
been for the help of some fine people that I met involved in track and other athletics. 1 did very
along the way, I probably wouldn't have gotten well, too, and they sent me to track meets in
through them. I ended up in Oklahoma doing Knox county, Benjamin and all around. I won a
farm labor and was taken up by a very lot of the races and soon I ended up in Austin at
wonderful family that I liked and it was mutual. the state meet, which still occurs. 1 went down
• They treated me very well. there without a coach or anyone else and did
In the year of 1920 or thereabouts, the flu right well in several of the events.
epidemic was terrific. People were dying A fellow by the name of Charlie Hudson was
everywhere; maybe you've heard about those coaching at Bryan High School and it was my
times from your folks. I got pretty sick when 1 good fortune to meet him. He had a team there
lived with these people out in the country and of track stars who really wanted to win that state
the gentleman, a Mr. Alexander came in my meet. I was impressed with the coach.
bedroom one night to talk to me. They thought I When I returned home I was well received.
was a goner and he thought it was better for me and it was being well received because of
to be home if I could get through the illness. I athletics that finally got me interested in school.
promised him that if I did get well 1 would go Out there in that farm and ranch country if you
home. I did get well and I did go home. I'm glad could say your abc's they considered you a
of that. bookworm. A bookworm just wasn't proper
1 was sent to the little town of Munday among the kids and I always wanted to be one
between Witchita Falls and Abilene where 1 of the kids.
lived with a wonderfully sweet lady, my aunt In the summer of '23 Coach Hudson
Maggie Maples. She was as sweet as anybody transferred to Allen Academy in Bryan and He
could be but for some unknown reason, I still began to write to me to come there. 1 was real
just wasn't very happy. I was looking for B.--.
ill
interested but I didn't see how I could make it two in the afternoon and I was scared to death. I
because I didn't have any money at all. I started had been in the area long enough to know some
school in the fall at Munday and one day a of the traditions. There were no sophomores
telegram arrived that was delivered to me in around but we knew they were coming. Dr. T.
II class. The telegram said that Allen Academy O. Walton was president at A &M that year so
had a job that would pay all expenses and to he was a "Freshman" with us because it was his
advise them if I wanted to come or not. Well. I first year He was a great speaker and he
turned in my books right then. jumped up and touched the youngsters warmly when he spoke
walked out. I caught the train that night to to us.
Bryan and I've never wanted to leave. Of course. the sophomores were due in two
I hadn't heard too much about Bryan or Allen or three days and we were told that as soon as
Academy and 1 didn't know exactly what I was they arrived. there would be an "airing out."
getting into. but 1 knew 1 would be happy ther>5. That's a tradition that had been going on at
I'd never played football but. naturally. I hung A &M for many years and it meant that the
around the field. One day the coach asked me if sophomores would run us off the campus. They
I'd like to try out so he gave me a uniform and I really did run us off, too. and we scattered all
tried to play football. 1 played right well but it over the area. We'd hide anywhere we could. in
didnt look as though I'd play very long because I the bushes or anywhere because it wasn't very
was supposed to graduate that year. However. pleasant if they caught you. If they did catch
coach D.X. Bible at A &M got interested in me you then there was further hazing with a board
• after having seen our team play the A &M and being thrown into the lake and all sorts of
freshmen team. He thought that I needed things like that.
another year of experience in football to qualify Well. there were two or three of us that got
for a little job of some kind at the college to get down over by the Southern Pacific railroad track
me through. They didn't have athletic and laid down in the weeds. Lo and behold. just
scholarships in those days. you know. 1 really as we got situated a train cam along and those
hadn't thought about college because 1 just were the steam engine days. Sometimes. for
didn't have the money for it and it was up to me some reason, they would open valves and blow
to pay for whatever I had. I decided to take this steam out. That happened right were we
Coach Bible's advice to remain at Allen and be were lying in the bushes. Of course, it was
captain of the football and track team..the track mostly steam but it burned and we got wet- -
team ended up going to a national meet in made a terrific noise that scared the devil out of
Chicago and placed well in several events. That us.
gave me the opportunity to receive some other In due time. we started back to the campus
offers but 1 wanted to come to A &M. 1 didn't and got on the old YMCA picnic ground just
S mind the idea of the corp either because 1 knew west of the college where the vet school is now.
the Corp would help me. Certainly. 1 got some A couple of sophomores caught us near the
discipline there. A &M was strictly military at the pond that was there. Well, there were four or
time. five of us freshmen and only two sophomores
As I recall. on my first day at A &M as a so we did the unheard of thing of throwing them
freshman I arrived for an orientation meeting at in the pond. We proceeded to get out of there
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14
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and hide away for a while. We snuck back to . r
our rooms during the night and were never
found out. SOUTH /WEST PRINTING CENTER'
As freshmen, we were subject to everything
in the world from the sophomores and upper WE CAN SERVE ALL
11) classmen. We had to be "room orderlies" and YOUR PRINTING NEEDS!
do room cleaning for one thing. We were
selected to work for different Aggies and I Business Cards
cleaned for one of the football greats, Mule Stationery & Envelopes
Wilson, and his roommate. Brochures
Mule lived in old Alpha Hall, a wooden Newsletters
dormitory for the non - military students. They Dissertations
were mostly students who couldn't qualify Flyers
physically for the military. Wilson was a great Wedding Invitations
athlete and captain of the football team, but he
did not like the military so-they had let him live 10% Student Discount With
there. I'd go down there in the morning because I D on Blue Prints /Quick Copy
they never got up for breakfast to clean up. For FREE estimates call 822
They were great tobacco chewers and they even `603 Sulphur Spongs Road Bryan, Texas 77801 713)822 4628 MO
chewed tobacco during the night when they
were asleep. They spread a thickness of
newspapers down between their beds so that te,r Ttii �, C �YT'2"
they could expectorate during the night and it %%tt "�Rh4 �aC���CC�a �a� ����
was my job to clean up. Before they had gone lk..
m.
to sleep they always made a big fire in an old * Needlepoint
wood stove so you can imagine the odor that I * Knit & Crocheting supplies
went into before breakfast. That was pretty ` / * Latchook A.
tough but they were great fellows and 1 loved V * Quilt & Tablecloth Kits
them both. * Crewel
One of the most wearisome things that 1 can * Counted cross stitch
remember was having to run errands such as * Beautiful gift items
picking up mail. The sophomores would write Now available, Xmas kits
their girl friends letters and there was a V for your gift projects .
passenger train that came through at 11:00
every night so it was our job to run the mail COULTER DRIVE z
ill down to the train. Oh, we hated that! If the girl HOBBY & GIFT SHOP
didn't get the letter just in time then she'd write 418 N. COULTER 779
her boyfriend and fuss about it. Boy, we heard ID
about it! There were just all sorts of little iir�r ,stir 7r ti 1 �rJr y tirJG t Gtiltlr 7�j;A
controversies like that. The freshmen today ''�� �1.�"'� 1i '��`�
r
Victor I I
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don't have to put up with that sort of thing.
Bring this ad for a Thank the Lord. I understand that hazing has
greatly disappeared. Whatever is done now
$5 reduction on any seems to be within the corp and I'm told that
11 11 is done lightly. 1 think that's a fine thing
chemical because hazing caused us to lose some good
students.
, ,�"�J service
When 1 was at Allen Academy. 'the nurse
there was named Irene Cleghorn and she was
y t e �. �. like a mother to me. When I came to A &M she
' � n 7• t • had just changed jobs to work at the health
/ o f
facilities. Well, there were about 200 freshmen
<, �� , boys lined up for their physicals and I was about
� number 50. I looked up and saw her at the
NEA[1 j�� same time she saw me. I pulled myself out of
■J■ line to wave at her because she didn't know I ,
713/822-2225 was coming to A &M. She ran over to pull me to
601 SULPHUR SPRINGS ROAD the front of the line. The rest of the freshmen
BRYAN. TEXAS 77801 �� couldn't understand why 1 was getting special
attention so she turned and said, "He's my boy,
He's my boy.' Anyhow, t started calling her
Mom Cleghorn and that is what she came to be
known as to hundreds of Aggies.
We didn't go much of anywhere in those
.., ... •Christmas Ideas days. The freshmen stayed at the campus
•Counted Cross Stitch nearly all the time. There were trolley lines
Nu/■/lo/`t/ •Crewel between here and Bryan so we'd sometimes go
*Needlepoint to town on the old Tunerville Trolley. Of
•Crochet course, we'd have to be back at curfew. Lights
�� •Latch Hoo o ut time was about 10:00. When the old trolley
•English Smocking was loaded up coming back from Bryan, it had
101
*Kits, Accessories & to travel up a little incline where it would always
1�" Lessons get stuck. It only took an upper classman a
second to order all of the freshmen out to push
that thing of the hill. 1
ti te Sat e h eitzt My junior year, 1927, was when we had a
0 fine football and track team. We won the i
Southwest Conference that year and 1 was
Mon. 10 -8:30 Tues. -Sat. 10 -6 fullback for the team. It was also the year I met
707 Shopping Village my wife. so that made it a really good year. I
was secretary of the Lettermen's Association
and in charge of a dance we were having. Mom
ir-E- E•1E- E -E-L-r< -E-E-E-IE-E-E-E -E£ -E-E-E-E-E-E-E ai Cleghorn wanted me to take Ethyl Walton, the
* Your Most Unique & Different Gift Stott j presiden's daughter, to the dance. I didn't know
* Waechtersbach Heart Dishes 1 how to ask her so Mom said she'd take care of
Taste Setter by Sigma 1h that. I hadn't ever had a date, you see, at all.
i• Pfaltzgraff Stoneware 01 She even let me have the $10 that I'd need. It
/4 Handcrafted Baby Items /II * For Collectors 01 was a heavy deal. Anyhow, she got us together
* Thimbles — Anri Angels ill for the dance at the old country club and we
ill Porcelain and Soft Sculptured Dolls continued to date and eventually married.
01 * Johnathan & David Porcelain Sculptures Certainly the Lord looked after me when he
* steered me to Ethyl.
Welcome Back Aggies
* Times were hard when I graduated. About
* 275 of us graduated and only 10 or 12 got jobs.
1 was one of them because I could speak
* r�. �e Spanish that I'd been taught by Professor Joe
* Woolket. Those were dark days for getting any
* Quilt - L3 o 1s kind of a job so l was glad to get anything.
* A MATTER OF TASTE" 11 I had at that time what was considered a
* * pretty good salary, $1500 a year, when I got
0 707 Shopping Village 693 of interested in some land development in 1933 in
16: .E.C-E•E-E-E-F,E-E.E-E-E-E,E-E-E- EE .E-E-E-E-Er y s--■
0
College Station around Lee and Pershing
streets. There wasn't a town of College Station
at that point, but I believed in the idea of zoning
• The Unicorn and began to introduce it to the area.
The city of College Station was organized
• & Lions Paw about 1938 and we got water, gas, and
electricity from the university. Septic tanks were
A ntiques used for sewage disposal. Taxes were 50 cents a
front foot on vacant lots and $1 a foot if there
Internationally accumulated was a house on the lot. The garbage was picked
Antiques & Collectibles up by a fellow in a horse and buggy and to this
day we still don't know where he dumped it.
_- Before the organization of the city was
I complete we decided to put in a little sewer
i system on some property down south of town
„ ,_ and that's an interesting story. Those ditches
t ti were dug by hand labor and Dr. F.B. Clark,
} _ who was administrator of the Southside
k M,
• i _ Developement Co. as well as a well -known
1 . J. economist. had an idea that he wanted to try
�
' T �' out. He had heard or read somewhere that
- - .- _ = sewer gas could be used commercially in the
future so one of the things that he wanted was
that as the sewer line was built down through
Diane Presley - the prairie, there would be a tap joint installed
Interior Design Consultant so that the sewer gas could be tapped and used
Open Mon. - Sat. 9:30 - 5:30 779 - 2839 _ by the community as it was needed. I agreed to
101 Lake St. at College Ave. _ all of that and the man who was foreman, Mr.
Holland, just laughed about it. He said he'd just
go on and put in the sewer line with no taps so
that his men didn't have to stop so often. He
was anxious to finish the job, you see. Well,
everyday Dr. Clark would come down and
worry about where the taps were. Finally Mr.
Holland said he'd mark the sewer 'line with
We offer Fast Super Service stakes and that if it was ever needed, he'd come
on all two wheel vehicles!" back and put the taps in later. That seemed to
satisfy Dr. Clark and to this day there hasn't
Aggies, tune up your been a need to install those taps. However, with
the energy shortage, you just can't tell what
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