HomeMy WebLinkAboutRagsdale, Reba
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Eagle photo/Paul Zoeller
the 12th Man Foundation after 16 years of service.
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Reba Ragsdale, director of dono, relations, ~peclal events arU:l~tr.avek\y1II retiree)'
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more than'she has received."
The 12tli'Man Foundation is
charged with raising money to
support A&M:s, athletic program,
which receiv~s no state funds.
Donation& co~er.,scholarships,
equipmeri('facilities and myriad
.other needs; ~fa major athletic
program. Ra..g~aale's responsibili-
ty"~~:. peen to arrange travel,
ac.eommodations and food for
dijrrr~;':Whotravel to road football
gahtEM'i, -she also handles pregame
'aCiivities in the Zone Club for
home games in Kyle Field,
The latter assignment went.
from routine to rushed in'Sep-
tember when the Aggie game
against Texas State was moved
"
Marks very nearly' didn 't. have
the opportunity to pay homage to
Ragsdale. .,' "
"She had submitted .he;u~,resig-
nation before 1 ~~, h~~~eight
y~ars ago," Mqrks 'Sr.J~;~l~be'jqst
dIdn't want to go 1:lrnoJf:~lLanoth-
er change in leader~ijlR1.1S~,~
agreed to stay on unttl':wWj{~d
a replacement.'Sb( mbnths:Iiitet,
she asked to speak to me, -Arid r
saidl wanted-to spe~'to,'l;1ef,'j",
said,.'You frrsU, She said, 'I have
enjoyed wor.king with you and
would like to JJ~sePl.d l}1y'~esigna-
tion.' 1 said, 'That's 'what 'I,want-
ed to tlilk to yo\.}. gbout, 're.scind-
ing your r~s\.gnation,' " ,
"It's been ahfhonor to work
with her, She'~' becomei~ife of my.
best friends. ~~e has '~~~M~1U~
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By JIM {JUTLER
Eagle Staff Writer
, I' know Reb.a has a house
, " 'somewhere ""but she .
'. seems to speii1d all her
" ',time in her Office, so it
.:. was fitting to name it '
the Reba Ragsdale Suite," said~
~iles Mar~s;~:Q~r .boss at Texas
A&M q~v,e~ioi:tY's 12th Man, ~
Foundat~~;
. At Ragsdale's mid-December
retirement party, Marks, execu-
tive director and chief executive
officer '0t the 12th Man Fotinda-
~ion, presented her with a plaque
rthat made the name officiaL Rags-
dale served as the foundation's
director of donor relations, spe-
cial events and travel for 16 years.
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See REBA, Page 04
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,
from Sept. 24 to Sept. 22 to dodge Hurri-
cane Rita.
"President [Robert] Gates made the
announcement at noon Wednesday that
we would play on Thursday, The main
problem was changing the pregame buf-
fet," Ragsdale said. "Food Services was
obligated to feed the [hurricane] evac-
uees being housed in Reed Arena along
with the people in the triage hospital at
the Vet School. I negotiated with Food
Services to serve 200 people, and we had
180 show up, Everybody pitched in and
made it happen. It was amazing to me
.how many people came up here for the
football game not knowing if they would
have a house when they got back."
When the team goes on the road, Rags-
dale books the hotels, negotiates rates, sets
up pregame meals and arranges trans-
portation from the hotel to the stadium for
the donors, Not in her job description but
performed just the same: She orders birth-
day cakes and anniversary flowers.
"My goal is to provide good customer
service, whatever that turns out to be,"
she said. .
On one occasion, that meant getting
Food Services to bring a blender to a
pregame buffet so the food staff could
'prepare food for a donor who was recov-
, ering from heart surgery, And one
donor was allergic to beef, so that meant
a special order of chicken or fish,
Most trips go smoothly, but the ones
that don't are the ones she remembers,
"During a pregame meal in Manhattan
[Kan,], one of our donors thought, she was
having a heart attack," Ragsdale said, "I
called 911, and an ambulance took her
Eagle photo/Paul Zoeller
Ragsdale displays the plaque for her ~yle
Field office.
\
and her husband to a hospital. During
the game, the husband called me on my
cell phone and said his wife was all right.
So the bus'drove by the hospital, picked
her up and went back to the hotel."
The largest number of p,onors to trav-
ei to a game was for the Sugar Bowl
game against Ohio State in 1999,
"We had to stay in 11 different hotels,"
Ragsdale said. "It was a nightmare, We
had 22 buses to work out the logistics for."
A different kmd of nightmare hap-
pened at the Meadowlands in New Jer-
sey when the Aggies played Florida
State in the 1998 Kickoff Classic,
"When the game was over, one of our
\,
couples was missing," Ragsdale said, "I
got in a car with the parking security
and drove around, but we couldn't fmd
them, It turned out they took the wrong
exit and panicked and called a cab."
Then there are culinary disasters.
"After an Oklahoma game, the hotel
buffet ran out of food, and we had lost
the game, People were not happy."
At an Independence Bowl game in
Shreveport, La" on New Year's Eve,
Ragsdale couldn't book a major hotel,
what with the casinos and all. "We rent-
ed a building at the fairgrounds and had
it catered," Ragsdale said, "The service
was so slow that Miles and I ended up
.serving the food, On top..of that, before
we fmished eating, it started snowing."
For the past 16 years, Ragsdale said,
she has had the perfect job,
"I love sports. I was raised with three
brothers, and they talked me into play-
ing basketball or football or baseball, I
couldn't talk them into playing dolls."
Ragsdale's husband, Bob, was an AD-
America long jumper at Texas A&M in
1953,
. "He knew a lot of people who were
members of the 12th Man Foundation, so
he was jls excited as I was to get this job.
I still enjoy the excitement, and I marvel
that things turn out as well as they do."
But enQugh is enough, Ragsdale said,
"I got my fIrst job when I was 16. I
just turned 66, so I've been working for
50 years, That's enough. I want to go to
my grandkids' football and basketball
games, I want to go to a 3 p,m. Aggie
baseball game, I want to start a scrap-
, book to leave a legacy for my family."
On Dec, 29, Ragsdale will walk out of
her office in the north end zone of Kyle
Field and close the door that reads,
"Reba Ragsdale Suite."
. Jim Butler's e-mail address is jim,but
ler@theeagle,com,