I took a legit day off today and wasn’t going to post anything. But I was wasting time on Facebook a little while ago and I saw something interesting on the Rice Centennial page. Here’s the announcement for this year’s Kalb lecture, which will be held on February 9:
This is a Big Deal lecture series, always worth hearing, and it’s free to the public. If you have the inclination it would almost certainly be worth your while.
But of course, that’s not what grabbed my attention.
What stopped me was my (admittedly very belated) realization that this lecture series is named for Ervin “Tiny” Kalb, seen on this blog repeatedly as a member of the first graduating class and an early football hero. Naturally, he’s the big guy:
Like most of the members of that class, Kalb remained interested and closely involved with Rice for the rest of his life. We have that gang to thank for starting many of the traditions that still exist here and for naming the Campanile and the Thresher. Here are some of them at their 40th reunion. Tiny’s not difficult to spot:
Shockingly, I know who every one of these people is! Three others besides Kalb have been mentioned here. If you can identify any of them, I’ll be really impressed.
I’m going to take a wild guess that the three ladies in this photo are (l-r) Alice Dean (Aug 17 blog), Ruth Robinson and Adele Waggamans (both Aug 26 blog).
I’m going to amend my guess to say the man on the far right is William Max Nathan (Dec 3, 2010 blog). 🙂
Others in that first graduating class that you’ve mentioned (and shown photos of) in the blog are: Hattie Lel Red (Oct 27, 2011), Carl Knapp (Dec 28, 2010) and Elmer Shutts (March 11, 2011).
… and the fellow at the far left of the newer photo looks like he could be the lineman who’s 2nd from the right in the 1913 photo. But I don’t have a guess of his name.
Outstanding work! Wrong on the ladies, but you nailed Wiliam Nathan. That’s Hattie Lel Red (“Votes for Women!”) on the right and Carl Knapp second from left.
In the summer prior to coming to Rice for my freshman year (’65), I met an elderly rancher named Henry Tillet in Abilene, Tx.
He told me that he was in the first (?) graduating class at Rice, and had worked his way through school by planting the oak trees around campus.
Do you have any information on that?
Yes, I’m not at work yet but off the top of my head I believe he was actually in the second class, 1917. I’ll check when I get in.
Pingback: Student Spirit that Never Died | Rice History Corner
Pingback: Ervin Kalb, ’16: “stamp collecting was his hobby and Rice was his psychosis” | Rice History Corner