As Freshman Week 1970 nears it’s end (again), I’m reminded that freshmen have a lot of people to meet. I’ve heard nice stories of students finding people who would become their lifelong friends or even future spouses at freshman mixers, but all I can recall about those events is a vague feeling of anxiety and homesickness. These pictures look happier than that, but there must have been some sweaty palms somewhere.
I believe I see Ron Sass in this first one, so this must be a reception or dinner event of some sort at Hanszen. There are both students and adults milling around–I assume the adults are associates, but I’m not sure:
This one looks like a strictly student function and if I’m not mistaken it must have been a casino night. Look how nicely everyone is dressed!
It’s not all fun and games, though. Just as in real life, everyone has to visit the cashier eventually:
It’s been almost 42 years since the class of 1974 entered Rice in the fall of 1970. Yet I can still remember the first day I arrived on campus like it was yesterday. It was also the first time I’d ever been to Houston. My family dropped me off at the Hanszen Master’s house on Sunday morning. Dr. Ira Gruber was the master. (And now he’s a good friend. We had lunch together just today.) My freshman advisor was still asleep. They had to wake him up to come and greet me! You’re correct in noting how long-lasting the relationships formed that week would be. I met my future roommate, best friend, and business partner that week, along with other close friends I’ve now known for 42 of my 60 years. These photos bring back many memories and a few tears of joy. And to think, I selected Rice’s School of Architecture because of an article on Houston and Rice in the National Geographic! Wow.
And you met me because of that same article.
True! I owe a huge debt to the National Geographic Society.
That must have been some article!
It was. It is quite a hoot. I still have it. If you have a use for it, I’ll send it.
I was part of the first freshman class to live in Sid Rich.
About the only thing I remember from Orientation was a presentation in the
RMC where they gave us the old “Look to the left of you and look to the right of you.
One of you three will not graduate in 4 years”. I did… eventually.
Here is a link to the cover page..
https://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pldhKJ-3_WzW4cTbcdHscLyuLnLdSPZCxVnzS0wf3iHigqZffah7Oa62aZxQepg3KFpT-PuKKfQoqyrWZWD7VFA/NapoleanDynamo.jpg?psid=1
If I’m not mistaken, the women in the middle picture are Barbara Jenkins (now Gibbs), left, and Jeannie Seelbach, right, both Brown (’73).
I thought the suits were interesting too. Don’t remember us donning suits in 1974, except for some ceremony or other during Freshman week, or maybe shorty after (and church of course).
I wonder how many Freshmen at Rice even have suits anymore?
How about the ashtray in the middle of the table? Wouldn’t happen today.
In the fall of 1970 Hanszen still went by the name “the gentlemen’s college.” We had to wear a tie to dinner on weekdays and a coat and tie for Sunday lunch. After my freshman year that quaint rule was history…
BTW it was the September 1967 issue of the National Geographic. A fascinating article on the Houston of the mid 1960’s, with a focus on NASA, of course. I bought a copy on eBay last year.
I think it was on the way out but by my year there were still elements in force. I think the tie rule for weekdays had gone away but the coat & tie rule for Sunday dinner had been relaxed to ties. I do remember at least two separate occasions when people showed up in a tie (only) and claimed they satisifed the letter of the rule.
When I entered Rice in 63, Hanszen reflected some of the traditionalism of its Master, William Masterson. Masterson’s freshman History class started at 8:00 a.m. and the door was locked at 8:05. This actually turned out to be good training for the practice of trial law. Masterson lectured in a gentlemanly Southern accent and always wore a coat and tie (except at some “offcially casual” event. Ron Sass became Master my last year and brought his laid-back casual personality to the role that allowed a more personal relationship. He and I have a good, but intermittant relationship to this day. The “Gentleman’s College” concept had taken hold and Sass let the students define the role and persona of the College. By the way, that’s Sass near the bulletin board and Coach Barker in the middle.
Barney L. McCoy, Hanszen 67
I think the term they used in those days was the bursar’s office, not cashier
The rule for Sunday dinner was coat and “dark” tie ( more formal looking, I guess). So Paul Spikes found a wide, garish, light colored plaid tie, wrote the word “dark” in bold, black, permanent marker on the tie and declared it in compliance with the rule. He wore the tie for weeks. Masterson never said a word. Barney L. McCoy, Hanszen 67
For the first time, I recognize a familiar face in one of these photos! I was a junior in 1970, but have been hoping to see someone I recognized. The Hanszen gentleman with the very impressive sideburns in the top picture is a life-long friend. He wasn’t a freshman that year, either, but must have been an advisor, or whatever they called the guys showing the new ones the ropes. In the picture he looks like he might be trying to find his advisees. Great pictures! And great memories.