This note showed up in my email box the other night, sent by loyal reader Charlie Szalkowski:

I was at a dinner event this evening when I learned that a longtime friend was related to your post yesterday. Lee Kaplan, who is a former Baker Botts partner and close friend of Alan Shelby (Rice baseball guru), mentioned that his father had won a national championship for Rice.  (We had been talking about Saturday’s game).  This championship was in marksmanship. Immediately I thought of your Dec 5th post and sure enough, Lee is the son of Charles Kaplan mentioned in the news article in your posting. 

Happily, there were a couple of pictures attached. Here’s the 1945 championship certificate:

And this is the letter to Kaplan’s parents, informing them of the award:

Another reader, the estimable Alan Shelby, chimed in with some background about Charles Kaplan:

A third-generation Houstonian, Charles Kaplan graduated from Rice in 1947,
majoring in math and physics.  He served in the Marine Corps during WW II
and the Korean War.  He passed away on September 5, 2011.  
Charles and his wife Celine (who is still alive) are the proud parents of 4
children: Lee, David, Nanette and Jay.  The only one with a degree from Rice
is Jay who earned a Jones MBA in 1980.

Mr. Kaplan’s obituary is here and I urge you to go take a look at it. He sounds like a fine man and he had just a fabulous, mischievous smile. Here’s the same charming smile on display in the 1947 Campanile:

Thanks so much to my great readers for this. I am no longer surprised by what you guys come up with.