What could provide these wonderful benefits??
Why, recreative activities of course!
Note that there was a short golf hole “adjacent to the field house.” I’ve peered pretty intently at some aerials from the 1930s and I can’t really see it–there are trees over there as well as the stadium so it’s hard to get a good look at anything. Here are a couple. Let me know if you can do better.
Bonus:
The second aerial is named “1933” but labeled “28.” I think it is earlier than the first one because University Boulevard is not there yet. And the “135-yard fairway” is illuminating. I think it is the long semi-triangle that runs from near Main Street to the end of the bleachers on the University Boulevard side of the stadium.
I can’t tell from the photos, but an article on page 4 of the May 5, 1939, Thresher told of the course’s location … and demise:
“Rice golfers viewed with dismay at the end of last month the complete destruction of the extensive facilities of the Institute. The Rice one-hole golf course has been scraped from the face of the earth by order of Field House authorities to make way for another entrance to the grandstands. The course, which, in happier days was laid out to the right of the driveway to the Field House parking lot, was formerly the off-hour resort of droves of happy youths who gamboled joyfully on its wide fairways and close-clipped greens.”
(Source: https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/65572/thr19390505.pdf?sequence=1)
Ah, youth. Always ready for a nice gambol.
Wait just a minute:
Some of us still gambol — naughty or nice, in the true Christmas spirit.
Don’t hurt yourself!!
The tennis court next to the Faculty Club is cool. I’ve never noticed it before. I think it’s amazing how many tennis courts have come and gone on campus.
I like that you play Squash tennis on the handball courts. How many different sports is that?
Yes, someone please explain that sport to us youngsters.