Sometimes technology that seems obsolete really isn’t but I think this one is actually fit for no purpose today. I came across this small fuzzy photo of the new Addressograph system in a copy of the March, 1958 Sallyport. I wonder whatever became of those semi-permanent records.
Rice football great Weldon Humble was a handsome man and deserves to have a better picture here:
Bonus: Many thanks to Chuck Pool, Rice’s head of Athletics Communication, for this link to an amazing piece of film made on the occasion of Coach Jess Neely’s last game in November of 1966. It’s worth watching for a lot of reasons. So much has changed, but I couldn’t help but notice that the size of the crowd was roughly the same as it was for the game this Saturday.
Extra Bonus: I was recruited to take some pictures of a couple of enthusiastic alumni before the game and got them to agree that I could get a couple of shots with my own camera too.
The Owls’ 21-10 win over TCU on November 19, 1966, shown in “The Coach” film was Neely’s last at Rice Stadium. But his last game as Rice football coach took place the next Saturday (November 26) at Baylor, a 21-14 loss.
Attendance at the TCU game was given at 21,000 (https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/77642244/), which is not much more than that given for last Saturday’s win over UTEP (19,148; http://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=400869414). But seeing in the video the relatively large number of 1966 fans in the east-side upper deck and the densely packed east-side lower-deck spectators between the 20-yard lines, I suspect that this year’s reported attendance figures are substantially inflated (possibly reflecting tickets sold and/or distributed rather than persons actually attending). (My personal recollection is that the west-side stands were filled in 1966 at least as much as this year, probably much more,)
For comparison, the official attendance at the FAU @Rice game (November 5) is given as 19,892 (http://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=400869399). I believe that most observers would say there were not nearly that many spectators actually in Rice Stadium for that game.
Thanks for clearing up that point about the Baylor game. I had thought Baylor was always the last game for Rice during the old SWC days. In fact, it seemed like that game was sometimes played in December. Wasn’t the Baylor game critical to Rice winning the SWC Championship in 1957, or deciding who played in the Cotton Bowl?
Yes! https://ricehistorycorner.com/2012/12/06/football-1957-baylor/
Even though the film of Jess Neely’s last victory was taken fifty years ago, it is eerie how so many aspects of Rice Stadium today are the same as back then.