“That night they lined us up and made us run the gauntlet,” 1916

These days the incoming freshmen are greeted by cheering upperclassmen who help them unload their baggage. Here, for example, is a shot by Campus Photographer Tommy Lavergne of the kind of welcome they receive:

Back in the day things went quite differently. Here’s a letter from a Rice freshman that was published in the Temple, Texas newspaper, The Mirror, in October of 1916. It provides the folks back in his hometown a pretty good look at the treatment that the newcomers could expect:

Young Mr. Welsh did in fact go on t0 become a doctor. George Brown, however, went on to become George R. Brown.

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3 Responses to “That night they lined us up and made us run the gauntlet,” 1916

  1. Galloway Hudson '60 says:

    Hugh Welsh was the go-to campus physician when I came down with meningitis at the end of my junior year, in 1959. I think he was also the football team physician at the time. His diagnosis was, essentially, “take two aspirin and don’t call me in the morning”. I could easily have died, except my wife took me to the doctor of her first cousin, who lived in Houston, and he immediately sent me to St. Luke’s, where I spent 11 days in isolation. I never had much use for Hugh Welsh after that.

  2. Marty Merritt says:

    George R. Brown. Not to be confused with Jar Jar Binks.

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