One of the wonderful things about working in the Houston Post photo archives in the HMRC is finding lots of pictures of important Rice events, often better ones than we have in the Woodson. Not long ago I came across a whole bunch that were taken before, during, and after President Eisenhower’s October 1960 speech in Autry Court. I’ll post more of them when I have time but this is my favorite, clearly taken just after Eisenhower told the gentlemen the were free to remove their jackets on that hot evening in an un-airconditioned gym:
RDG-006N
Bonus: Here’s the crowd outside before Ike’s arrival. Don’t they look great?
Extra bonus: The WIFI testers showed up in the Woodson yesterday! Signal improvements are expected.
Remember it well. Mary and I may be in one of those photos, but my eyes are too far gone to allow me to check. Believe it or not, back then we not only wore suits to presidential addresses, we also wore them to Rice football games. Another era completely.
To clarify my comment about Rice football games, that is my recollection of what we did after graduation, in the early 60s. Not sure about what we did while I was still a student.
I can just smell the hair oil and aftershave lotion.
Love the turban on the lady at the far right in the second pic 😎
I was a student in the early ’60s (Wiess College). Each of the Colleges had a specific set of seats in the lower rank of seats near the 50-yard-line for football games in the Rice Stadium. In my freshman year, we were REQUIRED to attend (by our College, not by the University). I don’t know what would have happened if I had NOT attended (I didn’t attend one game because I was (officially) injured and in hospital (but actually at Guantanamo Bay during the Cuban Missile Crisis — read my book, THE MAN WHO WAS NEVER THERE, available on Amazon). My absence was excused by the college government. To attend, we wore dark slacks, white shirt, Wiess college tie, and (as freshmen) the College Beanie. After my freshman year, we attended, but it was not mandatory, and there was no dress code (other than what we wore had to be decent). For John F. Kennedy’s address in the stadium, we wore blazers (if memory serves). There was a picture in the Chronicle in which I appeared (in the mass of students) with my future wife (whom I had not yet met) a few rows behind me.
Just bought the book!