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Rice University R Association Newsletter (September, 2018) � LETTERWINNER � ***Welcome: New R Association Associate Director - Brett Parker Read **Great Letter Winner Connection Tool! Go here for instructions on how to find lost teammates through use of the University’s Alumni Directory. * 2018 Football Huddle Up Honors Trevor Cobb and 2008 Houston Bowl Champs Read * “Our Teammate: Trevor Cobb” …Mike Appelbaum (Fb’93) remembers Cobb and his 1989 teammates..Read * Rice Women’s Track Coach, Victor Lopez, Inducted Into The SWC Sports Hall Of Fame…Former Rice star, Valerie Tulloch Cramer, writes a heart-felt summary of Coach Lopez’s long career at Rice. She and other former track stars were on hand to congratulate their beloved Coach Victor Lopez! Read * Soccer Team, 2017 Conference USA Champs, Opens Season Read * “Growing Up On The Rice Campus”…This essay is a nostalgic look back at the Joe Davis-Jess Neely era; written by Joe Davis’ two daughters. Thank you Harriet Davis Darling (Rice’56) and Martha Davis Stewart (SMU ’60) for sharing your memories! Read * “My Life In Football After Rice”…Part 1: Football As Part Of My Army Career… Gus Speary Fb’69 shares his experiences in football during his military service. Read * OWL NOTES Read A collection of notes, events and announcements * EVENTS/ACTIVITIES Read * SAVE THE DATES *The R Association will host tailgates for all home football games two hours before kickoffs.(Location at SW corner of Stadium…Gate1) All Letter Winners and families are invited and encouraged to attend! No charge!! *An Evening For Rice’s Honour, Wednesday, October 3, 2018: The eighteenth “An Evening For Rice’s Honour" will be held on Wednesday, October 3rd at the River Oaks Country Club. The Distinguished Owl Club Award will be presented to Donald Bowers ’91, Adam Peakes ’95 and Dr. Leland Winston’69

* THE FINISH LINE Read * FACES IN THE CROWD Check the photos for people you know Photos

LINKS OF INTEREST: R Association Web: Owl Club: Tickets: Rice owls.com: Newsletter Archive

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Welcome New R Association Associate Director - Brett Parker Brett Parker was chosen from 49 applicants which was eventually cut to 3 finalists. He was the unanimous choice of the search committee. Brett is from Kingwood Park High School in Kingwood, Texas. He ran on a State Championship Team at Kingwood Park and then entered Texas A & M on a Track scholarship. He was a member of the Aggies 2011 National Championship Team. Brett later transferred to BYU to complete his track career and graduated from BYU in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. While at BYU Brett worked full-time as a recruiting specialist for the football team for Bronco Mendenhall. Coach Mendenhall left BYU to take the head job at The University of Virginia. He asked Brett to join him. He comes highly recommended by Coach Mendenhall. Parker’s experience includes: • Interacted with the student athletes and parents in the recruiting process, compiled and managed recruiting database, prepared and presented program overview to potential student athletes and family members, responsible for helping recruits navigate through admissions process. • Represented The University at meet and greet activities and in person visits for program donors, maintained daily communication with coaching staff, athletics administrators and compliance officer. Brett left Virginia in 2018 to come home to Houston to enter the real estate business. His track career and his involvement in two big time Division-1 programs led him back into athletics. The R Association Board Return to p.1

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Great Letter Winner Connection Tool Several letter winner clubs have a special letter winner directory. We have had one in the past. We have one now that is much better and updated every year. Some of you may be using it now but many are not aware of this service: The Alumni Directory. It will connect you 80 – 90 percent of the time with that letter winner you are searching for. The entry process is very simple: 1.Google Association of Rice Alumni and click on it (or go now to alumni.rice.edu.) Click on Alumni Directory at top of page (or go now to Directory Login) 3.Create username and password and login as a New User 4. Once logged in; click on Directory and give it time to load and enter last name and first name of person you are looking for…click on search and that is it We now have a simple process for a great letter winner connecting service. Lets take advantage of it ! The R Association Return to p.1

2018 Football Huddle Up Honors Trevor Cobb and 2008 Houston Bowl Champs

The 2018 Huddle Up will be remembered as the best Huddle Up yet with over 100 letter winners in attendance. Huddle Up founders Johnny Nichols (fb) and Kenny Simmons (fb) would be proud of their Huddle Up vision. The energy level was of sight along with the short program and the BBQ . Brian Mann, Sr Associate , served as emcee, and The “R ‘’Association President, Patrick O’Connor (Tr) opened with the welcome to all. � R Association: Letter Winners Helping Letter Winners 4

Brian introduced Matt Sign (fb) Trevor’s teammate, COO of the National Football Foundation and who is a former All SWC nose man for the Owls. Matt spoke of Trevor and his days as an Owl football player. Brian then introduced Trevor Cobb (fb) by reviewing his many accolades and accomplishments. Trevor gave a short talk thanking his parents and teammates and all the Rice community for his success. Many of Trevor’s family members and teammates were in attendance. Trevor’s teammates present were: Mike Appelbaum, Bill Haley, Eddie Enriquez, Jeff Epp, Kevin Johnson, Brendon Fitzgerald, Tom Heatherington, Herschel Crowe , Jason Lucas, Joel Dawson, Dana Hogan, Matt Sign, and Mike Ecklund. Brian introduced Debra Frey VP, Integrated Marketing of The Fidelity Company who sponsored this event and who have sponsored other events for Rice Athletics and over the years. They will be involved in Trevor’s induction ceremony in NY in December. Jarred Dillard (fb), our All- American receiver spoke about the 2008 Championship team. His focus was on the closeness of the team then and more so today. He said we miss All- American James Casey (fb), but wish him no luck tomorrow as James is the tight coach for the Cougars. Other team members in the crowd included All Conference QB, Chase Clement, James Vernon, Jimmy Miller, Todd Mohr, John Welch, David Berkin, Andrew Novak, Tyler Parrish, Bencil Smith, Ahmad, Sweeney, Carl Taylor, and C. J. Ugokwe. The 2008 team Head Coach David Baliff was in attendance and received a hearty welcome by all. David had a great at Rice (4 bowls and a conference championship,) and will always be remembered in Rice Football history.

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We were all happy to see Alan Eggert, our expert and dedicated trainer for many years. Alan taped and carried most all of us off the field at some time during our careers. Thanks, Alan, for coming and for taking good care of us on and off the field. The remainder of the evening was consumed with food, drinks, and more stories about how great we all were. It was an awesome evening ! SAVE THE DATE for next year’s Huddle Up: September 7, 2019, Rice vs Wake Forest Game! Bring your teammates with you in 2019. See you all then ! Event Photo Gallery Go Owls ! The ‘R’ Association

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OUR TEAMMATE: TREVOR COBB

It was the Rice football season opener against SMU, a little over 29 years ago on September 2nd 1989, on an absolutely sweltering night. The pressure building up to this game was almost unbearable. Rice was coming off a dismal 0-11 season and was about to square off against a young Mustang team trying to come back after a two-year death penalty sanctioned by the NCAA on their football program. Needless to say, a loss would be quite embarrassing for the Owls. We needed a win for our new head coach, Fred Goldsmith, but mostly we needed a win for our pride! All of the excitement, energy, and anticipation from both schools was now over as SMU finally kicked the ball off to Rice! And then in a FLASH, our true freshman receiving the opening kick fumbled the ball which was then recovered by SMU deep in Rice territory. At the time, I am sure I was not alone with my less than complimentary thoughts for our teammate's blunder. That true freshman's name was Trevor Cobb. I guess you could say he made up for his first collegiate play over his next 4 years and monumental career at Rice. His exact stats were nothing less than remarkable! Trevor rushed for just under 5,000 yards and just under 6,000 all-purpose yards as a Rice Owl. He was all , All American, and in 1991 won the Doak Walker award for being the best college running back in the nation. He was an integral part in helping to turn the Rice program around to finally get its first winning season in 1992 after 29 LONG years.

Trevor's success was a result of many things, but basically, he just simply outworked everyone. He never got tired! Or if he did, you sure couldn’t tell. He ran just as hard at

� R Association: Letter Winners Helping Letter Winners 6 the end of the 4th quarter as he did at the beginning of the first. I guess his practice regime helped make that possible because during team offense he would sprint to the end zone to finish on every play, regardless of where we were. And when I say every play I mean every play! Luckily, because he was so fast he would get back to the huddle almost as quick as he got to the end zone, and it didn’t even slow practice down. So our offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger never had a problem with Trevor’s training routine, even with his numerous “run it again” rants he would all too often yell out to our squad.

Besides his unmatched work ethic, Trevor was just plain tough. Most of us played fairly banged up and hurt during the seasons as you did, but he took that to a whole other level. He was an unbelievable work horse! In a one back offense with basically 2 running plays, he got the majority of the offensive carries and took hits play after play after play. Mind you, they were mostly after nice gains, but he still took a lot of big time Southwest Conference hits, and was almost never playing at 100%. That is what made his success even that much more admirable. After the games, I remember him sleeping with most of his body iced down on the long plane or bus rides home and then he would usually get treatment when we got back to Rice no matter how late it was. Then, first thing in the morning, he would be right back in for treatment, and this would continue all week to get mended up for the next game. I was then as I am to this day, truly thankful for all of the sacrifices he made for our team.

It was truly an honor and a privilege for those of us who got to block for Trevor Cobb. The Doak Walker year we had Billy Baldwin, Larry Stuppy, Ken Pinkston, Trey Teichelman, Joel Dawson and myself up front. However, there were numerous other offensive linemen before during and after the 91' season that � R Association: Letter Winners Helping Letter Winners 7 all contributed to Trevor's collegiate success. It would be remiss of me not to list them to the best of my memory. Richard Segina, Allen Koch, Jason Lucas, Scott Reeves, Tom Hetherington, Chris Cooley, Jeremy Thigpen, Ron Ellis, Everett Burton, Russell Stackhouse, Brendon Fitzgerald, Jimmy Golden, Vince Pershing, Bill Goings, Don Kindred, along with tight ends Tim Winn, Kolis Crier, and Clem Torres who were all part of his tremendous career. He made us look good, and blocking was a lot easier when you had Trevor running the ball. He hit that line so incredibly fast. All he needed was a little crack of daylight to break through, and then he was gone! We knew how hard he was going to work for us so we all felt compelled to do the same for him. Our offensive line coach Mike Bender would accept nothing less anyway. We took pride in helping to get Trevor his yards, and his success was our reward. After the games in the locker room the guys up front couldn’t wait to find out his stats. “How many yards did he get?!” we would eagerly ask each other. We were especially fired up after the games where he rushed for over 200 hundred yards, and there were several. He actually ran over 200 yards against both Baylor and Texas in the ‘91 season when their defensive lines were rated as the top 5 in the country at the time. Trevor gave us guys up front a great sense of pride for a generally thankless job. And being the humble class act that Trevor was, he always gave us credit and thanked us anytime he was interviewed with the media and personally.

On December 4th in New York later this year, Trevor Cobb will be officially inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. We are all extremely proud of this well-earned honor, not only for himself but also for . Trevor will represent Rice well, but not just because of his athletic accomplishments. Trevor was and is so much more than an All American Doak Walker recipient. Trevor is a kind, humble, and selfless man who always gave himself to his school, his family, his God, and really anyone lucky enough to be a part of his life. It will be an awesome night in December to see his infectious smile at the podium on the big stage in New York, as we celebrate this wonderful man and his illustrious career at Rice.

And by the way, in that opening 1989 game we beat SMU 35-6

Mike Appelbaum ’93

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Rice Women’s Track Coach, Victor Lopez, Inducted Into The SWC Sports Hall of Fame Monday, September 10, 2018: Cruising in from Prague (easily the most distance travelled for this event), Victor Lopez looked like a Champion amongst Champions at the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame Ceremony. Victor remains one of the most technical, knowledgeable and decorated coaches in Athletics beginning with his initial assignment as the founding Head Coach of the Rice Women’s Track and Field Program in 1981 until his retirement in 2005. His legacy is not just limited to his impact within the SWC and the NCAA but expands beyond into the Olympic and international community of track and field. Victor’s career spanned decades at Rice where he changed the trajectory of many young women’s lives. Applying his technical knowledge and expertise to identify athletes that were lingering at the cusp of their potential in their athletic careers, he meticulously recruited and developed many of them into SWC, WAC and NCAA Champions. He produced NCAA All-Americans, US Champions and Olympians from around the globe. His athletes successfully migrated into the fields of medicine, law, coaching, teaching, finance, TV and entertainment to name a few. Most importantly however, is the fact that his athletes have gone on to become ambassadors not only of the sport of Track and Field, but also of Rice University and its representation as a superb institution. This fact is attested by his 100% graduation rate. What a legacy! Victor was accompanied by his wife Mrs. Evelyn Lopez, his daughter Ms. Lolita Lopez and his granddaughter (and current Rice freshman) Ms. Angelica Torres. Victor acknowledged both Ms. Martha Hawthorn and Ms. Joyce Pounds Hardy for their roles in persuading him to choose Rice following his graduation from the University of Houston. They also served as mentors and friends throughout his career. Also in attendance were several of Victor’s former athletes including fellow SWC Hall of Famers Regina Cavanaugh and Valerie Tulloch Cramer. His successful and highly decorated athletes Mary Wallace, Cherrise Traylor and Tanya McIntosh Justice were � R Association: Letter Winners Helping Letter Winners 9 also in attendance. Victor also had the pleasure of the attendance of one of his first athletes Laura Shoppa. A strong Rice showing was present in faculty and staff representing both the past and present.Current Women’s Track Coach Jim Bevan, Dr. Jimmy Disch, Julie Griswald, previous Athletic Director Bobby May, Mark Scheid , Senior Athletic Director Rick Mello, former SID Bill Cousins, Chris Shoppa, R Association board member Gene Walker and current Men’s Track Coach Jon Warren were there, to name a few. Victor’s fellow 2018 Inductees included: Steve Atwater (Arkansas Football), Tommy Bowman (Baylor Basketball), Larry Micheaux (Houston, basketball), Denny Holman (SMU basketball), Brooks Kieschnick (Texas baseball), Curtis Dickey (A&M Football), Kurt Thomas (TCU basketball) and Joe Barnes (TTech Football). Congratulations to all of this year’s inductees! Most of all, a well deserved congratulations to an amazing coach and phenomenal man, our beloved Coach Victor Lopez! By Valerie Tulloch Cramer

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Rice Owls Soccer Team, 2017 Conference USA Champions, Opens Season The 2017 Champs opened their season vs 17th ranked Texas Longhorns Friday evening August 17 to a packed house at the Rice Soccer Field. The Owls are coached by Nicki Adams, 2017 Conference USA Soccer Coach of the Year and A&M Hall of Famer. Former Rice star athletes in the crowd included; AA Baseball pitcher Steven Herce (bb) who helped lead Owls to 2 Omaha trips, Owl baseball coach and member of the 03 National Champions Paul Yanish (bb) and family were present. Former receiver Zack Wright (fb),who now works in Woodlands area with former QB Kyle Herm (fb)) and running back Spencer George (fb) in pharmaceutical sales. Former QB Chad

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Richardson (fb) stopped by to say hello. Karen George (BB) one of our consistent Owl boosters was also present. Former SID Bill Cousins , head mens Track Coach John Warren (Tr) and family were in the crowd. Congratulations to Nicki and 2017 Champions !

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Growing up on the Rice Campus Harriet Davis Darling - Rice Class of 1956 Martha Davis Stewart - SMU Class of 1960

In 1940, after Clemson College defeated Boston College in the Cotton Bowl, our dad, Joe Davis, & Jess Neely with their families left South Carolina for Houston to run the athletics program at Rice Institute. Before two years were over, Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States was soon at war. The Rice campus quickly changed. The U.S. Navy had a large presence there. Male students enlisted or were drafted. The game rosters were frequently changed or suddenly out of date.

Cecil Grigg was the only other football coach as the Neely-Davis era was launched. Each of the assistant coaches was in charge of at least one other sport. Daddy coached basketball in the early 40’s and won several Southwest Conference Championships. In addition to coaching two sports, the assistants handled other chores i.e., mowing the football field prior to the Saturday games & being in charge of money from the concession stands after each game.

It was during the early days, when the basketball practice court & dressing rooms

� R Association: Letter Winners Helping Letter Winners 11 were on the lower level of the Rice field house and the offices were on the second floor that the small staff of men would adjourn at noon to a little eatery across Main Street named Ye Olde College Inn, It was owned by George Martin, a Greek immigrant, and his wife Lottie, a German immigrant. Both were major Rice fans & named the table they reserved by the cash register as The Coaches Table. Lottie had an electric wood-burning pen that their favorite coaches were asked to use to burn their signatures into the table top. Years later the Martins sold the College Inn to Ernest Coker. At his death, the table was purchased by Kaphans Restaurant out on South Main. It was when Kaphans was going out of business soon after Daddy died that we two sisters made arrangements to buy the table & donated it to the Owl Club.

Daddy & Coach Grigg would trade off scouting the teams Rice would be playing in the coming weeks. Each would drive to separate games, take notes while sitting in the press box & drive back home to get ready for the Sunday team meetings. (We both still have a few small notebooks with lots of x’s and o’s on each page.) Daddy had a very good friend who was a pilot & would fly him to scout the closer games. Most of the time their return flight would get them back home & to the stadium for the last half of the Rice game. In 1946 Rice's football team tied in the Southwest Conference Championship & went to the . Football games continued to be played in the small stadium behind the Rice field house; and three years later Rice won the Southwest Conference Championship outright. They followed up by winning the Cotton Bowl as well.

Rice Alumni recognized an upward trend. They gave Daddy and Jess each a new car & determined with Rice administration to build the present Rice stadium. This state of the art stadium was built to seat 72,000 by Brown and Root Construction in less than 9 months...working day and night! It was completed in time for the long-scheduled opening game in September 1950. In the next twelve years Rice played in four more bowl games...Cotton Bowl (2), Sugar Bowl (1) & (1).

As the years passed Rice stadium was filled to capacity for almost every game. Between 2,000 and 5,000 extra bleacher seats were added on the north end of the stadium for the LSU, Texas University and Texas A&M games. The traffic going to the games was so heavy that we would leave home 2½ hours before the start of the games, even though we only lived about a mile from the stadium. We never missed a home game. Mother brought blankets to the games when it was cold and a clear plastic tablecloth to top them off for the rainy games.

We have wonderful memories of all the Rice games, especially those we won! We always wanted to go down on the field after our wins, but Daddy told us that,“young ladies don’t � R Association: Letter Winners Helping Letter Winners 12 belong on a football field”. We are thankful for our memories of the “glory days” of Rice football, and we know Daddy treasured his Rice University memories, too. Many of his football & basketball players became lifelong friends, who the two of us have always referred to as “Daddy's boys”.

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS

Both Joe Davis & Jess Neely grew up on farms near Smyrna, Tennessee & were cousins.Following his graduation from high school Daddy spent four years as owner of a small dairy farm & playing semi-pro baseball in the summers. After all that time he was offered a baseball scholarship & attended Southwestern University in Memphis,Tennessee, where Jess was coaching football.

After the deaths of Jess and Daddy, Rice alumni and fans donated funds in their memory to be used in the 2007 stadium refurbishment. Almost exactly 57 years after that opening game in September 1950, “The Jess Neely and Joe Davis Scoreboard” was lit up & dedicated in their honor. Return to p.1

MY LIFE IN FOOTBALL AFTER RICE Gus Speary Fb‘69 Football As Part Of My Army Career

My first foray into football after my time at Rice was not of my choosing.

After I graduated from Rice, I went to law school at the University of Houston. While going to law school, I enlisted in the U of H’s Army Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (“ROTC”). So, when I graduated from law school, I was also commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

That meant that, three weeks after graduating from law school and passing the Texas Bar Exam, I was ordered to report to Fort Gordon, in Augusta, Georgia, to attend the Officer Basic Course at the Army Signal Corps School located there. I was assigned to a company of men like myself, who were all recently commissioned Second Lieutenants. Each of us was also a recent ROTC graduate from various colleges located all over the United States. And, as I was to later learn, over half of us were recent law school graduates. And, a bunch of us were also former college football players.

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Each morning, at 06:30 hours, we formed up for roll call. Once we answered “present” we marched off to class. After roll call the second Monday we were there, I was told that I had been ordered to report to our Commanding Officer’s Office immediately after class that day. All during class I racked my brain as to why he wanted to see me in private. Somehow, I must have really screwed up.

Anyway, I reported to his office and just like in the war movies I had seen on TV growing up, I knocked on the door and shouted in my best military command voice: “Sir! Lieutenant Speary reporting as ordered!”

My CO, Major Harold Smith, shouted from the other side of the door, “You may enter Lieutenant!” As ordered, I opened the door, entered and saluted. He then ordered me to take a seat. As I did, I noticed that he had my military personnel file out and was reading over it. I thought to myself: “This is going from bad to worse.”

I shouldn’t have been worried. After I was seated, he looked up at me and said: “I’ll get right to the point. The Army is setting up a football league made up of teams manned by young officers, such as yourself, who played football in college, preferably on athletic scholarship and with schools in major conferences. You have been selected to not only be a player, but also the captain and coach, for one of those teams.”

He then handed me a sheet of paper containing the names, as well as the names of the schools they had attended, for those officers who had been selected to play on my team. In some instances the position they played was also next to their name. The list included guys who had played in not only the SWC; but also the Big Eight, the ACC, the Big Ten, the PAC Five and the SEC.Without looking up, he said: “Tomorrow you will meet the rest of your team. You will also get your uniforms. Your first practice will be shortly thereafter.” (P. S. Since the Army considered us “volunteers”, we had to pay for our uniforms.)

We had a really good team. I played center on offense and linebacker on defense. (We all went both ways.) Our tailback and wide receiver were African Americans who had played their college ball at Texas Southern and Grambling. They also played in the secondary on defense.

Our best player, who was my assistant coach and co-captain, had played the monster man position for at Alabama. We were undefeated in the regular season. We made the finals in the playoffs. But, due to the loss of several of our players who were the last group from Fort Gordon sent to Vietnam, we were defeated in the finals.

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The guy who played for the Bear, like me, had gone to law school, and after the Army he moved back to Alabama. As most of you know, I have lived in Texas, New York and Chicago. I have practiced law all over: Most of the Lower 48 States; Europe; the UK, the Persian Gulf and the Far East. When I retired to Alabama, I looked him up. Like me, he is retired from the practice of law. He served as a trial judge for about 20 years.

Some of you may know who I am referring to. His name is Wayne Owen. He started at Alabama from the 1966 season to 1968 season. During that time Bama went to 3 bowl games, with a 1-2 record.

He and I have gone out to dinner with our wives. Of course we reminisce. We have told each other various recruiting stories. I told him how Joe Davis charmed my mother into making sure I signed with Rice. Wayne told me that he was interested in only 2 schools, Alabama and Auburn. He said that the Bear told him: “If you want to go to school, go to Auburn. If you want to play some real football, come to Alabama.” It sounds to me like he went to Alabama and did both. End Part 1 Part 2…My Adventures In Professional Football: The Conroe Storm will be published in the next issue. Return to p.1

OWL NOTES R Association Tailgate Rice vs Prairie View

The R Association tailgate before the Prairie View game was great. We had approximately 250 letter winners, family and friends attend. Byron Coston (fb) and team prepared a great BBQ meal of brisket, ribs, chicken, boudan, fish and all trimmings. For dessert Byron treated all with chocolate chip cookies. Drinks included water, cold drinks and beer. Mike Wilson (fb, B) Paul Doyle (B) and team had the TV trailer and tents there also. Many athletic administrators were present including AD, Joe Karlgaard and wife, Senior AD, Rick Mello. AD Brian Mann in charge of development and his assistant Shu were in attendance. The cheerleaders came and did a cheer for the crowd, led by former cheer leader and R Association board member Kylie

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Pflieger (C). Other R Association board members present were Wanna Hadnott (T) David Gibbs (BB), Don Rather (fb) Ray Torp (S) Don Knodel (past director).

We look forward to these tailgates becoming bigger and better! The tailgates are open 2 hours before game time at all home football games. Letter winners, family and friends are invited. No charge or RSVP but a donation to Byron and team is appreciated. Look for all of you at next game.

R Association Tailgate, Rice vs UH Included many new faces: Valerie Tulloch (Tr), SWC Track Hall of Famer and 3 time NCAA Javelin Champion Gene Timberlake (Tr) SWC Men’s Championship Teams, ’64, ‘65 Derrick Rutherford (Fb)who has 2 talented volleyball players in the Righpoint program here in Houston Mike Hooks (Fb) one of Trevor’s teammates who drove in from Austin today Wayne Hooks, his father and former Rice Assistant with Fred Goldsmith David Baliff, former head football coach Mike Inselman (BB) and wife Pat , former Knodel player Shannon Wright (Tr) R Association VP with husband Randel son Owen and daughter Joan, Michelle Hicks , former RBI leader, Jeff Ryan Reckling Park Architect Judy Mandola, Frankie’s wife. We will always miss Frankie !

Updates on Women’s Track and Field Graduates Becky Wade (Martel '12) qualified as one of just three women on the U.S. National Team in the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships earlier this year. Wade finished 41st overall in a time of 1:12.31, and the US. Women's team finished ninth. More on Becky Wade…Read Ariana Ince (Brown '11) qualified to the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships earlier this summer and finished third overall with a best throw of 183' 7"(55.97m). More on Ariana Ince…Read

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Random Updates

1.Rice Hall of Fame ladies track coach Jim Bevan has hired two new assistant coaches with great credentials: Justine Charbonnet ran and jumped at Baylor and comes to us after coaching 1 year at the Woodlands and 3 years in Conroe. Justine The R Association says, “Welcome to the Owls “ Jonathan Hill and his wife Shene join us from West Point as Jonathan will also be an assistant on Jim’s staff. Welcome Jonathan and Shene ! 2. Former Rice Soccer player Jen Cooper (Sc) who graduated in 1990 is now the foremost soccer expert in the world. She was heard many times on Fox with her knowledge during the World Cup and has been active on the local seen for years. She has an online soccer reference called Keeper Notes and has been the on-air analyst for the Dash.She has also made a name for herself on the national level with her National Women’s Soccer League Almanac which is the reference guide for the league. The R Association salutes Jen for these outstanding accomplishments! 3.Preston Gordon (Fb) a graduate transfer from Rice is listed as a co-first team at nose man for Texas Tech. 4.South Caroline troubled spot could be in the secondary where they will count on first year transfer J. T. Ibe (Fb) from Rice. Ibe started 26 games for the Owls. 5. UT reeled in coveted Rice graduate transfer tough Calvin Anderson (Fb) to shore up the offensive line. 6. James Casey(Fb) Rice AA said he always has a special place in his heart for the Owls but this week (UH game ) is all business. James is the tight end coach for the Cougars. 7. The Coqwitlam Meto-Ford soccer club, one of the premier soccer clubs in America, is graduating 30 players to post-secondary programs across North America…one of which is Ziyana Samanani (Sc) from Calgary Alberta Canada who will play for Rice. 8. First Volleyball All American- Sammy Waldron (V) in 1985… and her brother was on the Owl football team during her years 9. Houston Chronicle athlete of the week (August 31-September 1) is Nia McCardell a Ridge Point High volleyball player who is committed to Rice. Nia totaled 141 digs during

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last weeks play and was named MVP of the CCISD varsity tournament. We look forward to Nia joining the Owls

Scholar-Athletes were selected from C-USA's full-time and affiliate institutions in nineteen sports. Read complete story 2017-18 SCHOLAR ATHLETE AWARD WINNERS: Baseball: Nick Sandlin, Southern Miss Men's Basketball: Ed Simpson, Middle Tennessee Women's Basketball: Erica Ogwumike, Rice Men's Cross Country: Adolfo Carvalho, Rice Women's Cross Country: Elsa Racasan, Rice Football: Brent Stockstill, Middle Tennessee Men's Golf: Mitchell Meissner, Rice Women's Golf: Maggie Simmermacher, Old Dominion Men's Soccer: Jason Beaulieu, New Mexico # Women's Soccer: Martha Thomas, Charlotte Softball: Haley Pace, Charlotte Women's Swimming & Diving: Anna Lynch, Marshall & Marie Claire Schillinger, Rice Men's Tennis: Eric Rutledge, Rice Women's Tennis: Lindsey Hodge, Rice Men's Track & Field: Scott Filip, Rice Women's Track & Field: Morgan McIntyre, WKU Volleyball: Jessica Lucas, WKU

Return to p.1 EVENTS/ACTIVITIES Coaches Caravan The Coaches Caravan completed the 2018 tour in great style Monday evening August 20th at the Gorgeous Gael in Rice Village. This was Coach Bloomgren’s first coaches show, and he was welcomed to a full house of enthusiastic Owl fans. Coach was interviewed by, JP Heath, the voice of the Owls, who also interviewed athletic director Joe Karlgaard. Both are excited to start a new season and a strong future for the Rice Owls.

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The beer was cold, the food good and crowd loud !Many of our consistent boosters were seen having a great time which included: Rice Trustee Bucky Allshouse (fb), Owl Club board members Steve Bradshaw(fb) and Mike Ecklund (fb) accompanied by his two daughters, Reckling Park Architect Guy Jackson (g) along with Bob Slanger who assists in many athletic areas . Kyle and Analisa Frazier whose daughter, Madeline, is a former Rice cheerleader, and whose son Brandt is a Rice baseball player and remembering his father, Bill Frazier, who was a great football player in the 50’s. The most valuable booster, Alan Shelby, provider of the Rupa Report daily was also present. Always a big thanks to Alan ! Dr. Jimmy Disch and his buddy former UH football player Horst Paul were enjoying the evening with Horst and wife who is a Rice Grad. Horst also has a daughter and stepdaughter that are Rice Grads. Big time Owl boosters: Rocky High (Tr) and Kirwin Drouet were present and looked to be having a good time. What a great way to welcome Coach Bloomgren and the 2018 season. Lets keep it up Go Owls ! Owls Well Represented at Bayou Bucket Luncheon The event was hosted by The Touchdown Club of Houston at the Bayou City Event Center near NRG on August 30. Neil Farmer, former Rice beat writer for the Chronicle, is the Executive Director of the Club. Matt Musil former voice of Owl football of KHOU TV was the emcee. Joe Hornberger (Fb) Rice FCA Director opened the event with the invocation. AD Joe Karlgaard and head coach both made excellent speeches. UH head coach, Major Applewhite, former Owl assistant, also spoke. Other members of the The Rice Athletic Department present were AD’s Rick Mello, Brian Mann, and Shu…along with John Simmons, head of football operations. Trustee Bucky Allshouse (Fb) was present. More Owls in the crowd included: Larry George, Bob Slanger, Mike Appelbaum, Arizona Alvin Early (Fb) Ben Wescott (Fb) and guest city controller Chris Brown, Wright Moody (fb), Richard Bowe (Fb) and friend Linda Halla, Dan Brast (Fb), Bob Reinhold, Byron Coston(Fb) Chief Chef for our tailgates and best dressed, John Coles (BB), John Sylvester (Fb), buddies Tanyan Farley (Fb) and James Farrimond (Fb) , track expert Russel Henderson, Dr. Jimmy Disch and Nancy Burch. The Owls filled 3 tables plus this year and our goal is 4 tables next time and eventually take over the room !

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RICE ANNOUNCES ENDOWMENT OF HEAD FOOTBALL POSITION Read Return to p.1

The Finish Line If you like the Newsletter, please forward to all your letter winner friends on your facebook, email trains or twitter. We have 5000 letter winners and only 2200 emails. We also distribute on Rupa and RAssociation Facebook Acct Any responses (good or bad) or suggestions for the next “Letterwinner” Newsletter send to [email protected] Newsletters will be published 3 times per year: January, May, and September. All articles or information are welcome for any edition (must be somewhat true and clean.) Deadline for information in newsletter is the last day of the month before publication. EX. January Newsletter deadline would be December 31st In other months with no newsletter a Letter Winner Extra will be published that will be a short 1 pager with 1 or 2 articles or information of interest. For any of your teammates that did not receive any newsletters, they are archived in The R Association Website To enter: 1.google- Rice Owls.com (official website of Rice Athletics ) 2. click on heading - athletics 3. click on - R Association

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FACES IN THE CROWD

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� R Association: Letter Winners Helping Letter Winners