Kent State University - Chestnut Burr Yearbook (Kent, OH)

Page 7 text:

A circuit preacher ' s buggy be- came mired, a wheel was left in the mud and temper dis- played. Thus John Buchtel missed out on founding a col- lege on the Cuyahoga shore. Since its founding. Kent State has been an intense rival of Ak- ron U. They compete for a wheel in an annual football game. This wheel is the only existing remnant of John R. Buchtel ' s ill-fated trip to Kent to find a site for his proposed university. His buggy bogged down in the mud on Kent ' s present campus. In the excite- ment, Buchtel ' s horse broke away and left bits of the car- riage scattered here and there. A wheel remained thoroughly wedged. It was then that Buch- tel decided that this site would never do and went on to Akron to found Akron University. The wheel, found a few years ago during construction of a new building, was turned over to R. E. Manchester, then dean of men, who had it polished and painted for use as a trophy for which the grid warriors of the two schools could vie. KSU gained permanent pos- session of the wheel in ' 54 when one of the most intense gridiron rivalries among Ohio colleges ended.

Page 9 text:

sJUOJr QA) y{vzdl Since 1935, the former dean of men, Raymond E. Manchester has written his famed Saturday Letters. Saturday after Saturday his pen has poured forth these letters until now there are over 750 of them written on every subject imaginable. There are few men who know more about Kent than this man who started as a math instructor, became Kent ' s first dean of men, and finally re- tired from the job he carried out so well. It is through the Saturday Letters of Dean Manchester and through the special copy he helped us prepare that the 1955 CHESTNUT BURR hopefully brings to you the story of Kent. To Dean Manchester we must express our un- dying thanks for the help and inspiration that he has given us. Much of the copy in this introduct- ory section is his, and behind it is a deep insight and a love for a great University. Gratefully we salute the man who played such an important role in the history of Kent State University. The Editor Time, toil and midnight oil went into the creation of Dean Manchester ' s well-known Saturday Letters. t-7— -- iv-..-.... .