Memphis State University - DeSoto Yearbook (Memphis, TN)

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Depression Days The institution ' s rapid expansion was halted as the nation sank into the depression. During those lean years of the thirties, when school administra- tors struggled to maintain and operate existing fa- cilities, and economy was the watchword, the school ' s title was shortened to State Teachers Col- lege. During those years many well-known indi- viduals such as Flora Rawls, J. M. Smith, C. C. Humphreys, Leo Davis, R. P. Clark, and others, joined the staff. The Tiger Rag, a weekly student newspaper, was first published, and in athletics, the college was a member of the Mississippi Valley Conference. In August of 1933, the school Glee Club sang at the Chicago World ' s Fair. At the close of the Depression Decade the college lost the second of its great presidents, when John Willard Brister died in his sleep. He had occupied the president ' s chair for twenty years. Richard C. Jones succeeded President Brister and served in that position until 1943. The school, along with the nation, hopefully plunged into the ' 40 ' s, flinging off the gloom of the depression years. Even glamour had its place at State Teachers, when handsome movie star Dick Powell came to the campus and chose six Vanity Fair Queens. Along with this new face for the forties, came the new name of Memphis State College in 1941.

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i iMBRa) . Tobacco is a dirty weed I like it: It satisfies no normal need. I like it. It makes you thin, it makes you lean. It takes the hair right off your bean; It ' s the worst darn ' stuff I ' ve ever seen; I like it! The Roaring Twenties In addition to this expansion, [here were other notable changes between 19] 1 and 1921: enrollment jumped to more than a thousand: the number of faculty members had risen from seventeen to thirty- two; a dining hall capable of seating eight hundred had been added to the college plant; Scates Hall. a dormitory for men. had been completed in 1923; the number of books in the library had risen to more than nine thousand: the athletic department had been greatly expanded; The DeSoto. had been published yearly since 1916; a variety of student organizations and societies had sprung up on the campus, and in general, the Normal School was beginning to assume the stature of a full-fledged college. The students, too, were beginning to assume the timeless characteristics of true collegians. Hours not spent with books were enthusiastically filled with courting, debating, social work, midnight snacks, music, sports, and pranks. They cheered lustily for the football team, which in 1916 was defeated by the Jonesboro Aggies, Central High School, and Memphis University School, but tri- umphed over Somerville High School. CBC, THG (State Militia) and Brownsville. They were heard reciting not only Shakespeare, but such gems as the following: The twenties rolled in. bringing to the nation Bathtub Gin. Speakeasies, Harding and Graft, and 23 Skidoos. They brought to the Ole Normal campus many things: the return, in 1924, of President Brister . . . a new name. West Tennessee State Teachers College, to accompany the new status it received in 1925 ... an enrollment of 1,641 . . . Zack Curlin as basketball and football coach . . . Flappers who outnumbered boys more than two to one, and invaded what had previously been male organizations . . . The Charleston . . . a full summer school session of twelve weeks ... a Training School enrollment of five hundred ... an Alma Mater written by President Brister and printed in the 1929 DeSoto ... a girls ' basketball team, the Tigresses, which in 1921 became City Champs, Tri-State Champs, Mississippi Valley Conference Champs, and World Free-Throw Champs. j a. n± A.. ' ■ ■■ 1 ■3 - .-■ aw L s v Al •v bs: ' sttABfc X: V :

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Q TT XA V 1912 196 Collegians and the rest of the world were shaken into reality hv the invasion of Pearl Harbor and World War II. Memphis State College shared with her country the wounds, the desperation, and the toil of the war years. Young men exchanged textbooks for rifles and left MSC for Bataan and Corregidor. while many of their former classmates worked on con- struction jobs as members of the National Youth Administration. Students built an industrial arts building on campus: combined Social activities with USO work and volunteer work at Kennedy Hospital: studied special courses that were designed to further the war effort. In 1943, Dr. Jennings B. Sanders became presi- dent of the college. Dr. Sanders was the youngest man to hold that position, (he was forty-three at the time of his appointment ) and the first man to occupy the President ' s chair holding a Ph.D. degree. Prior to his assuming the position, Memphis State had lost its academic standing with the South- ern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and Dr. Sanders explained that he came to Mem- Ol3 phis State with two purposes: (1) to get the college reinstated as a member of the Southern Associa- tion of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and (2) to try to get the college designated as a training school for officers and men in the armed forces. Dr. Sanders succeeded in having the college re- instated in just three months. Also, Memphis State College was used as a pilot training center. The pilots were housed on the third floor of Mvnders East, now a girls 1 dormitory. In 1944, of seventeen seniors only two were males, with less than twenty male students attending in all levels. Happily, however, this situation soon changed, the war was over, and the boys came home. The 1945 DeSoto, dedicated to those veterans, had the appropriate theme. Scenes of Home. Two pages of this annual gave it a sad distinction, a page filled with lists of those missing in action and prisoners-of-war: an adjoining black bordered page whose list of names carried the heading In Memoriam. Thus the war ended for MSC. II