Memphis State University - DeSoto Yearbook (Memphis, TN)

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TV, which was a part of the Public Broadcast Network and was completely owned and operated by MSU. Then President Cecil C. Humphreys called it our baby. That broadcast also showed the first black to graduate from MSU, Luther C. McClellan. The next year the law school was approved. From then on there seemed to be no stopping Memphis State University. The Tigers charged on, obtaining coup after coup. When Thomas G. Carpenter became the 10th university president in 1980, he inherited an institution that had seen Barbara Jo Walker crowned the 1948 Miss America, Chucalissa Village preserve much of the native American heritage in the Memphis area beginning in 1961, The Tiger Rag change to The Daily Helmsman in 1972 and Claire Ford crowned Miss Black America in 1977, the Center for Egyptology became known worldwide under his media-hip guidance and the men ' s basketball team became a household word. Not bad for a school situated on Joseph H. Creath ' s old cotton field. Rod S. Hagwood Baring his teeth, Tiger mascot captures fan Beverly Jones in a tight hold. Appearances at a variety of activites such as this one in August, 1976, demands a lot of the person whose job is to capture and pass on the spirit of MSU. (Photo from the Press Scimitar archives, courtesy of MVC) A Passing Parade

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' ' S V. m Out of Cottonfields On Nov. 23, 1931, the journalism club premiered The Tiger Rag, the school ' s first newspaper. In 1941, West Tennessee State Normal School became Memphis State College due to increasing accreditation and becoming a four year institution. In 1957, the course was continued with a change to Memphis State University after the first graduate level course was offered in 1950. In 1962, doctoral programs were first offered. That was also the year the ent ire May 26 graduation ceremony was broadcast on WKNO- MSU History

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Capsule History of Memphis State 1910 1920 1930 1940 1911 — Seymour A. Mynders elected first president 1912— West Tennessee State Normal School opened. John Willard Brister named second president 1913 — First class to begin and end their post secondary education at WTSNS, graduate 1918 — Andrew A. Kincannon named third president 1919— WTSNS became a three year college 1924 — J.W. Brister reappointed to become the fourth president 1925— WTSN College became a four year institution 1927 — First student loan offered 1931— The Tiger Rag published 1933 — The Observer, first campus literary magazine, published 1939 — Richard C. Jones appointed fifth president. Brister Library dedicated 1941 — Name changed to Memphis State College 1943 — Jennings B. Sanders named sixth president 1946— J. Millard Smith named seventh president. 1947— Memphis State College student Barbara Jo Walker crowned 1948 Miss America A ticket-tape parade greets Barbara Jo Walker after capturing the title of Miss America in 1947. On campus, she received the DeSoto ' s Key to Our Hearts Award for two consecutive years. (Photo from the Missippi Valley Collection) Hard core campaigning took place in Homecoming of the fall of 1968. Mary Cocks of Phi Mu Fraternity won the Homecoming battle and presided at the game against Florida State University. (Photo from the Mississippi Valley Collection) MSU History