Sul Ross State University - Brand Yearbook (Alpine, TX)

Page 25 text:

r ;

Page 24 text:

THE BURNING BRAND SYMBOL OF THE SUL ROSS SPIRIT THE BIRTH OF THE BAR-SR-BAR IN 1920 Miss Linda Lancaster’s physical education clas planned a picnic -- and it must have been a fancy affair - for a mon¬ ogram was sought for place-cards! The aid of V. J. Smith, one of the original faculty members, was enlisted; and finally the Bar-SR-Bar was suggested and selected. At the time it was noted that the selection resembled a cattle brand. Shortly thereafter, when the Ex-Students Loan Fund was established, contributions included several head of livestock; so it was deemed necessary that a brand be adopted by the school. The place-card monogram, being appropriate, was chosen and properly recorded at the Brewster County Court House. In I 925 the existence ol the stone monument on what is now Bar-SR-Bar Hill became fact. From these obscure and unpretentious beginnings have come the mark and the mon¬ ument that have since united each successive student body with those who have gone before and those who will follow in the future. WAS UNATTENDED BY EITHER POMP OR CEREMONY. Annually whitewashed by a regiment of freshmen and majestically lighted in solemn ceremonies on state occasions, the Sul Ross Brand is a unique and proud emblem of a u- nique and justly proud insitution. It is more than a symbol. Its true significance lies not within the symbol itself but rather in those intangibles of ideal and spirit that are the minds and hearts of those who honor that emblem. The Bar-SR-Bar is not just an apt mark, or an eye-catching device, or an item of only local interest-but the very focal point of that pioneering fervor that has marked generations of Sul Ross students who have called the world their home. It is the common denominator of those illustrious ex-stu¬ dents with their high marks in all fields, the latest class of en¬ tering freshmen and all the ranks between. Old memories and recent ones, yesterday’s aspirations and today’s newborn hopes, enduring bonds of a decade and this year’s brief acquaintances are all marshalled in the minds of Sul Ross men and women of all times by that blazing badge, the Bar-SR-Bar. 20

Page 26 text:

V V. i ! ' - If the Brand is permanent, ageless, and immobile on the brow of a hill, that which it represents surely is not static, but vital, dynamic and expanding, with each registering freshman, every departing graduate and all the strivings of students and former students. As the noble tradition of the Brand has been sustained by those who have passed before, so should this mark be sought, recognized and respected in the graduates of these next four years and in Sul Ross of these following decades. Surely the challenge here is such that only occasionally stirs men’s souls and therefore deserves steadfast resolves and Herculean effort. If this noble challenge be more squarely met than ever before - and high are the hopes that it shall be that precious trust, the Spirit of Sul Ross, which in a much broader sense is Man in his quest for Truth, shall rise again and again renewed, more vigorous and ever higher, before the Eyes of Texas, and the Great West, a mighty phoenix from the Burning Brand.