University of Houston - Houstonian Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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STAFF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Sorry we had to wait so long to say thanks. Getting the 1954 Houstonian ready for the printer would have been impossible without your help. In many ways this year was a tough one for the staff. The co-operation you and your organizations gave us made it possible for us to do our respective jobs. In the very first of the year, we sent out forms asking you how much space your organization would want in the 1954 book. Answers were very prompt, getting our year off to a good start. You were very prompt in identifying your organization ' s pictures. Your sugges- tions helped us make the book truly an All-American book, made up of what you wanted. The staff hopes that you enjoy the pictures of your activities during ' 54. But we ' re all students and without the old Pros we would have flunked out and the book would have been impossible. Martin Hamilton, Taylor Publishing ' s trouble shooter, and Tom Murray, Art Director, were ready and willing advisors. Behind the scenes, ready to take the blame, Jim F. Palmer, faculty advisor and general fall guy, was never at a loss for an encouraging word or a life saver idea. These are our pros. With YOU and THEM helping . . . you can turn the pages . . . of YOUR 1954 Houstonian. THE 1954 HOUSTONIAN STAFF

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Academic Activity 16 Competition 154 Features 246 Fellowship 354 Advertising 454

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IN MEMORIAM Most colleges remember their founders ' faces by old, old portraits hanging in some forgotten place. The founder ' s life is history in some book. Until June 18, 1954, University faculty members, alumni, and students could re- member their school ' s founder as a friend. For over a year, they had listened for the news of a rally from a long sickness. The nev s never came. On the 18th, at 74, Dr. Edison E. Oberholtzer, vi ho had helped found the University, later serving as its first president, was dead. The University mourned officially for its past president, a man of academic great- ness. Those who knew him better, mourned more deeply and out of more than respect. For if any man can be called the father of the University, he is Dr. Oberholtzer. In 1927, as superintendent of Houston ' s public schools, he had a problem. The answer to that problem, a petition by a group of local high school graduates, was Houston Junior College, forerunner to the University. In 1934, the depression made money a dictionary word, but rapid growth under Dr. Oberholtzer ' s sound guidance had given Houston Junior College the determina- tion to expand into the present University. When he left the Houston Public Schools in 1945 to become first full-time presi- dent of the University, 4,000 students heard the news and wondered at their school ' s quick progress. In 1950 Dr. Oberholtzer retired as University President, ending a teaching career he began at 17. To degrees from the University of Chicago and Columbia he added the honor the school gave him as President Emeritus. Several years of ill health followed, his strength gradually ebbing. When the end came, newspapers, as is their custom, hunted a proper obituary tribute. Eminent Educator, was the choice. Very fitting, it nevertheless seemed in some way lacking warmth. A Friend, was the University ' s final but unforgetting good- by.