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Dr. Keith McFarland President, Texas A&M University-Commerce

It’s an especially good time to come home
As an American, I find special meaning in this Homecoming issue of The Pride.
With the passing of September, our thoughts as a nation inevitably returned to those unforgettable images of a year ago. Regrettably, the events of 9/11 have forever altered our worldview and caused us to question our sense of national security as well as many other aspects of American life that we once took for granted.

President Keith McFarland and A&M-Commerce football player Jonathan Bradley help students move into Berry Hall as the fall semester begins.

Yet upon reflection one year later, the terrorist acts that sought to disrupt our way of life served instead to reawaken our patriotism and strengthen our resolve as a nation. We mourned our losses, mobilized our human and material resources, and we drew closer to our families, friends and communities.
We found unexpected courage and inspiration to look to the future in the final recorded words of the passengers aboard the ill-fated United Flight 93: “Let’s roll!” It is altogether fitting and proper that during this time of solemn commemoration we continue in the spirit of reunion begun a year ago with our own Homecoming and gathering of the pride.
Like the rest of America, we too are marching ahead with new resolve to build upon the old. But in building anew, we choose never to forget where we came from.
Rest assured that, whatever our plans for the future, they will always include you, our A&M-Commerce Alumni. Although the house may look somewhat different when you visit, it’s still home – your home. The place where you are always welcomed and recognized as family.
The important lessons learned a year ago about the preciousness of time, the value of relationships and the infinite power and possibilities of mutual support need not be stored away until another time of crisis; they can be respected and cherished in all of our activities.
More than a single event or another jot in the win column, Homecoming is truly an exercise in community, a bridging of the past and present, and an opportunity for the new freshman and the seasoned alum to share in the common bond of a shared identity.
Now, perhaps more than ever, your Alma Mater requires your presence and your support. Welcome home.

Look! One-hour photos!
Library and its archives offer new look at Homecoming
By special arrangement for the convenience of Alumni, Univesity Archives will be open 10:30 (following the Mayo memorial service) until 11:30 a.m. during Homecoming Oct. 26.
You may want your first stop at the James Gee Library to be the large display case on the second floor, where you’ll find a special Homecoming exhibit. Also,near the display case, another marker for the Army Specialized Training Program (The Pride, spring 2002) honors that unique band of brothers.
But don’t dawdle overlong on that floor because two stories higher is where you’ll really strike gold and blue in University Archives.
Archivist James Conrad says the University has some fascinating new additions to the photo collection, including some campus panoramas from the 1910s and ‘20s that will interest any blue-and-gold-blooded Alumni. And Dr. Conrad will have a number of other special pieces out for Homecoming visitors, he says.
Saturday, Oct. 26 ... library ... fourth floor ... archives ... 10:30-11:30. Enjoy!

Mom of five probably has plenty of experience in boo-boos
When you get to this year’s Homecoming football game, be on the lookout for one sidelined winner, Alumna Tammy Carrell.
Tammy won’t be dressed out, but the graduate student and mother of five will be an important part of the team. She’ll be assisting as an athletic trainer helping care for players’ injuries.
In recognition of her exceptional work as an A&M-Commerce graduate assistant and athletic training student assigned to the Lions’ football program, Tammy recently earned a $2,000 Katie Burke Memorial Scholarship Award sponsored by Tinactin and the National Athletic Training Association.
Tammy, who is from Sulphur Springs, Texas, and is majoring in health, kinesiology and sports studies, wants to be a high school athletic trainer. She earned her bachelor’s degree from A&M-Commerce and will graduate with her master’s in December.
This fall her son, Stacy, enrolled at A&M-Commerce. He too plans to become an athletic trainer.

Alumnus named to University human resources post
Working here is ”like coming home,” says Ken Crutchfield (BS ‘77), the new Equal Employment Opportunity coordinator at A&M-Commerce.
Ken’s wife, Zola, and son, Brandon, are both students at A&M-Commerce, and Ken himself has done graduate studies here. Zola is a sophomorekinesiology major, and Brandon is a junior majoring in sociology.
An heroic moment for Alumnus Thomas
It was a big day — a 15-foot-tall day, as a matter of fact — for Alumnus Gordon Thomas (BS ’59, MS ’73) when his larger-than-life bronze rendition of larger-than-life hero Audie Murphy was unveiled.
The sculpture is located on the grounds of the Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum along Interstate 30 on the eastern edge of Greenville, Texas.
Hundreds of people came out for the ceremony, which featured county and state dignitaries as well as Gordon and members of Murphy’s family. One man came all the way from Malmo, Sweden to attend the unveiling, citing Murphy as a hero of his.
Murphy was the most decorated soldier of World War II and was awarded the Medal of Honor for saving the troops in his company by breaking up a German attack in France in 1944. He went on to become a movie star in the ‘50s and ‘60s. He died in 1971 in a plane crash and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
At the statue’s unveiling, Gordon told the large crowd: “This is truly a highlight in my career as an artist.”
Using 700 pounds of clay, he sculpted the likeness of the World War II hero in a pose from Murphy’s biographical film, “To Hell and Back.”

Gordon says his statue is the first phase in a memorial that will honor all Hunt County veterans who died in war.

Gordon is the former director of creative services at the University and also sculpted the statue of University founder William L. Mayo, which sits in front of the Heritage House on campus