Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | winter 2006

WINTER 2006
Home

Cover Story:
Be our guest

Feature Story:
Good food, great service

Feature Story:
A shattered past

Departments:
Getting Started
>>Letters
Around Campus
College CloseUp
Association News
Giving
Sports

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The All American
It was a joy to read about Gary Thompson (“Gary Thompson: The All American,” summer 2005) and his successful, satisfying life. I first saw Gary play in a JV game for Roland when he was a freshman in high school. At the time, I felt that he was extremely skilled, but far too short (about 5’1”) to ever be a successful basketball player. How wrong I was! I followed his great career while I was a student at ISU and later from afar when I had moved away from Story County. I look forward to reading his biography.

Robert D. Boyce, DVM*
’53 veterinary medicine
Shoreline, Washington

New kid on campus
I enjoyed Carole Gieseke’s editorial in the current issue of VISIONS (“There’s a New Kid on Campus: Mine,” fall 2005). We took our sons as freshmen to ISU in 1971, 1973, and 1981. My real reason for writing is to say how nice it was to see that she had gone to Northwest Missouri State in Maryville. I am a 1945 alum, and my NWMSU background helped me get a job at Iowa State in 1947. Best wishes!

Martha Polsley Gamble**
Gladbrook, Iowa

Trevillyan joins staff
Congratulations to Emily Trevillyan on becoming a full-time program and design assistant (Association News, fall 2005). I taught Emily composition when she was a freshman. I have moved on since then and am currently working on my Ph.D. in rhetoric at the University of Arizona. I believe it was my first year as a teacher when I had Emily and was just learning the ropes. Students like Emily made it easy and a joy to teach.

Bobby J. Vasquez*
’01 MA English
Tucson, Arizona

The best fans in the Big 12
I’ve been a Cyclone fan my entire life and was raised going to every Cyclone home game. I am proud of our fans and the way we conduct ourselves. But this past weekend, I met the best fans in the Big 12... Texas A&M Aggies.

I recently moved to Lafayette, La., and A&M was as close as the Cyclones would be to me this year, so we made the trip to College Station to see the game. Before, during, and after the game, the A&M fans could not have been more hospitable. We never heard one bad word out of anyone. The fans we tailgated near were all friendly. When walking into the game, we had people stopping us to welcome us to College Station and wish us luck in the game. Once we were in the game, no one ever booed us or objected to our cheers. After the game is what really struck me. ISU had just beat A&M 42-14, but we probably had 15-20 people stop us to shake our hands and tell us what a great game we played. They wished us well in the rest of the season and told us to have a good trip home. It was amazing.

I’d like to think that ISU’s fans are that friendly, but I now know that there is a higher standard to live up to. These fans in College Station took the word “class” to another level. If there are any Aggies reading this, you should be so proud of your fans and your school. Even in defeat they are the best fans in this conference – hands down. I hope that by reading this, some ISU fans will try to extend the same open arms
to fans visiting our school.

Ryan Burchett**
’97 journalism and
mass communication
Lafayette, Louisiana