Ron Randleman Strength and Fitness Center

Big news over the weekend (October 28) was that the recently completed strength and fitness center was named in honor of former SHSU Head Football coach Ron Randleman. Located between Bowers Stadium and the Baseball Complex, the 11,000 square foot facility will be utilized by student-athletes from all sixteen varsity sports programs. Randleman was head coach from 1982 to 2004, totaling 132 victories and leading the Bearkats to five conference championships and four national playoff appearances.

In Memoriam: Arleigh Templeton

Arleigh Templeton, the eighth president of Sam Houston State University, died Saturday in San Antonio at the age of 90. Templeton was a 1936 graduate of Sam Houston State Teachers College and later earned masters and doctorate degrees from the University of Houston.

During Templeton's presidency, Sam Houston State Teachers College became, in 1965, Sam Houston State College and was renamed again, in 1969, as Sam Houston State University.

MIA: Charles Gidley

Once upon a time there was a residence on the Sam Houston State University campus that was named for a man named Charles Gidley.

Time passed.

That's about all there is to it, aside from the fact the structure was torn down a few years ago. Of all the people who have had buildings named in their honor, Gidley stands out like a sore thumb. Our research a decade ago turned up nothing of any merit and now SHSU archivist Barbara Kievit-Mason is putting forth an effort to finally identify this mysterious individual.

"I can find no record of him here in the archives and all the folks I have talked to know nothing of him. I have listened to various theories that he was a librarian, music professor, etc., but none of these have panned out," she says in Today@Sam. Mason tells us she has exhausted all the usual sources - cemetery listings and census records – and interviewed numerous people and surfed the Internet, all to discover who Gidley was and his association with the university.

Anyone with information may contact Kievit-Mason at 936-294-3699, or by e-mail at lib_bak@shsu.edu.

Students Eliminate Sludge and Slop

Rachael Gleason reports about the clean up at Lake Oolooteka, better known as the duck pond on the Sam Houston Museum Grounds, in today's Houstonian (see previous story):

Pluto isn't a planet but it has a plaque

There was a rather semi-comical story about the future of the campus plaque noting Pluto as the solar system's ninth planet in the recent edition of the Houstonian.

Rachael Gleason notes in her article that since the Pluto's status was revoked by the International Astronomical Union that there may be a change of the quadrangle's model solar system: "I actually had a few ideas about the Pluto plaque," said Associate Professor of Physics, C. Renee James, who teaches an astronomy course at Sam Houston State University. "I thought we could have a funeral and dig it up. Everyone could wear black, just sort of a half-joke with a few lab instructors. It would be fun though, to have a community event for astronomy awareness."

Item: SHSU hosts town hall meeting

Extending hours of operation for local bars and transportation in and around the city took center stage during Tuesday evening’s forum in the Lowman Student Center theater on the university campus.

The discussion was part of the sixth and final forum dedicated to gathering community input regarding the proposed Huntsville Comprehensive Plan. This forum was specifically aimed at university students, staff and faculty.

City Planner Stan Hamrick said all the data collected at these six forums will be taken into consideration and discussed by consultants who will then present the information to the Comprehensive Plan Advancement Committee. The CPAC will then make initial drafts of a comprehensive plan to present to the city council for consideration.

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Stewart Smith
Staff Reporter

Item: Gaertner pitches SHSU at forum

Thursday night’s Economic Development Forum was remarkably similar in tone and content to the previous four Ward Congresses, though the evening’s discussion veered more toward the city’s economic future.

SHSU President James Gaertner urged Huntsville to use to the fullest one of, what he believes to be, its largest existing assets.

“We don’t need to create new assets in Huntsville to have successful economic development,” Gaertner said. “There are places all over the United States that are trying to get a university in their city ... and we have one that is thriving. Corporations and businesses pick up and leave, but I’ve never seen a university pick up and leave.”

Chronicle: College's name is near, dear to many

The statue of Sam Houston on the southern edge of Huntsville is about 10 times life-size, and still might not be big enough.

This is where the leader of the Texas revolutionary army and the republic's first president retired and later died in 1863. The town celebrates his birthday and hosts an annual folk festival in his name. The Sam Houston Memorial Museum is along Sam Houston Avenue, one of the busiest streets.

So anyone wanting a heated conversation need only suggest changing the name of Sam Houston State University, founded here in 1879, to something like Texas State University at Huntsville.

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By Matthew Tresaugue
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle