Tech Topics - Summer 2008 - (Page 12) AlumniHouse ‘VAST BENEFITS’ By John Dunn A Century Ago the Association Acquired its Charter — Finally O ne hundred years ago, on June 20, 1908, the Alumni Association became the real deal. It received its charter, an event that had not come without its share of misadventures. The momentous founding of the alumni body followed a two-year effort by a small, determined, stubborn group of young graduates who had refused to let it die. In fact, the idea of creating an alumni association began being kicked around in 1894 when the school was just six years old, according to R.H. “Pud” Lowndes, ME 1903, who gave the earliest known account of the association and was the organization’s first secretary. The first graduate of Georgia Tech, H.L. Smith, ME 1890, would also become the first president of the school’s initial Alumni Association. A brief article appeared in the June 18, 1897, edition of The Atlanta Constitution announcing that at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 23, Georgia Tech alumni from all over the state would meet in their first reunion to form “the first alumni association of the school.” The article added, “There are over a hundred graduates of the school living in this city.” On June 24, 1897, the paper reported the success of the meeting: “Mr. H.L. Smith was elected president of the alumni association, M.W. McRae vice president and E.B. Merry secretary and treasurer.” Smith was a superintendent at Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills in Atlanta, where he worked for 10 years. McRae and Merry were 1893 classmates. CHRIS GADDIS Kenneth Matheson W.H. Glenn J.B. McCrary Murdock McRae played left end on the Georgia Tech football team that Leonard Wood coached and led to the school’s first victory over the University of Georgia 28-6 on Nov. 5, 1893. For whatever reasons, the ambitious organizational effort was not sustained. Smith moved to Dalton, Ga., to go into business with his brother. In 1903, alumni were gathering annually at the end of the academic year. In June, about 60 alumni met at the Piedmont Hotel in Atlanta, including Lowndes, who had just graduated. Alumni President A.R. Colcord unsuccessfully attempted to pass along the mantel of leadership. Lowndes observed that alumni held banquets in 1904 and 1905, but “the business end of the association had waned, for no other officers had been appointed.” In the fall of 1905, J.B. McCrary, ME 1891, president of an Atlanta engineering firm, recognized that if an alumni organization was to survive, it needed structure and leadership. He organized a smoker — dinner followed by cigars — at his own expense to salvage the alumni association. Lowndes reported, “Many vital matters were discussed and tentative officers were elected and several committees appointed.” The next year, the organizational efforts of the smoker paid dividends. On June 21, 1906, Lowndes said alumni assembled for the “first bona fide business meeting of which any record remains.” Probably to no one’s surprise, J.B. McCrary was elected president. H.H. Miles, ME 1893, was chosen vice president, and Lowndes was named secretary and treasurer. Committees were assigned to draft a constitution and a petition for a charter “believing that more may be accomplished by an incorporated body.” It took a week to prepare the petition, and on June 28, 1906, four alumni signed the charter application: McCrary; W.H. Glenn, who also graduated in 1891; J.W. Little, ME 1893; and W.P. Walthall, ME 1892. It would be two years before the petition was filed and a charter was finally granted. In the 1907 minutes, Hal Nowell, ME 1894, explained that the charter had been filed in the office of the clerk of Fulton County Superior Court, but “the committee, due probably to lack of funds, had failed to publish the matter as required by law, and therefore, the charter had not been obtained.” The charter was granted on June 20, 1908. The Georgia Tech Alumni Association finally found its footing. From the outset, Tech President Kenneth G. Matheson saw a strong Alumni Association as an invaluable ally to the school. And on its first anniversary, he told the graduates so. Speaking to about 70 alumni in the Empire Building, Matheson predicted that the combined efforts of the school and its alumni “would derive vast benefits that would otherwise be impossible.” Wreck Restoration The Georgia Tech Alumni Association’s 1931 Model A Ford convertible roadster has a sporty new look — it has new paint and a body restoration that gives it a showroom gleam. The Ramblin’ Wreck, which is used for weddings and campus and alumni events, is on the road extensively and Chris Gaddis, who manages the vehicle for the Alumni Association, said new paint and body restoration is necessary about every five years. The job takes about a month. Thomas Williams, at left, a longtime Yellow Jackets fan and collector of Tech memorabilia whose Dacula, Ga., shop did the restoration, said giving the Wreck a new car look had been a personal source of pride. 12 TECHTOPICS | SUMMER 2008
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