When Edwin “Ed” Felczak Jr. ’79 (MBA) ran across these TCU matryoshka dolls, also called nesting dolls, during a recent trip to Russia, he bought the only set they had — then promptly gave them to his longtime friends Mark and Alice Carter ’88, who is the director of advancement research at TCU.

(Felczak, a University of Michigan undergrad, kept a set of Michigan Wolverine dolls for himself.)

“I think it’s a good sign for TCU football that we’re prestigious enough to have nesting dolls made in Russia!” said Alice when she loaned them to the magazine so we could share them.