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TCU Treasures

Readers share their favorite Horned Frog mementos.

Jacque Petersell's ticket from a 1941 TCU-SMU football game is among readers' most treasured TCU keepsakes.

TCU Treasures

Readers share their favorite Horned Frog mementos.

My 60-year-old TCU diploma prominently hangs in my home office, accompanied by a 50-year reunion disc. The items evoke memories of long-ago 5-cent Coke machines and 5-cent dial tones on pay phones scattered around the campus, memorizing a few Bible verses in Paul Wassenich’s Survey of the Old Testament and Life and Teachings of Jesus courses, and manually registering in the science building hallways in the fall of ’58 and paying (in cash) at the rate of $13 per semester hour.

— Don Buckman ’62

 

Our most treasured TCU memento? It has to be each other! We met at TCU in 1967, were married in 1968, graduated in 1970 and just celebrated 54 wonderful years together. We rekindle many memories every time we visit our beautiful campus.

Mynette and Gene Taylor

Courtesy of Mynette and Gene Taylor


My diploma.

— John R. Cole ’71

 

TCU Frogs piggy bank.

— Chris Curtin ’86

 

My most treasured memento is my freshman beanie. Many of us folded it in half and used bobby pins to hold it in place to keep from messing up our hair.

— Patricia Mueller Iverson ’64

Courtesy of Patricia Mueller Iverson


It is this beautiful TCU 75th anniversary plate. I won it at a white elephant exchange with members of the Dallas TCU Women’s Club.

— Carol Duff ’68

 

I have a carved wooden university seal, with the Horned Frog and motto, that once hung on the side of the stage in the ballroom of the old Brown-Lupton Student Center.

— Joe Jordan ’87

 

My awesome roommate and friend Marquita Kerley.

— Andrea Hovey ’00

 

I kept the ticket stub to my very first TCU game — 1967 vs A&M. I was 8 years old.

— Keith Robinson ’82

Courtesy of Keith Robinson


My class ring — I worked so hard to earn it and I’ll never forget my ring ceremony. What’s even more exciting is I’m graduating with my TCU doctorate this coming May.

— Anne Holder ’14

 

Football signed by Coach P that I won in a live auction and my dad’s class ring.

— Sandy Dickerson McAllister ’89

 

I have a brick from Pete Wright Hall as well as one from the Brown-Lupton Student Center.

— Craig Taylor ’87

 

My favorite TCU memento is my student ID, complete with embossed Social Security number for all the world to see. It is still displayed in my study. My ID has the centennial font that was temporarily used by the university. I remember standing behind Brite professor Glenn Routt at the library desk one day when he was asked to show his ID. He retrieved from somewhere in his wallet a yellow, creased faculty ID dated 1948. I don’t think the librarian knew what to do with it.

— Gregory Nichols ’76 (MDiv ’80, DM ’92)

Courtesy of Gregory Nichols


My nursing cap (old and stained but never worn after graduation) and my TCU nursing pin.

— Pansy Phillips King ’79

Courtesy of Pansy Phillips King


I have a TCU centennial coin. Now that we’re at the 150th, it’s even more special.

— Matt Madderra ’07

 

A baseball from the baseball game in Waco after the fire destroyed the original campus in 1910. It is dated and signed with the score; my husband’s great-uncle played on the TCU team.

— Mellie Joiner ’90

 

My TCU pajamas that my roommate’s mother made for us — and yes, I still wear them over 30 years later.

— Ann Brewer Riza ’89

Courtesy of Ann Brewer Riza


When Luci Tapahonso, Navajo Nation poet laureate, professor and author of the book Blue Horses Rush In, came to TCU to celebrate with Crow hip-hop artist Supaman at the ballroom. We danced and chanted, all holding hands in one circle as a sign of unity, to worship the earth and air.

— Hortencia Crosby ’16 (MLA ’20)

Courtesy of Hortencia Crosby


This 1941 ticket to a TCU vs. SMU game — a gift from a friend.

— Jacque Petersell ’03

Courtesy of Jacque Petersell


When I got a photo with the heads of both of my alma maters, TCU and Tarleton.

— Brooke Atkinson ’21

Courtesy of Brooke Atkinson


This silver platter, now hanging above my desk, was my father’s TCU graduation gift in 1951. That fierce Horned Frog has overseen the making of every TCU Magazine issue for the last nine years.

— Caroline Collier ’98 (MLA ’17)

Courtesy of Caroline Collier


A 2011 Rose Bowl Champions poster — one of my favorite pictures in our home!

— Kerry Jernigan Jacobs ’91

Courtesy of Kerry Jernigan Jacobs


Signed football from 1998 Sun Bowl Champs that put TCU on the national map. I won the football at a Frog Club fish fry. The funny thing is I won a basketball signed by Billy Tubbs and the 1996-97 team at the next Frog Club luncheon.

— Robb Theisen

Courtesy of Robb Theisen


I’ve got a few: a shadow box framed picture of the old Amon G. Carter stadium, with an actual piece of the rubble after it was knocked down; an honorary TCU degree my dad received for years of dedication and support of the university, I received it after he passed away; and a football helmet signed by Coach P.

— David Paul Crouch ’11

 

Cap I bought at the Rose Bowl that Coach P autographed at the LA Marriott after the game. I have attended five Bowl games since 2010 and numerous other games since 2007, one of my favorites being the game at Boise State in 2011.

— William Billy Mac Groeneveld

 

A football program that Coach Patterson signed. I had won it in a contest, and they sent it to me by Fed Ex in December. That was the best Christmas present ever.

— Lisa Carnes Mason

 

Editor’s Note: Answers have been edited for clarity and length.

 

NEXT QUESTION: WHICH ORGANIZATION OR CLUB WAS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU AS A TCU STUDENT?

Email us your response: tcumagazine@tcu.edu