Stories of Alec

I remember meeting with 1944 CE alumnus Banks McLaurin in 2002 at his home in Dallas. Banks was fairly ill, but was still quite sharp. He told me the story of how one summer, when he was UT student, he was up in the attic of his parents' home (longtime CE professor Banks McLaurin, Sr.) and stumbled upon the Alec statue hidden behind boxes and under blankets. Banks was so overwhelmed that he had found the missing Alec that he burst into tears in his attic. Even in the 1940's, Alec's reputation and his place in the college was so well known, that a student who had never seen Alec before, only heard stories, knew the significance of "running" into him in an attic... safely hidden from the law students!

- Kelsey Evans, Director of Development

When I joined the Dean's staff back in 2001, I was fascinated by the numerous UT Engineering traditions, especially the story of Alec and all of his adventures over so many years. To revive the spirit of Alec (and to make the Law School just a little bit mad), we began the Student Organization Alec Building Contest.  A new display case was built and the “new” Alec stood in the main hallway of ECJ.  And of course, keeping traditions alive, it was stolen just a few months later.  By law students?  We’ll never know for sure… happy birthday, Alec!!

- Lisa Schooley, former Alumni Relations Manager

In 2000, we celebrated 25 years of Friends of Alec, and on April 1st of that year we had an alumni event. During that event we gave Friends of Alec donors huge Hershey's kisses. We'd just gotten the outfit so that a live Alec could attend events, and the Alec that day really got in the kisses spirit and walked around kissing all the alumni. There is photo of Alec kissing Dean Gloyna that I think is just great!

- DJ Paine, Director, Friends of Alec

I escorted Alec around taking Polaroids of him at the Fall Friends of Alec Donor Brunch before the Tech game (2005 National Championship year). Kids and alums went crazy just to get a picture with him. Not only that, but they were stoked to have him autograph the picture with the Ramshorn. With all the excitement to see him, you would have thought he was Vince Young or something.

- Brent Kawakami, Student Manager, Friends of Alec

I recall all too vividly our first Explore UT. John Halton, the Director of Development for UT Engineering called me in on Monday before the event. He asked me to take a look at the Alec statues and put together a quick costume for Mark Edwards, a student manager, to wear at the event. Sandra Jacobson, then Director of Friends of Alec, and I rushed out to a fabric store and bought fabric, gold pipe cleaners, grapes and leaves, and gold braid. Somehow, with no pattern, an Alec costume emerged. Tights to fit Mark couldn’t be found, so our first brave Alec was  obligated to wear what he kindly called a "man’s dress," tunic, and cape with bare legs. Not bad for less than five days work!

After that seminal event, Sandra shuddered, contacted a professional costumer, and commissioned the present costume. Finding tights the precise color proved to be impossible, so she mixed the dye and dyed a pair at home. Not having dyed tights before, she did not realize one should approach such an undertaking with rubber gloves. I’m not sure which were more orange – her hands or the tights!

We’ve had quite a few people play Alec since then, even two women. Our Alec has kissed, been kissed, been slung over a student’s shoulder and kidnapped (luckily we got him back quickly), fed countless pieces of birthday cake, and posed for and autographed hundreds of photos. Small children see him at events and are drawn to him much like Santa Claus. No one, it seems, can resist having their picture taken with such a jolly fellow. All of our Alecs have been spunky, vivacious, and gotten into the spirit of Alec effortlessly. But then, what do you expect of a patron saint who has entered the lives of thousands over a century of UT Engineering?

- Robin Graham-Moore, Development Researcher

I know Alec was at my wedding, helped build my house, and was water skiing on Lake Travis. :)

- Tricia Berry, BS ChE 1993, Director, Women in Engineering Program

Alec has been housed continuously in the McKinney Engineering Library in ECJ since 1980. His first home was an enormous glass and aluminum display case which was over 10 feet tall with a 3 foot by 3 foot aluminum incased concrete base. Interestingly the case was made by an Aggie Engineer (more on how we know this later). Alec and his case stood in front of the case holding the torso and other memorabilia from the original Alec.

In 1984, Richard McKinney endowed a room in library to be called The Alec Center for Creativity. Once the room was created it seemed like a good idea to put Alec in his room. However, given the size and weight of the case this proposal was given a lot of study. After a number of consultations with Physical Plant it was decided that the best plan was to remove the base. The glass part of the case had its own base and could be used to display Alec in his room. In January 1988, six men from Physical Plant came to the library with dollies, hydraulic jacks, pry bars and a large concrete saw. As one of the said, “Ma’am you sure got one big, heavy case there.” It took over two hours to remove the base and another two hours to move him with the jacks to a dolly and then scoot him into his new room. Alec resides there today. Once the glass top was severed from the base we discovered to our amazement a small paper sticker that said, “This case was made by an Aggie Engineer.” We all got a good laugh. One of the workmen said, “Well it was overbuilt, that’s for sure!”  You can now see Alec fully ensconced in his room—The Alec Center for Creativity, ECJ 1.300.

From Time to time over the years, students and others would ask if they could take Alec from the case and parade him around or just use him as a backdrop. Given Alec's sealed case this is not possible. Several years ago I suggested that UT Engineering have a costume made so that someone could dress up as Alec. I even knew a very good costume designer. It was approved, and Victoria Beatty began work on the design. The costume is really gorgeous and lets us "animate Alec.” UT Engineering now has a patron saint who can go anywhere and can even talk!

- Susan Ardis, Librarian, McKinney Engineering Library

I was hired by Friends of Alec in the Spring of 2005. That semester was very competitive, but luckily some scheduling issues worked in my favor, and I had the privilege of being hired. I am currently a Student Manager with Friends of Alec. It is great that there is an organization on campus where there is so much room for advancement for students. After being here for two and half years, I have found many things I love about Friends of Alec. I have been able to meet some of my closest friends and colleagues here. At times I feel like Friends of Alec comes very close to feeling like a social organization with the togetherness and relationships that have developed, but we also know when it is time to get to work. We have been able to raise over $1 million each of the past four years directly through the work of the student callers and alumni support. The alumni are the greatest thing! I have been able to speak with World War II veterans, survivors of the Tower shooting, founders and CEOs of major corporations, and even celebrities' parents (like the father of "Dateline" anchor Stone Phillips). This job has been amazing and has helped to shape my college career and life. I will be connected to Friends of Alec for the rest of my life!

- Nathan Rosenberg, Student Manager, Friends of Alec

One year at Explore UT, Alec was out and about taking pictures with alumni and visitors when a little girl approached him. She pointed down at her legs and then at Alec's legs to indicate that she had tights on just like our patron saint!

- Sarah Williams, Development Associate, Friends of Alec

My favorite memory of Alec was his rescue from the Law School. Myself and one other convinced Alec's jailer, the librarian at the Law School, to allow Alec to be photographed outside for his 80th birthday. Unbeknownst to us (wink, wink) two masked assailants came and stole Alec while he was being photographed. This eventually led to a trial in a federal courtroom that made both local and national news. The judge (I can't remember his name, but he is the same person who invented the hook 'em horns hand symbol) ruled that since we did not break into the library and since the College of Engineering had ownership claims, that no crime had been committed. The remnants of Alec have remained in the College of Engineering ever since. One piece that may be of particular interest to you and something that has never been made public, was Dean Gloyna's involvement in the affair. Being upstanding students and leaders in the College, myself and Mark Lebovitz approached Dean Gloyna before launching the rescue. We were basically working a CYA move. However, Dean Gloyna was way too smart to actually sanction such action, but we took his comments to be tacit approval and went ahead with our plan.

- Chris Flynn, BS ChE 1988

I am so pleased to be able to share my career that started at the Great College of Engineering at The University of Texas. My life was really touched by our Patron Saint. Alec found me and took me to over 60 countries to spread the knowledge that originally was taught to me by our great professors at UT during the 50's. I traveled, worked and lived in the international setting learning other languages, studying other cultures, and benefiting from the most famous museums in the world...well known and not so well known... Traveling to places most people never heard of much less knowing where they are on the globe... A dream career that no human could have ever laid out and thought possible to accomplish without the guidance and protection from our Patron Saint Alec. I have worked consistently since 1960 with the greatest satisfaction since driving away from the beloved 40 acres in my 1957 Oldsmobile... never experienced a peak or valley...perhaps everything near peak... I have 7 passports with every page filled with many stamps from all the major capitals and countries. Our Patron Saint has guided and watched over me on 100's of trips abroad. I now enjoy a great hobby and receive tremendous satisfaction from the guidance of our beloved Patron Saint, Alec. Still spreading the word from UT Engineering. Hook Em Horns.

- Ron J. Clark, BS PGE 1960

When I was president of the The Student Engineering Council (SEC) we had started a rivalry week between the College of Engineering and the College of Business. Naturally, an informal game of pranks had been started between the colleges, leading up to the week long event. During that time the SEC received valuable intellegence that the Alec statue made by students, which was on display in ECJ, was going to be stolen by the Business Council. Being loyal and proactive engineering students, my successor and I decided to "take" the Alec statue from the display case in ECJ before the Business students could reach it. With the help of a janitor (we'll call him Bob), we walked into ECJ at 4 a.m., took Alec, and housed it in our home for safe guarding. The funniest part was leaving the note in its place which made it seem as though the Business council students were the culprits and it caused engineering students to pull more pranks on the College of Business as a result. Dean Streetman even met with the Dean of Business to explain that it had gone too far. He had no idea that his own students were the ones who took it. I hope he doesn't read this!

- Pete Cardenas, BS ME 2004

My favorite memory comes from my first semester EE lab. I had a circuit to build, so I checked out the equip and headed for the first semester lab room. There were no open stations so I went over to the second semester lab room and proceeded to build my circuit. When I fired it up, I had a resistor connected to the wrong place, and it burned up. I tried to keep quiet but soon I heard one of the second semester guys asked who was burning their circuit. I fessed up with embarrassment. I guess I had thought that second semester lab guys didn't burn resistors.

- Kenton Self, BS ECE 1987

When I was a student, what was left of Alec (his torso and left hand) were being kept under lock and key in the Law Library basement. A few friends and I managed to get it outside the law library for some bogus photo shoot, and swiped it. A legal battle ensued, with demands from the law school to produce Alec (who was at this time in “hiding”); Dr Nichols represented the Engineering College in court. The picture was taken at the celebration after we won full custody!

- Frank Guidone, BS ME 1988

The year was 1970. Ernest Gloyna was in his first year as the Dean of the College of Engineering. I was the Chairman of the Student Engineering Council. Ernest kept talking to the student leaders about “Esprit de Corps” so after one of our SEC meetings, we adjourned to try to acquire Peregrinus, the Law School mascot. Campus police caught us twice. The next day, I saw Ernest in the hallway outside his office and he said that he wanted to know what went on last night. I told him the long story about how we were trying to build “Esprit de Corps” by trying to appropriate Peregrinus and that we had been caught twice by the campus police and that I was really sorry. Ernest said, “I did not know anything about that. I was asking about someone trying to steal Alexander Frederick Claire." Open mouth; Insert foot; Close mouth hard.

- Thomas W. Rioux, BS CE 1970, MS CE 1973, PhD CE 1977

I remember traveling with Alec to Paris, France. In the summer of 2003, during a historic heat wave, Alec and I traveled across France following the Centenary Tour de France. Near the end of our travels Alec insisted we visit the Eiffel Tower. While we sat on a park bench near one of the supporting bases of the tower, Alec shared with me that the tallest structure in Paris, completed in 1889 was named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel. According to Alec, Gustave commonly invoked the name of Alexander Fredrick Claire as he worked to complete the design of the famed tower. True to the character of Alec, we ended our time at the tower with a quick photo declaring onlookers, French and tourists alike to Hook 'em!

- Ben "Thomas" Mohler, former Alumni Relations Manager