Top 5 biggest changes since you were on campus

THEYESOFTXS

THEYESOFTXS

100+ Posts
The new stadium addition, when compared with old pics of DKRTMS makes me think about how much has changed since I was on campus.

Below will be my top five changes since I was on campus. I am really interested in what some older posters have to contribute on this topic as I imagine a lot has changed. I took a good friend's dad to the Rice - UT game at Rice several years back. He ran track at Rice in the late 1930's. He called Rice's football stadium "the new building..." hilarious...

That said, feel free to include your comments since you started attending games - in the event you did not matriculate at UT.

I started attending games in 1994 and started at school in 1995, and here are my top 5:

5. The price of tickets, holy crap. I recall buying $5 tickets in the Randal's stampede zone!

4. People wearing Orange. When I started at school you would have thought that blue and khaki were the school colors. Wow, has that changed...

3. Party in the stands... I recall, and this is through a pretty good haze of light beer and bong resin, that kids in the stands use used to drink and smoke in the stands a lot, and no one seemed to care.

2. The stadium. Okay this one is obvious, but in 1995 the place was pretty run-down. We just called it Memorial... Smelled like bat poop. Nothing orange in the place. I recall I could just go out on the field and toss the ball around or run on the track whenever I felt like it... Now the place is on par with any NFL stadium I have ever been to. It is nicer than any college facility I have ever been to. IT is comfy and shiny and nice.... Maybe not a testament to college football in and of itself as much as it is a testament to luxury and wads of donor cash... In any event, the place has changed a lot.

1. Winning. I recall from 1994 to 1998, we won plenty of games, and we lost some too... But now we win, we win a lot... and we dominate about half the games we play. I know 1994, 1995, 1996... we didn't dominate anybody. we won some, but we always struggled with even mediocre teams (UH, Pitt, Louisville, etc...). I like things better now, may they never change.
 
My first thoughts weren't even football related:

1) Speedway and Inner Campus Drive closed to Vehicular Traffice

2) Prather Dorm being AirConditioned. Yes, I am in my 30's and i dormed there when they did not have AC.
 
Oh, and one more:

1.a. Aggies. In 1995, we hated, hated, hated, the Aggies... The Sooners weren't very good, and beating the Aggies was the ultimate goal. Their fans were the most pompous braggarts... and rightly so at that time. When we knocked them off in 1995... that was a real big deal.
 
From when I was in school- beginning 1963

5. Attire is so much more casual...thank goodness!
4. Price of tickets...so much cheaper but then, facilities were so much less.
3. Tailgaitng...no one even thought of it back then. Today, it is half the reason for going to games.
2. Attendance...no one ever had to think about getting a ticket to any game. They were available. Today, without spending a fortune on gameday, you better have a ticket in hand.
1. Dominance...Texas didn't just win games, we dominated games. Every game. Every week. With few exceptions there weren't even close games. Today, not so much. Certainly this can't be blamed on lack of effort or desire on our part but the fact that other teams have brought up their own quality of play. Going into this coming year there are four games that I can easily see us losing. When I was in school the very thought that we could lose wouldn't have even come into our heads. Yeah, those were good times.
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1. Stadium
2. Disch Falk improvements
3. 26th street buildings - there is a building now across from Chem/Petr Engineering where I used to park.
4. Anna Hiss Gym is gone...
5. a personal one - improvements in the Mechanical Engineering building - a redesign. Very nice.
 
1) Upper decks added to Memorial Stadium, track removed, grass added.
2) Baseball no longer played at Clark Field.
3) Basketball no longer played in Gregory Gym.
4) No protest demonstrations to attend.
5) My hair turned grey.
 
West Campus turning from a residential zone into a full-time construction zone/luxury apartment magnet. I work in the area and every single street has some kind of major construction project going on. I graduated in 2003.
 
One thing that hasn't changed

In the 60s I remember it said that there were 20,000 students, 10,000 cars and 3 parking spaces......

The lack of available parking has not changed....
 
Bill Cunningham as presidentRegistering at Gregory Gym
Later, TEX telling me "good bye and good luck"
Texas basketball with BMW and Elite Eight appearance
Texas football with Eric Metcalf
Shooting shotgun blanks on South Mall to scare the grackles away
Hazing
Partying with the Scandinavian students at the Showdown (RIP)
Watching the Holy Grail so much at UT Theaters that the celluloid broke
Dean What-the? Street?... 26th Street!
Ray Ban Aviators
Abel's, not Cain & Abel's
Villa Capri -- birthplace of the wishbone
The Anti-Apartheid Shanty
Gregory Gym was a decrepit shack
No Rec Center
Outdoor racquetball at Clark Field
Liquor delivery to the dorm
CONAN'S PIZZA!
 
The Anti-Apartheid Shanty

Damn right. I remember showing up at UT as a 18 y.o. pimply faced Freshman.. The West Mall was an eyeopener! Kind of like that opening scene in PCU.

And although the new construction in West Campus has a certain soulless quality to it, increasing density in that area is a good thing.
 
I went to UT in the time of Earl.

Les Amis is missed.

The Union used to have a little more personalty before it became a fast food mall. (A note: In 1974 the Union was closed for renovations. In typical University of Money fashion, the administration charged us both a Union fee and a Special Union fee even though there was no Union available)

The Texas Tavern used to be be in a small building between the ROTC building and Moore-Hill Dorm. You could only get to it on foot. It was pretty cool.

The ability to go into Memorial Stadium anytime to run around the track or just sit in the stands. Some late nights I'd go and listen to the chains bang the flagpoles and ponder how big and promiminent the entrances to the stands looked. Anything to avoid studying.

The irreverence of the times. The Arts and Sausages political campaign where Jay Adkins and Skip Slyfield were elected to head student government based on promises to disband student government and have "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" sandblasted off the Main Building and replaced with "Money Talks."
 
I first stepped foot on the 40 Acres in fall 1980, when people shot the finger at my car because of its Reagan bumper sticker. Some of the things that have really changed since the 80s:

--The West Mall
Used to be a hotbed of political and religious debates, with table upon table of mainstream and oddball groups. The anti-apartheid shanties and "U.S. out of El Salvador" chants were commonplace.

-- "You're going to hell" street preacher

--GM Steakhouse on the Drag.

--Wallace's Bookstore next to the Co-op.

-- The Erwin Center was called the Super Drum, and we had to go there to add and drop classes.

-- A urine-pungent homeless woman roamed the Drag.

--Tuition was between $300 and $400 for 15 hours and cost less than books!
 
5. Dean Wormer… I mean 26th.

4. Whatever that new building is that sits in between Jester East and the Stadium- when I went to school that was a recreation running track/ Frisbee field.

3. Student Health Center/ New Gregory Gym/ MLK statue. I put all three together because I helped pay for them, but have never seen the inside of them (except MLK- which I haven’t even seen)

2. East Side Upper Deck/ track gone/ grass field. That entire East Side has changed mightily. I remember walking across the Astroturf field after the games, and the players were still on the field mulling around and then walk down to the creekside, and across the creek, and field (which is now another building) to get back to my Jester West Dorm Fr. & Soph years.

1. Jester Garage. I remember driving around that damn lot over and over again hoping to catch one of the 50 “C” parking spots… trying my best to avoid going out to the stadium parking
 
I would wager to say that kujotx and I were there at the same time. I also miss the GM Steakhouse.
 
More:
The Blanket Tax was less than $20, I think it was $18, and it got us into all sports AND cultural events.
Tuition was $50 for 15 hours. There were other fees that put it over $200 I think.
Lived in a 2 bedroom/2bath furnished apartment on Lakeshore, Estrada, my senior year and my part of the rent was $57.50.

Good times.
 
Herr,

What about Bevo's bookstore, along with Wallace's?

My spring semester tuition and all extra fees for 15 hours in '94 was $865 total. It was over $1300 my last semester in '97
 
The Ark
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My apartment that I was evicted from my last year so that a faculty garage could be built off guadalupe
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.

Is MD and Beans still there?
 
GM Steakhouse.
Going to the stadium at 10:30 at night to kick field goals or run on the track.
Drinking age being 18
Getting decent seats as a student
 
Good grief people, the Lone Star Beer sign is gone. Also, Raul's, the GM Steakhouse and the Orange Bull. Is Le Fun gone too? Uncle Stanley's? Magic Mushroom? Sound Gallery? Shakespeare's? Manske Rolls at Chamber's? The frigging' Holiday House is gone from the entire town! Same thing for the Night Hawk! Mooreburger. Hamburgers by Gourmet. Alvin Ord's. The Rag.

I certainly don't mind the stinky drag woman being gone. She came into Taco Bell one night while I was placing my order and the stench immediately permeated the place. They kicked her out post-haste. I do miss Bicycle Annie and Helen Mayfield.
 
Full stadiums week to week come to mind.

Is Einstein's arcade still on the drag?

Texadelphia used to have one of the best burger in town before Joel decided to franchise.
 
Sadly, Mad Dogs and Beans bit the dust 10+ years ago. Now we have a different Mad Dog.

Also:

1. The Posse West = Gone
2. Egg Roll carts (i.e. - Saigan Egg Rolls) = Gone
3. Mexican dresses on fat sorority girls = Gone
4. Texas Wranglers at basketball games = Gone
5. Freshman Field = Gone
6. Myriad shades of orange found in Texas clothing = Gone (I wish I had saved some of my old, tacky Texas shirts)
7. GM Steakhouse/Night Hawk = Gone
8. Dane Cone (girlfriend/wife's favorite) = Gone
9. Father Time (what other nick names did he have?) = Gone
10. Lazy Daisy = Gone
11. Eat a Fajita = Gone
12. The Red Tomato & Abe Lemons = Gone
13. Dr. Robert Witt, my favorite professor who later died playing basketball at Gregory = Gone

Is Conan's really gone? Crap, I always went to the original campus area location when I came to games back in high school.

Things that haven't changed:

1. Jester still smells the same. That's the first thing that struck me when I took my kids there a couple of years ago.
2. Parking is still a *****.
3. Jester is still an eye sore.
4. Football in still king.
5. Hotties, the next generation.
 
Yes, Hank the Hallucination won the election for student body president, but we were robbed of his representation when they invalidated his election... something about him not really existing.
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Guess who ended up winning?
 
Paul Begala is correct.

There was general opposition to student body elections at that time. It seemed to many on campus that the people pushing for it were the ones who wanted to run for office. It smelled of resume' jock on the 40 acres. The nomination and subsequent election of Hank the Hallucination (Daily Texan's Eyebeam comic strip character), was the closest thing to a protest we had at UT back in the Reagan years.

My Dem/OU grad cousin was invited to the White House by Clinton when Begala was Chief of Staff (?). I told him about that election and asked him to tell Paul that Hank was robbed. He didn't, of course, but he said it was tempting.
 
Very very good athletic facilities overall.

A UT golf course

Nau's drug and soda fountain are gone from West Campus

Suites at the stadium other than the 200 room

SAE house burned down and we paid for a new hill country retreat for the new members...shame they'll never know a true rally in the basement or the great room!


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Great memories! Besides the stadium changes...
1. Clark Field long gone. I swear John Langerhans could clear right field and hit Memorial Stadium!
2. Mooreburger!
3. Alfie's Fish & Chips--Drag & 21st.
4. Loss of Rooster Andrew's Sporting Goods--old style sporting goods store.
5. Demise of Mother Earth, New Orlean's Club, etc...

Others:
Destruction of garage apartment I lived in for one semester which was located in what is now the parking lot for the Bob Bullock Museum. At least they left the tree!

Registration in Gregory--you haad to work & SWEAT to get your classes!

Loss of grassy areas and the open feel of the campus--too many examples to mention.

So much more Longhorn gear.

Riverside & South Lakeshore-area apartments were new and the place to live.

It was a big deal to call the Hofbrau and reserve your meat! Not your table, just your meat. Otherwise they ran out!

6th street was not anywhere you wanted to go!
 
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