By George P. Edmonston Jr.

Photo from the Orange & Black.

135 years ago: Corvallis College gets its “land grant” … On Oct. 28, 1868, Corvallis College (now Oregon State University) was reincorporated as Oregon’s land-grant institution, based on legislation passed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 known as the Morrill Act. The small pioneer academy owned by the Southern Methodist Church thus became Oregon’s first state-supported institution of higher education and was authorized by the state to grant the degrees of bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and master of arts. With receipt of the grant, the official name of the school changed to Corvallis College and Agricultural College of Oregon.

President Arnold, photo from the Orange & Black.

130 years ago: Founding of the Alumni Association … The OSU Alumni Association was founded in 1873. On Monday, Feb. 3 of that year, a meeting was held in President B.L. Arnold’s office in the old Corvallis College building located on 5th Street in downtown Corvallis to discuss the founding of an association of former students for Oregon’s young agricultural college. An informal election of officers was held by those present, and Arnold himself was appointed pro-tem chairman of the new association, while recent graduate W.R. Privett was appointed pro-tem secretary. This was little more than an organizational meeting, out of which came an agreement to meet the following Saturday, Feb. 8, to begin the work of electing a more permanent set of leaders. By June 18, the following officers were in place: Hugh McNary Finley, president; G.F. Burkhart, vice president; W.F. Herrin, secretary; and Oscar L. Ison, treasurer. The four held these same offices again in 1874.

OAC survivors of the S.S. Tuscania's sinking, original photo contains no additional information..

85 years ago: Sinking of the S.S. Tuscania … It is unclear who the first Oregon Staters were to experience the horrors of combat during World War I. But among the early ones were a group of nine former students who found themselves headed for Europe on a troop ship destined to make history. S.S. Tuscania had been launched in 1914 with a gross tonnage of 14,343 tons and a length of 549 feet. She could carry over 2,000 when at full capacity and first began transporting servicemen and women to the front in September 1916. The Tuscania left Hoboken, N.J., on her final voyage on Jan. 24, 1918, carrying 2,013 American troops and a crew of 384. Among the military passengers were Companies D, E and F of the 20th U.S. Engineering Regiment. Because this was a special "forestry unit" for the regiment, it is presumed this is where OAC was represented among the military personnel making the trip. The group included: "Dug" Pine, C.E. Johnson, C.L. Johnson, G.T. Beven, Harry J. Cole, James Clarke and Walter Lankenau. Bound for Le Harve, the ship proceeded across the Atlantic as a member of convoy HX-20. Near the Rathilin Island Lighthouse on the afternoon of Feb. 5, 1918, she was spotted by German U-boat U-77 under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Wilhelm Meyer. Two torpedoes were fired at Tuscania, the first one missing but the second scoring a direct hit. The time was 5:40 p.m. Five hours later Tuscania was gone. Thus she became the first ship carrying American troops to be sunk during World War I. For several hours it was touch-and-go for the survivors. All the lifeboats were filled and quickly lowered, but over 1,300 still remained aboard. Three friendly boats rushed to the rescue, saving many. Still, over 230 men were lost, many of them American soldiers and members of the ship's crew. According to a letter by Oregon Stater Walter Lankenau sent to the OAC Alumnus a few weeks later, all of the OAC men managed to find space in one of the early lifeboats with no loss of life. Lankenau had just finished eating dinner and was taking a stroll topside when the torpedo hit with a huge explosion. The photo that accompanied his letter showing the OAC survivors has been included with this feature. The May 9, 1918, story in the Saturday Evening Post by Irvin S. Cobb, who eyewitnessed the sinking while traveling on a nearby ship, had Post readers at the time both riveted to their seats and outraged.

Ed Allworth, photo from the 1916 Orange.

85 years ago: Allworth awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor … The most decorated OAC graduate for World War I was Edward C. Allworth of the class of 1916. Allworth would return from the war to serve his alma mater for over three decades as manager of the Memorial Union. Actually, his role in the life of the MU went far beyond just supervising the place. He both helped raise the private funding for the giant building and supervised its construction. Allworth's heroics took place on Nov. 5, 1918, near Clery-le-Petit in France. At the time, he was a captain with the U.S. Army’s 60th Infantry, 5th Division. Only 3,427 Medals of Honor have been issued since the Civil War. Only 11 Oregonians have been so honored, including John Nobel Holcomb, '67, an OSU agricultural student who died in 1968 in Vietnam.

Ulysses Grant McAlexander, photo from the 1910 Orange.

85 years ago: “Rock of the Marne” … Allworth was a student of the OAC faculty member who would proceed to the war and achieve the most fame of anyone who served from the school. His name was Ulysses Grant McAlexander. (The McAlexander Field House, built in 1911, is named in his honor and remains today as "ground zero" for all ROTC activities on campus as well as serving as headquarters for both Army and Air Force ROTC. And yes, U.G.M. was named after that other famous Ulysses Grant of Civil War and presidential fame.)
McAlexander was on his second stint as commanding officer of military science instruction at OAC when World War I began to affect America and he was soon on his way, away from Corvallis and Oregon State, to play his part in John Pershing's job of getting things organized. Promoted to full colonel in 1917, by 1918 U.G. was in command of the 38th Infantry Regiment. By July 15 of that year, he found himself and his command right in the thick of what was to become known as the Second Battle of the Marne. It would be here, on the banks of the Marne River, that he would earn his most lasting fame. In an article in the magazine Military History in February 2001, military writer C. Brian Kelly gives this excellent description of just what McAlexander did to earn the respect of military historians and the Distinguished Service Cross (among many other combat awards). The 38th was a part of the U. S. Army's 3rd Division.

"A three-hour artillery pounding of the 3rd Division's position announced the beginning of the offensive. In the dark of night, boats ferried the first waves of troops from the German Seventh Army. In short order, French and American defenses closest to the southern flanks of the river crumbled and were overrun. The swarming enemy was so well established on the Division's right flank that its position should have been ‘untenable.’ And exactly here stood McAlexander's 38th, beset from both sides. Apparently, McAlexander had expected just these developments." At this point in his story, writer Kelly quotes the historian S.L.A. Marshall from Marshall’s book World War I. Said Marshall: "Without yielding his hold on the Marne embankment, McAlexander refused both flanks so that his regimental front stood like a horseshoe, one battalion forward, one on either side." Here, Kelly picks up the story again: "Try as they would, the Germans could not move this rock in their midst. His (McAlexander’s) 38th held out...and held out.” Robert McHenry in Webster's American Military Biographies reports it this way: "German forces crossed the river early on July 15; all along the 50-mile front they advanced up to four miles beyond the Marne except at the Moulins, where the 38th, bearing the brunt of the initial attack and subsequently coming under fire from both flanks as other regiments fell back, held a wooded rise for 21 hours. That brilliant and courageous action blunted the offensive, which bogged down on the 16th and ended entirely on the 18th." Kelly concludes: "Because of their steadfastness, McAlexander and his 38th Infantry Regiment became known from then on as the ‘Rock of the Marne.’"

Retiring as a major general in 1924, U.G. McAlexander died in Portland, Ore., 12 years later and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

Margaret Snell, 1908 photo at retirement from Adventures of a Home Economist, 1969.

80 years ago: The Death of Margaret Snell … On Aug. 24, 1923, legendary OAC faculty member Margaret Comstock Snell passed away from heart failure in the living room of her home on Monroe Street. Her body was sent immediately to Portland for cremation. Her ashes were returned to Corvallis later for her memorial service at the city’s Episcopal Church. OAC Professor Frederick Berchtold, a long-time personal friend, delivered the address, after which her remains were ceremoniously spread beneath her favorite rose bush on the front grounds of the church. The location today is that of the Corvallis Gazette-Times, a newspaper she despised. In 1889, Snell established at OAC the first Department of Domestic Science and Hygiene in the Western U.S., later to be named the School of Home Economics. Born in 1844 to Quaker parents, Snell, often referred to affectionately by her friends as the “Apostle of Fresh Air” because of her penchant for keeping windows wide open regardless of weather, became a medical doctor before moving to Corvallis. Early in her career she decided that the higher and nobler function of medical lore was to teach people how to keep well rather than to cure disease.

75 years ago: Birth of the Memorial Union … Since the construction of Benton Hall in 1889, no building erected on the OSU campus has had so profound an effect on the life of the OSU community as the Memorial Union, which celebrates its 75th birthday this year.

Memorial Union, photo from the Orange & Black.

When it was first opened to the public in October 1928, it was intended to be a memorial to the soldier and sailor dead of the alumni family who had lost their lives in Spanish American War and World War I. The building was also designed to be a true campus union, the center of campus unity, housing offices and work spaces for various activity groups, including student government, the alumni association, student publications, the student loan office and others. It was to function as a place for social and recreational activities for students, alumni and faculty, complete with facilities for serving meals, light snacks and refreshments. In short, it was to serve as a center for campus life.

It remains a testament to good planning and a good idea that OSU’s Memorial Union still does all these things … and much more! Financing the giant structure was made possible through contributions by students, alumni, faculty and friends of what was then known as Oregon Agricultural College. The building was formally dedicated on “Alumni Day,” June 1, 1929, at 2 p.m., immediately following the OSU Alumni Association’s annual “Alumni Luncheon.” As originally constructed, the MU was without the east/west wings we know today (added in 1960) and consisted of three stories and a mezzanine floor mounted above the ground, with dimensions measuring 102 by 286 feet. The massive front entrance is “hammered finished Nelson Granite,” surmounted by an ornamental terra cotta dome. The frame is of reinforced concrete and steel, with outside walls of Oregon-made, red tapestry brick, trimmed with cast stone. The roof, where exposed to the elements, was copper, as were all the flashings, gutters, downspouts and Kalamein doors. The building was constructed to be entirely fireproof and was in its early years illuminated for night viewing by powerful flood lights set up all along the front terrace.

The MU was planned, designed and funded during the presidency of William Jasper Kerr. For a chief administrator who constructed over 23 buildings during his tenure (1907-1932), the MU and the Women’s Building across the street were Kerr’s two crowning achievements, the MU being the last building constructed by this amazing president.

But the idea for the MU did not come from the OAC’s top brass, or from John Bennes. Bennes was a prolific Portland architect who designed more than 30 buildings on campus from 1907 to 1940, including Weatherford Hall, Langton Hall, Gilkey Hall, Strand Ag Hall and many others. The idea actually came from two student members of an honorary society founded after World War I known as the “Gauntlet and Visor,” organized about 1920 to help vets returning from the war adjust to campus life. The two were Tony Schille and Warren Daigh.

Coach Schissler, photo from the 1928 Beaver.

70 years ago: The Murder of “Hippo” Dickerson … At six-foot-seven, Dickerson was, during his time, the tallest lineman to ever play football for the Beavers. After graduation, he had stayed on at OAC to serve on Head Coach Paul Schissler’s staff as an assistant and had accompanied the team back east to Yankee Stadium for a Thanksgiving day upset of highly touted Columbia University. On the night of Dec. 16-17, 1928, while escorting Miss Mae Troxel to her apartment, he was stabbed in the chest by Lanza Bryant of Corvallis, Troxel’s ex-boyfriend. Dickerson clung to life in a local hospital for several weeks before succumbing to his injury on Jan. 9. In the murder trial that followed, the motive was discovered to be “jealousy of a jilted lover.” Attorneys for the defense included Oregon State alumni Mark V. Weatherford, ’07, and George W. Denman, ’93. The district attorney in the case was OAC alumnus Fred M. McHenry, ’09.

70 years ago: “The Pyramid Play” … What many still consider the most famous photo ever taken of a sporting event in the state of Oregon, the “Pyramid Play” was captured on film Nov. 10, 1933, by Oregon Journal staff photographer Ralph Vincent (see inset), who died at age 92 in a care center near his Lake Oswego home, March 11, 1988. Vincent’s photo, shot at old Multnomah Stadium (now PGE Park) in Portland, shows six-foot-six Clyde Devine of Oregon State climbing the backs of two teammates in an attempt to block a punt by the University of Oregon in the 1933 Civil War game.

The 'Pyramid Play', photo courtesy OSU Archives.

Almost immediately, the photo went national, appearing in the Saturday Evening Post and other eastern newspapers. Sportswriters argued the pros and cons of the controversial play for days, many labeling it a “sports trick.” It didn’t take long for the NCAA to declare the play illegal, a ruling that still stands. During World War II, the Nazis distributed thousands of copies of the image around Europe as an example of the “brutality of American sports.” The more than 32,000 fans who saw the play unfold raved about it for months, and Vincent said many times during his life that he wasn’t aware he had photographed something special until he returned to the darkroom and processed the film. At the time he snapped the shutter on his Graflex camera, he thought he was taking a picture of a routine point-after-touchdown kick. By the way, Devine blocked the kick.

The 'Ironmen', photo from the Orange & Black.

70 years ago: The “Ironmen” make NCAA history … The “Pyramid Play” was devised during fall practice by members of the now fabled 1933 Ironman football team, who, on Oct. 21, 1933, also at Multnomah Stadium, tied the No. 1-ranked and defending national champion USC Trojans using but 11 players. It remains the only game in NCAA history in which a team has toppled a top-ranked national champion using no substitutes.

60 years ago: No football team … With World War II under way and thousands of Oregon Staters serving in the military, OSU did not play football in 1943 or ’44. The program returned in the fall of ’45 to record a 4-4-1 finish. Head coach Lon Stiner, who had started his tenure as Beaver boss in 1933, stayed with the position during this two-year down period, eventually losing his job in 1949 to Kip Taylor.

OSU entrance gates, photo from the March 1953 Oregon Stater.

50 years ago: A banner year for OSC and its alumni … 2003 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of Reser Stadium, known then as Parker Stadium. The first game in the new facility was played on Nov. 14 against Washington State. OSU won 7-0. Earlier that year, down in Los Angeles, Beaver Norris Poulson was elected major of the City of Angels by a whopping 35,000 votes over his 15-year incumbent opponent. On campus, lower campus to be exact, the large iron gates that now mark the entrance to OSU on 11th Street were moved to that location from the corner of 9th and Madison, the historic eastern edge of “The Pathway.” The year 1953 also marked Head Basketball Coach Slats Gill’s 25th year at Oregon State, where he enjoyed the play of sophomore Wade “Swede” Halbrook at center. At seven-foot-three, the talented giant was the tallest basketball player in the country and the tallest to ever play college basketball. January 1953 also signaled the end of Oregon Gov. Douglas McKay’s rule in Salem. McKay graduated from Oregon Agricultural College in 1917. Finally, although Oregon State referred to itself by name as Oregon State College starting in 1937, the Oregon legislature didn’t officially recognize or approve the name until April 15, 1953.

Will Unsoeld, photo from the June 1996 Oregon Stater.

40 Years ago: Unsoeld conquers Everest and other athletic achievements … The date was May 22, 1963, as Oregon Stater Will Unsoeld, ’47, joined six others to become the first Americans to successfully make it to the top of the world’s highest mountain. It was also 40 years ago that the Beavers capped one of the finest all-around athletic seasons the school has ever enjoyed. In those nine months spanning from the fall of 1962 and ending in the spring of 1963, Oregon State (1) had a 9-2 football season, culminating in a bowl game victory back in a time when there were just eight postseason games; (2) had football’s Heisman Trophy winner — Terry Baker — who was also Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsman of the Year; (3) had a basketball season that wound up with a trip to the Final Four; (4) had a track and field season that ended with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA meet and two national champions, coming on the heels of an eighth-place national finish in cross country and (5) enjoyed a baseball season that included a league championship and No. 10 ranking in the final national poll, taking the eventual national champion to the limit in a playoff series before being eliminated. It was the high point of an era spanning the late 1940s to the late 1960s in which Oregon State was consistently among the nation’s athletic elite.

35 years ago: Celebrating a centennial … In 1968, OSU celebrated its 100th birthday by announcing it had just been named one of three “Sea Grant” universities in the nation.

Centenial Parade, photo from the 1969 Beaver.

30 years ago: New milestones for OSU‘s 110th year and a bit of deja vu … In 1978, OSU announced plans to construct a new building for veterinary medicine and chemistry. Enrollment went over 16,500, highest in the history of the university up to that time. The Pac-8 Conference became the Pac-10, as Arizona and Arizona State joined the group, and prior to kick-off of the first football game with BYU on Sept. 9, the singing group Fifth Dimension performed for the Parker Stadium crowd. This Sunday, July 13, some 30 years later, the Fifth Dimension will once again entertain local music lovers, this time at the Oregon Gardens near Silverton, where numerous Oregon State alumni will be in the audience after having attended an alumni gathering sponsored by the OSU Alumni Association.