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• Read Annual "Letter from the President"
• Harvard Club of Dallas Schools Committe Acheives New Record!
• Phil Migicovsky shares how Being a Member of the Two Local Harvard Clubs has Affected My Life
• Harvard Club of Dallas Joins HAA Global Pass Program

VERITAS ET TEJAS - FOUNDED IN 1913

A BRIEF HISTORY OF
THE HARVARD CLUB OF DALLAS

February 1965 Memories Provided By
Dilworth S. Hager

According to W.L. (Bill) Hickey, who got his A.B. from Harvard in 1917 and moved to Dallas in 1919, the membership of the Harvard Club was then about 35. He told me that the Club was started about 1909 or 1910. One of the main ramrods was an engineer, Pete Carlton, who came down here with Stone & Weber of Boston. Two others were Will and Harold Fisher.

Bill Hickey stated that during the 20s and 30s they had annual meetings with the Yale Club on the day of the Harvard-Yale football game on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. They would meet in one of the hotels -- the Oriental (where the Baker now is), the Adolphus, or the University Club, which was up over the Santa Fe Building. They arranged with Western Union to install a Morse instrument and furnish an operator. The operator would type out the bulletins as they came in and one of the members would take the microphone and announce them. Also, the President would draw a gridiron and make progress drawings on the blackboard. The losing Club in those days would pay for the dinner. However, this was eventually discontinued as the membership of the Harvard Club outnumbered that of the Yale Club.

In those Prohibition Days, they drank "bathtub" gin. There was no fixed time for the Club luncheons. Bill Hickey said that during the 20s or 30s there was a period when they had monthly luncheon meetings, but this did not last long. In the "old" days every one of the membership served as President, but the Recording Secretary, E.N. Willis, was re-elected year after year. As he stated: "I am a man of rugged honesty, brilliant intellect -- also, I am the only member of the Club who owns a multigraphing machine, which fact permits the membership to get out the meeting notices for free."

Some of the active members in those days who kept the Harvard Club going were: Louis and Bill Hickey, Will and Harold Fisher, Bill Duls, Tex Cole, Howard Davenport, Richard Bullwinkle, Herbert Kahn, Richard Gozzaldi (who later moved to Fort Worth but continued to come back to Dallas to the Harvard Club meetings), and George Dahl.

President and Mrs. Lowell visited Dallas in 1022 and the Club had a luncheon for President Lowell and the ladies of the Harvard Club entertained Mrs. Lowell.

The Harvard Club was inactive in the early 40s, during the Second World War. They began to have meetings in 1946 or 1947. I remember that I went to a meeting in '46 or '47 and was accidentally elected President. Other Presidents in the late 40s and 50s were: Stewart Dyckman, George Ray, George Powell, Walter Bader, Oliver Hammonds, and Clinton Russell. Later Presidents were: Skip Garvey, Stewart Bennett, Bernard McGuire, Al Lurie, and Evan Nance. The Club has been fortunate in having active men in this office.

During the 40s and 50s, the Harvard-Yale Listening Party was usually held at the Melrose Hotel and at the Stoneleigh Hotel. The Club did not have regular meetings, but when some visiting dignitary, like President Conant, came to Dallas, they would get together. When President Conant visited Dallas, he was entertained at the Baker Hotel, and President Pusey was entertained in 1956 in the Crystal Ballroom of the Baker, during John Penson's administration. Occasionally, there were spring meetings at some member's house, where there would be a barbecue or just a general get-together.

During the 50s the Harvard Club had a Scholarship Committee and an Admissions Committee. The Admissions Committee would try to get good students to go to Harvard by visiting various high schools. These prospective students were very carefully screened before they were recommended. Then if the boy needed money, the Scholarship Committee would try to get a scholarship for the student from Harvard University, and they would sometimes supplement this scholarship with funds out of their own treasury, or they would try to get men in the Harvard Club to contribute toward such scholarship.

In 1965 there were 99 members and dues of $5.00. In 2002, regular dues are $45.00 and membership numbers over 400 . . . . . . . and the story continues.

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