March 2005 Inside Schreiner.indd - Schreiner University
March 2005 Inside Schreiner.indd - Schreiner University
March 2005 Inside Schreiner.indd - Schreiner University
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Hall of Honor/Distinguished Alumnus<br />
Continued from Page 1<br />
Pruettʼs group now conducts two clinics a year in Juarez<br />
with a team consisting of optometrists, ophthalmologists,<br />
dentists, plastic surgeons, opticians, anesthesiologists,<br />
chiropractors, nurses, technicians, cooks, carpenters,<br />
plumbers and electricians. They have completed a<br />
modern 7,000 square foot clinic in Juarez, and have been<br />
instrumental in starting a similar program in Guerrero,<br />
Chihuahua, where, in 2001, the first eye surgery ever<br />
available to the poor was performed. That was the start<br />
of a program that now rivals the Juarez project in scope.<br />
The Mexican Minister of Health recently told Tom that<br />
their clinic provides 60 percent of the indigent health care<br />
available in the entire state of Chihuahua.<br />
Typical of those whose true vocation is service to others,<br />
Pruett insists that he had little to do with the miracles that<br />
he has wrought. “We went on one trip to attend to the needs<br />
of 65 preschool children, but God obviously had a different<br />
agenda. It is the most gratifying work that I think I can do.<br />
We spend billions of dollars on enjoyment in this country,<br />
but I have never done anything I enjoyed more than going<br />
down there and doing those clinics. It is pure joy.”<br />
Claude R. “Chena” Gilstrap<br />
Claude R. Gilstrap<br />
in 1951 as head<br />
football coach at<br />
<strong>Schreiner</strong> Institute<br />
His <strong>Schreiner</strong> Institute classmates<br />
knew him as “Chena” in the 1930s.<br />
<strong>Schreiner</strong> students and athletes in<br />
the 1950s knew him simply and<br />
affectionately as “Coach.” Claude R.<br />
Gilstrap played many roles during his<br />
long and distinguished life—mentor,<br />
friend, athlete, visionary, humorist,<br />
inspirational leader, colleague, role<br />
model, and outstanding citizen.<br />
He was born in 1914 in Granger, Texas, and by the time<br />
he got to <strong>Schreiner</strong> he was already a physical and moral<br />
force to be reckoned with. Gilstrapʼs older brother, H.C.<br />
“Bully” Gilstrap, had preceded him to the Institute in 1925<br />
and became famous as the coach who built <strong>Schreiner</strong> into a<br />
football powerhouse. Chena arrived in 1933 as a student and<br />
is remembered as one of <strong>Schreiner</strong>ʼs outstanding athletes.<br />
In 1950, after coaching high school and junior college<br />
teams across Texas, the younger Gilstrap took over the<br />
reins of <strong>Schreiner</strong>ʼs football program from Leo Daniels<br />
and promptly led the Mountaineers to their most successful<br />
season in a decade. He left <strong>Schreiner</strong> in 1953 to become<br />
head football coach and athletic director at Arlington State<br />
<strong>Inside</strong> <strong>Schreiner</strong>, Page 2<br />
CAMPUS NEWS<br />
College—now <strong>University</strong> of Texas at Arlington—where<br />
he spent 22 years and coached more winning teams than<br />
anyone else in that schoolʼs history.<br />
During Coach Gilstrapʼs tenure at <strong>Schreiner</strong> and again<br />
while he was at Arlington State, he was honored as Coach<br />
of the Year by regional and national sports organizations,<br />
and was inducted into both the Texas Sports Hall of Fame<br />
and the National Football Hall of Fame. Many of Coachʼs<br />
players went on to distinguished careers in sports, public<br />
service and business. At his memorial service in 2002,<br />
these protégés returned with heartfelt words of praise not<br />
only for his leadership and inspiration, but also for his<br />
integrity, dignity, patience, compassion, self-discipline,<br />
respect for others, high ideals and ethical standards, and<br />
for his sense of humor.<br />
One of these protégés, Bobby Lane, who had been an<br />
assistant coach under Chena at Arlington and went on to<br />
become a National Football Hall of Famer himself, said<br />
“He was probably the greatest motivator of kids I have<br />
ever known. If anyone should have a lasting legacy, itʼs<br />
him, for the number of lives he touched and the young men<br />
he meant so much to over the years.”<br />
Choir Performs in NYC<br />
Choir Members: Back Row (left to right) Choir Director Michael<br />
Kahl, Jason Van Slycke, Emily Darnell, Travis Arreaga and<br />
Andrew Trevino. Middle row (left to right) Catherine Force, Dorothy<br />
Borrayo, Charmelyn Fortune, and Melissa Vela. Front row (left<br />
to right) Liz Butts, Valerie Stratmann and Dolores Perkins. The<br />
choir had the opportunity to sing at Carnegie Hall with Jonathon<br />
Willcocks directing - a life experience never to be forgotten.