22.02.2013 Views

March 2005 Inside Schreiner.indd - Schreiner University

March 2005 Inside Schreiner.indd - Schreiner University

March 2005 Inside Schreiner.indd - Schreiner University

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

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.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!