By Greg Russell - University of Memphis

1917. The athletic department
cannot participate in games in the
spring because almost all players
joined the military.
4 NEWSBITS
1918. Andrew A. Kincannon,
former chancellor of the University
of Mississippi, is named the third
president.
Stan still “the Man”
When it comes to images of the University of Memphis,
there is Tom the Tiger, the old Brister Library and the imposing
Administration Building. And then there is Stan “the Man” Bronson
Jr. For 53 years, his ubiquitous figure has been inextricably entwined
with students’ campus memories.
“Hi yew!” is Bronson’s familiar greeting to all who pass him by.
He can be found in the University’s library, in the cafeteria, near the
Student Plaza fountain or on the baseball diamond during spring.
Bronson, 82, came to the U of M in 1958 to work as an
equipment manager for football coach Billy “Spook” Murphy. He
soon became the baseball team’s batboy, a position he has served
in since the 1959 season. He was included in the 2006 Guinness
Book of World Records for being the “Most Durable Batboy” ever.
He takes a bow during the middle of the eighth inning of each
home game.
Bronson still attends football practices and makes cameo
appearances at Lady Tiger basketball and volleyball games.
A Mynders mystery
If you are lucky enough to live in Mynders Hall — one of the three
original buildings on campus — you may receive a “scare” if late
nights are cutting into your study schedule.
For the past 100 years, the ghost of Elizabeth Mynders has been
seen numerous times in the women’s dormitory named after her
by her father, Seymour Allen Mynders, the school’s first president.
Elizabeth died in early 1912; President Mynders had the new
women’s dorm built in the shape of an “E” to honor her. She has
been “haunting” students ever since, but in a friendly way.
As the school newspaper, The Helmsman, reported: “Elizabeth
has a preference for the third floor and will occasionally be seen
sitting on a chair in someone’s room or standing at the end of
a hallway. She is friendly and insistent on educational priorities.
Students report returning to their rooms to find their textbooks
opened to the chapters they should be studying; this apparently
happens most to students who stay out late at night. Students are
advised to stop by her portrait in the lobby and greet her with a
friendly ‘hello’ each day.”
Danny Armitage, associate dean of students, tells a story in which
students came into the hall around 4 a.m.
1919. West Tennessee State Normal
School becomes a three-year
college.
Stan Bronson
1920. Women are granted the right
to vote with the passing of
the 19th Amendment.
1921. The first full-time athletic
director is hired.
If you are on campus in July, you might just get an invitation from
Bronson to his birthday party, which is thrown by the campus’ cafeteria.
Trauma at birth left Bronson with a speech impediment and mild palsy.
But he has overcome this to become a true “institution” at the U of M.
As former President V. Lane Rawlins once said, “Stan, as all of
your many friends at the University will agree, you are ‘the Man!’”
Visitors to Mynders Hall are encouraged to greet the portrait of
Elizabeth Mynders to maintain a friendly relationship with the ghost.
“They were trying to be quiet,” he said, “and they saw Elizabeth at
the end of the hall. Upon seeing her, pipes started banging. It was
almost like they were caught.”
Former Mynders’ resident Joy Coop “could have sworn” she saw
her. “But when I looked back, she was gone.”
THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS