作者：汤姆·卢卡斯
This is the second in a series of articles anticipating 皇冠博彩’s 75th anniversary. There is a full slate of special events and activities beginning on September 16, 2021 with the 斗牛犬联合典礼 and culminating with The 75th Anniversary Gala on May 21, 2022. 今年的庆祝活动的口号是“回顾过去，向前迈进”。
Looking at life today and realizing how much planning, discussion and review go into the development of a business, the construction of a building or, for that matter, a vacation trip, it is amazing that from the day Navarro County electorate voted the Navarro Junior College District (July 16, 1946) into existence and the first day of classes (September 16, 1946) was sixty-three days!
The 校董会, comprised of Curtis Patterson, Bruce McCormick, Lloyd Carraway, O.L. Albritton, L.B. Bonner, Ralph Brown and J.W. Richards met for the first time on July 22, 1946. Their first order of business was to name Ray Waller as the first president of the school. At the time, Mr. Waller was the Superintendent of Schools in Dawson located in the western part of Navarro County. President Waller’s first task was to create a budget for the newly created school. The budget for the first year was $52,500 and was based upon a forecasted 200 students.
新上任的校长的下一个任务是雇用教员。 The first two instructors hired for NJC were M.S. Cook in English and James Edgar in Science. As the faculty members were hired and they took their places at NJC, many well-known universities were represented, including SMU, TCU, Baylor, Columbia, The University of Texas at Austin, Northwestern and Texas A & M.
The school’s location, about six miles from downtown Corsicana, was seen as a potential problem for commuter students. Peggy Herod, who is a member of the 回家coming Committee, remembered riding a school bus from Mildred to the airfield along with the “grownups” who were going to NJC. The college students would be dropped off first at the old airfield and then the elementary children, like Peggy, would go on to the community of Navarro to school. Of course, this was before the Navarro buses came into existence and pointed out the need for some type of mass transit. For this reason, the Board of Trustees authorized the purchase of four buses which would have specific routes and would be used to bring students to the college from out-lying areas. There were college-owned buses bringing students from Navarro’s far-reaching service areas until the late 1960’s.(Peggy’s late husband, Liston J. Herod, Jr., was a member of the Board of Trustees at 皇冠博彩 until his death in 2008).
第一年的课程招收了238名学生。 Approximately 80 percent of the students were former WWII veterans who were resuming their education or starting it. 在238名学生中，只有44名女性入学。 Remember that the college had once been a military installation and it was constructed as a very basic, utilitarian facility for training pilots. Margaret Berry, a former instructor and administrator, recalled that she and some of the other women tried to brighten the campus by planting flowers around the buildings.
The first year of Navarro’s existence reflected the potential growth of the college, not only with the graduation of thirteen students who had completed enough credit hours from other schools and NJC to receive diplomas, but also with the creation of athletics, a girls’ dance and drill team called 的戏水的场面, The Block “N” club for athletic lettermen and one of the most prestigious organizations on campus, Phi Theta Kappa national academic honor society. One club that came into existence as a product of the college is “兵营群”。 This group was made up of the people who lived in the old Army-Air Corps barracks during the first years of the college’s existence. There were many married couples who lived there while one or both attended classes at Navarro. This elite group of men and women, most of whom are no longer with us, are well-known locally and have been honored on campus by the construction of a bell tower dedicated to these who were a part of the 最伟大的一代人.
Acknowledgement and special thanks is given to Dr. Tommy Stringer whose book, 我们是皇冠博彩！ 皇冠博彩的历史 was used in the preparation of this article.
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