Alamo Aggie | Spring 2024

HOLE-IN-ONE EVENT

140 AGGIES GATHERED FOR THE 2024 AGGIE GOLF CLASSIC PAGES 5

COACH’S NIGHT

JOIN US ON JULY 22 AT PEDROTTI’S RANCH PAGES 10

HOWDY, AGS!

Welcome to the 2024 club year on behalf of the San Antonio A&M Club Foundation (SAAMCF) board of directors! It has been a busy first quarter for the club. Our first fundraiser of the year, the Aggie Golf Classic, took place on March 22 at Canyon Springs Golf Club, where a sold-out event of 144 golfers teed off to raise money for scholarships. Special thanks to our committee led by Robert Lozano ’90, the fantastic volunteers, and our event sponsors.

Your club actively participates in taking care of student groups who come to San Antonio. We went downtown to watch the Parsons Mounted Cavalry participate in the Heritage Parade in February, then fed them box lunches for their trip back to College Station. Thanks to Bob Sims ’79, Becki Holmes ’82, Paula Schnettler ’82, and Mandy Scott ’87. We took a group of Rudder’s Rangers and cadre to dinner while they were in town for an event on March 25. Thanks to Bill Hill ’84 and Jose Ventura ’74 for taking care of those cadets. This leads right up to Feed the Band, an event at Aggie Park with the participation of Ross Volunteers and Fish Drill Team, where a tasty lunch will be provided by the club with goodies from the Aggie Moms after they march in the Battle of Flowers Parade on April 26. Prior to the parade, we will feed the Parsons Mounted Cavalry breakfast tacos.

Our next fundraiser will be the Aggie Family BBQ on June 8 at Aggie Park. The spirit of Jim Uptmore ’53 lives on with his special chicken seasoning that his son Jack Uptmore ’81 now provides. This is the original club event that started on the site of Aggie Park over 100 years ago. Come out and join us in this longstanding SAAMCF tradition. Following this will be our biggest fundraiser of the year, Coach’s Night, on Monday, July 22. Our last fundraiser will be a dinner with Texas

A&M University President General

Mark A. Welsh on October 10. Details of all these events will soon be on our website.

Don’t forget to check out the articles on the Aggie Women’s fabulous Bingo for Bags & Bling event and Aggie Moms’ fantastic Boots & Bling event. Both groups of ladies know how to put on a party and raise money for scholarships.

Finally, we had a couple of issues that hit in January. First was the unauthorized use of club members’ information, which was handled and stopped. Then our Young Aggie coordinator and vice coordinator resigned their positions. This led the board of directors to pause the Young Aggie program while we reassess it and the events we put on for Young Aggies through surveys of the Young Aggie membership and past Young Aggie coordinators. We will restart the Young Aggies program later this year.

I am the 114th president in the 103-year history of this club and am looking forward to a great club year for all our 1,259 members and the 17,000 Aggies in Bexar County. See you at Aggie Park!

Thanks & Gig ’em,

Don Preecs ’83 President

Board of Directors 2024

PRESIDENT

Don Preecs ‘83 president@saamcf.org

VICE PRESIDENT

Lane Mitchell ‘79 vicepresident@saamcf.org

TREASURER

Paula Schnettler ‘82 treasurer@saamcf.org

SECRETARY

Robert Lozano ‘90 secretary@saamcf.org

DIRECTORS

Sandra Hoggard ‘87

Sybil Howell ‘82

Paige Petersen ‘15

Mitchell Byrum ‘17

Don Meyer ‘78

Austin Teske ‘18

Ty Chumbley ‘06

Clayton H Perry ‘78

AGGIES ON DECK FOR JULY FOURTH

July 4, 2024, 6 p.m. at Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium

Don’t miss your chance for a July Fourth Celebration to remember! Join your Aggie friends under the shade of the Fiesta Deck for all-you-can-eat hamburgers, hot dogs, fajitas, nachos, and cookies. Wash the food down with unlimited beer and sodas until the seventh inning as we cheer on the San Antonio Missions against their nemesis, the Corpus Christi Hooks. Get your chance to win fabulous door prizes awarded during the seventh inning stretch. After the game, sit back and watch the fireworks and enjoy the music of William Beckmann.

Early-bird special ticket pricing will be $70 for members/$80 for nonmembers until June 24. Afterward, tickets will be full price at $80 for members/$90 for nonmembers. Tickets will be distributed via email, so please be sure a valid email is provided.

ANNUAL AGGIE FAMILY BBQ

June 8, 2024, 4 p.m. at Aggie Park on West Ave

Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 8, and bring the whole family out to enjoy a day filled with fun activities for all ages at Aggie Park. The volunteer cook team led by Logan Richter is cleaning the grills and gathering supplies to provide another amazing dinner of chicken and sausage with all the trimmings. The Aggie Women’s Club will once again provide the potato salad, and there will be homemade barbecue sauce to tickle the taste buds.

Activities for the kids will include a bounce house, a train ride, arts and crafts, a piñata, snow cones, and more! There will be a margarita machine and drinks available for all ages to enjoy all afternoon. Music will be provided for your listening and dancing pleasure. Test your skills against your Aggie friends and family in the cornhole tournament. Compete for prizes and bragging rights.

The Family BBQ is one of our major fundraisers to fund the eight $12,000 scholarships presented each year to amazing Bexar County freshmen attending Texas A&M. In addition to the proceeds generated by the dinner plate sales, there will be a live auction and silent auction at this event. The silent auction will open online early May, allowing everyone to view and bid on items, even if you are unable to attend the event.

Please come out and join us for a day to remember and support our scholarship program. Early-bird ticket pricing of $15/ adult (ages 11 and up) will end on May 31. Kids 10 and under are always free. Keep an eye out for the opening of ticket sales, silent auction updates, and volunteer opportunities from Aggie Park.

AGGIE GOLF CLASSIC

144 AGGIES GATHER FOR SCHOLARSHIPS

March 22 at Canyon Springs Golf Club was a beautiful, sunny day. The course was filled with 144 Texas Aggies, friends of Aggie golfers, and local Aggie business partners. As one might say, “Many hands lighten the load,” as numerous volunteers provided their time and talents before, during, and after the tournament. To call the day a success would be an understatement. We appreciate all those participants, sponsors, and volunteers who contributed to our success and helped support our scholarship fundraiser for local Texas Aggie students. We encourage those who were not able to attend to join us next year for another fun day at the golf course with your fellow Texas Aggies.

Gig’em,

Robert Lozano ‘90 Event Chair

HOWDY HOUR

MUSIC COPYRIGHTING WITH MR. BRAKE

The February 13 Howdy Hour featured professional musician Barry Brake speaking on music and copyrighting. He shared music from over the years that proves songs are made up of not only vocals, but distinct riffs and characteristics within the music that often transcend the song and are used again by other artists. One interesting fact Barry shared is that in 1997, when Notorious B.I.G. was killed, Puff Daddy wrote a song to commemorate his friend. The problem? It was a song originally written and produced by Sting (the original song, “Every Breath You Take”), and Puff Daddy didn’t ask permission to rewrite the song. Guess who won that court battle? Sting now receives 100% of the royalties for the Puff Daddy

song “I’ll Be Missing You.” Both songs remain high on popularity charts.

Today, music is much more collaborative. Top-line composers often work to create lyrics and melody to present to artists. Beyoncé’s “Halo” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Already Gone” showcase the fact that two different artists can use songs written by songwriter Ryan Tedder and still produce charttoppers. That said, Barry’s ability to showcase his own talents while sharing the history of music was riveting. You can often see Barry

playing at Jazz Texas with his trio, the Jazz Protagonists.

The Aggie Women’s Club was also in force, selling Valentine’s Daythemed desserts to raise money for their scholarship efforts. In tune with the Valentine’s Day theme, I took advantage of Barry’s keyboard ability and sang “Fly Me to the Moon” for my wife in the audience. All in all, a very entertaining and educational Howdy Hour.

Gig ’em, Lane Mitchell ‘79 Vice President

FEED THE RANGERS

THE INFAMOUS HOT DOG EXERCISE

The San Antonio A&M Club Foundation (SAAMCF) hosted a hamburger dinner for six Texas A&M Rudder’s Rangers cadets and two TAMU army cadre on March 25, at Willie’s on Loop 1604. The senior cadets, led by Commanding Officer Sean O’Mara and Operations Officer Nicklaus Johnson, were conducting an advance reconnaissance at Camp Bullis in preparation for a large field training exercise (FTX) planned for April 4–7, at Camp Bullis. That FTX is expected to have over 150 cadets and will include a helicopter air assault, a platoon situational training exercise, automatic rifle field fire on a known distance (KD) a pop-up rifle range, and a land navigation exercise, which will be used for “Pinhead” eligibility. Joining the cadets from the SAAMCF were former Rangers Jose Ventura ’74, Steve Damon ’83, Bill Hill ’84, and David Sandridge ’85. The sponsored dinner was the second year the SAAMCF hosted the leaders. Upon completion of the April FTX, the SAAMCF will host a “hot dog exercise” for all 150-plus cadets. After eating meals ready to eat (MREs) all weekend, each cadet will eat two to three

smoked barbecue hot dogs, chips, cookies, and a Coke. In 2023, the SAAMCF also sponsored a “hot dog exercise” for the cadets, and it is hard to tell who got more out of it: the cadets or the club members serving the cadets. These cadets use the FTX as preliminary training for the U.S. Army’s premier Ranger School.

Gig ’em, Bill Hill ’84 Event Chair

AGGIE MOMS’ CLUB

Howdy, Aggies! The San Antonio Aggie Moms’ Club has been extremely busy the past few months, and we have also hosted some exciting guest speakers.

Colonel (Ret.) Michael E. Fossum ’80 was our guest speaker at our general club meeting on February 6. He’s a former astronaut who currently serves as a vice president of Texas A&M University, the chief operating officer of the Galveston campus, and the superintendent of the Texas A&M Maritime Academy. He spoke for a solid hour, but all the moms were captivated by his amazing stories, so we just let him talk!

At our general club meeting on March 5, Brigadier General (Ret.) Patrick R. Michaelis ’93 was our guest speaker. He is, of course, the current commandant for the Corps of Cadets. It’s always interesting to hear what’s going on in the Corps and what his vision is for the Corps in the coming years. Since our meetings are the same night as Silver Taps, we didn’t know if he would be able to join us, but he did!

The Aggie Moms’ Club 2024 Boots & Bling Gala on March 25 was a huge success, with much scholarship money raised. Our gala chairperson, Christine Ketay, did a great job! Colonel (Ret.) Robert Gonzales ’68 was our wonderful keynote speaker, and Mr. Benjamin Knox ’90 finished his one-of-a-kind painting that night for us to auction. The paint was still wet! After this gala, we are solidly on track to fund another endowed scholarship this year.

Author, blogger, Aggie, and San Antonio resident Melanie Shankle ’93 was our guest speaker for our general meeting on April 2. Melanie writes regularly at The Big Mama Blog and has written three New York Times bestselling books. She was very funny and shared wise and encouraging words for moms of college students!

Finally, thank you to the San Antonio A&M Club for your support as our club nears the end of another successful year of service to our students and to Texas A&M University! For more information about the San Antonio Aggie Moms’ Club, please send inquiries to sanantoniomoms@aggiemoms. org or directly to me at samomspresident@aggiemoms. org.

Thanks and Gig ’em, Virginia McCleskey ’88 President, 2023-2024

samomspresident@aggienetwork.com

AGGIE WOMEN’S CLUB

Howdy, Ags! Our club started off the year with an event at San Antonio’s Gourmet Olive Oils. We had a fantastic time tasting and learning about different olive oils and balsamics. Members and friends enjoyed this experience together.

Our scholarship fundraiser event was held on Saturday, February 10, and was a remarkable success! Members, friends, and family enjoyed the coffeeand-pastry bar along with mimosas, shopping with the vendors, a delicious lunch, door prizes, and fun bingo games for beautiful purses. Many thanks to our table sponsors, those who purchased

raffle tickets and sent in monetary donations, and those who donated items for the silent auction. Our collective efforts helped our club raise over $21,000 for scholarships. Whoop!

In March, we stepped it up and did axe throwing at Axe Escape! It was a fun experience, and everyone had a wonderful time.

Look for details and activities concerning our organization when you follow us on Facebook (San Antonio Aggie Women’s Club) or at SAAMCF. org.

For questions about our club or club membership, please contact Donna Hill at dchill1025@att.net or at 210241-6719. I am also available to answer any questions at ddcastro99@ gmail.com or at 210-633-7992.

Gig ’em, Debbie Castro President, 2023-2024 aggiewomensclubSA@gmail.com

PARTNER WITH US

Kyle Field Partner

Only1PartnershipAvailable

• Coach’s Night - VIP Table with Access for 10

DON’T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY TO HARNESS THE POWER OF THE AGGIE NETWORK!

$25,000

• Golf Tournament - 2 Teams of 4, 2 Exclusive Tee Signs, & Beverage Cart Sign

• Boot Scootin’ for Scholarships - VIP Table with Access for 10 & Speaking Opportunity

• Family BBQ - Access for 10

• Sunday with Santa - Promotional Booth & Access for 10

• Alamo Aggie - Year-Long, Half Page Ad Space with Logo on Back Cover

• Website - Business Logo on Club Website

• Email Campaigns - Identified in each Club Event Email

C.C. Polly Krueger Partner

Only2PartnershipsAvailable $15,000

• Coach’s Night - Maroon & White Table with Access for 10

• Golf Tournament - 1 Team of 4 & 2 Exclusive Tee Signs

• Boot Scootin’ for Scholarships - Cowboy Table with Access for 8

• Family BBQ & Christmas Party - Access for 8 to each Event

• Sunday with Santa - Promotional Booth & Access for 4

• Alamo Aggie - Year-Long, Half Page Ad Space with Logo on Back Cover

• Website - Business Logo on Club Website

• Email Campaigns - Identified in a Club Event Email

Howdy Partner

• Coach’s Night - VIP Access for 10

$5,000

• Golf Tournament or Boot Scootin’ - Sponsorship Recognition & Access for 4

• Family BBQ - Access for 4

• Alamo Aggie - Year-Long, Business Card-Sized Ad Space

• Website - Business Logo on Club Website

Varsity Partner

Only3PartnershipsLeft

• Coach’s Night - Champions Table with VIP Access for 10

$10,000

• Golf Tournament or Boot Scootin’ - Sponsorship Recognition & Access for 4

• Family BBQ - Access for 4

• Sunday with Santa - Promotional Booth & Access for 4

• Alamo Aggie - Year-Long, Third Page Ad Space with Logo on Back Cover

• Website - Business Logo on Club Website

Gig’em Partner

• Coach’s Night - Access for 4

$3,000

• Golf Tournament or Boot Scootin’ - Sponsorship Recognition & Access for 4

• Website - Business Logo on Club Website

All packages are customizable!