“Alumni are the lifeblood, the most important resource of a university. They are critical to the moral, intellectual, and financial foundation that makes SMU what is it today.” These were the opening remarks of SMU Vice President for Development and External Affairs Brad E. Cheves at the 2007 Distinguished Allumni Award Celebration.
Since its opening in 1911, SMU has graduated countless men and women who have gone on to accomplish great things, and in 1951 the Distinguished Alumni Award was created in recognition of the extraordinary achievement, outstanding character and good citizenship that SMU has come to look for in it students and instill in its graduates. Over its more than 50-year history, 274 alumni have received the SMU Distinguished Alumni Award. Last night at the Fairmont Hotel downtown four alumni received honors and recognition for their achievements in their respective fields.
The first award, the Emerging Leader award, created in 2004 to celebrate an outstanding alumnus or alumna who had graduated within the last 15 years, was given to Nathan H. Allen. Allen, who received his B.F.A. in theater from SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts in 2000, founded The House Theater of Chicago, with a group of fellow Meadows graduates. Allen was recognized for employing his talents in writing, acting, directing and composing music for productions of the ensemble theater he assembled.
The First Distinguished Alumni Award was given to Linda Pitts Custard for her volunteer leadership in meeting community needs and enriching the lives of Dallas citizens through her many philanthropic dealings over the past 40 years. Apart from the numerous events she served with over the years, Custard currently is a director of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, a trustee of SMU and the Hoblitzelle Foundation and secretary of Communities Foundation of Texas.
The second recipient, James B. Gardner has served his profession and his community as an investment adviser specializing in service to financial institutions. Recently, GardDisner co-founded and serves as chair of Commerce Street Holdings, LLC. For more than 13 years Gardner has also served as senior managing director of Samco Captial Markets, Inc., following his 40-year career in banking.
The third recipient, Antonio O. Garza, Jr., was named ambassador to Mexico in 2002 by President George W. Bush, as part of one of the largest diplomatic missions in the world. Garza was the first Republican elected to county-wide office in South Texas in 1988 and served six more years as Cameron County Judge. In 1994, then-governor-elect Bush named him secretary of State and senior policy advisor on Texas-Mexico relations.
The final recipient, Richard F. Herrscher, was recognized for his two-part career in athletics and dentistry. Herrscher played varsity basketball and baseball at SMU and was captain of the SMU basketball team during its heyday in 1956 when SMU went on to make it to the Final Four after a 20-game win streak, only to be defeated by a talented San Francisco team, featuring Bill Russell. In 1958, Herrscher was named Southwest Conference Player of the Year. After graduating, Herrscher played professional baseball with the New York Mets for five years before leaving athletics in order to earn his D.D.S. degree from Baylor. Herrscher still practices orthodontics at his private practice to this day.
During the Invocation, Dean of the SMU Perkins School of Theology, William B. Lawrence summed up the event during a prayer when he explained that “we remember those whose vision and courage brought our university to life.”
