While Stephen F. Austin State University is celebrating the 85th anniversary of its opening, it is appropriate to note that this is also the 80th anniversary of the Alumni Association, one of SFA's most important auxiliary organizations. Founded as the Ex-Students Association in the fall of 1928, the Alumni Association has rewarded thousands of SFA students with connections to the university, fellow alumni, and the current student body. The first of its kind in East Texas, the Alumni Association's aim is to serve both the students and alumni while supporting the university through programs, scholarships, and activities that create an attitude of continued loyalty and support. A review of the early history of the organization reveals how integral the organization has been to SFA. Not only has the Association offered financial support for SFA, but also on many occasions through the years, the formers students have vocalized fervent support for SFA. SFA alumni have helped to save the college on several occasions and have communicated the SFA educational experience to those outside the region. The university continues to acknowledge the services of the many volunteers who support SFA by providing valuable assistance in fundraising, public outreach and other programs that promote the university’s mission.

First Efforts

When President Alton Birdwell encouraged a group of graduates to meet in the Social Room of the Austin Building to form an association that would promote lifelong connections with the college, times were good. The graduates met November 29, 1928. The college had just successfully opened for its fifth year; the enrollment was stable; the campus continued to grow with the addition of the Rusk Building; the interest in higher education in East Texas appeared more focused than ever on Nacogdoches; and the national economy appeared extremely sound. Little did Birdwell or the newly formed alumni group know what lay ahead.

There are no minutes of this first meeting of the Ex-Students Association (Ex-SA) and no list of those who attended. In 1942, Gladys Johnson, one of the original group, assembled a chronology of officers from Pine Log sources, but there still is no history of the organization. In the 1960s, Ed Gaston wrote a brief review of the early years, but the proceedings of the 1928 meeting still remain rather vague. There were twenty in the group at that first meeting: members of the first graduating class, graduates who had since joined the staff at the college, wives of faculty members, and local graduates from the Nacogdoches area. We know this from the list of interim officers elected. The group nominated a constitutional committee and scheduled a second meeting in two weeks. The Pine Log reported the group had cast a wide net for membership to include all former students in both the college and sub-college. Furthermore, the group intended immediately “to communicate with other ex-students of the college.”

The group elected J. V. Dean as their first president; Dean (fall class of 1925) at the time was on the faculty in the Department of Business Administration. Gladys Johnson, a member of SFA’s first graduating class in the summer of 1925, was elected vice-president. She was the wife of C. C. Johnson in the Math Department and would serve in the Ex-Students Association for many years as an officer (president in 1935) and volunteer historian. Frances Wilson became the Secretary-Treasurer; Mrs. Raymond Rochefort the reporter; and Herman Alders the first corresponding secretary. To underwrite the group and give it some continuity, President Birdwell immediately appointed Miss Jessie Hickman of the Business Department to serve in the capacity of the Executive Secretary. (Miss Hickman served in this position until May of 1935.)

By 1928, SFA had over 5000 former students. Under the guidance of Miss Hickman, the college found addresses on 3300 of these. In the spring of 1929, the Ex-SA began to send these former students an announcement and a questionnaire. In a Pine Log article, Miss Hickman is quoted, “The purpose of this project is to establish an information bureau for the convenience of ex-students who wish to obtain information concerning their old classmates, and instructors, and happenings on the campus.” As ideas matured, the campus group realized that organizing former students by counties was the best way to get accurate lists and to encourage interaction among former students. The Harris County group met for a banquet at the Rice Hotel in Houston. All of the county organizations of ex-students sent lists. Some of their letters of response appeared in the Pine Log:

“Dear Miss Hickman: I take pleasure in notifying you that a county unit of the S. F. A. S. T. C. Ex-Students Association has been perfected at Orange with the following officers in charge: J.R. Holt, president; M.D. Dewberry, vice-president; Miss Lassie Richardson, secretary. Monthly get-together meetings will be held throughout the year, and the first at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. J.R. Holt, February 22.”

In the fall of 1929, the Association officers put together an informal tea for everyone who planned to attend the annual football clash with the Sam Houston State Bearcats, but the real celebration of the year was to center on the traditional Homecoming in the spring, the date the college opened on the present campus. The Pine Log reported, “What is hoped to be the greatest event in the history of SFA College will be held here on the day of May 27 (1930) when more than 1000 ex-students and alumni will attend the first great Home Coming Day of the institution….Commencement exercises will be held in the morning, at which all will be present to witness the awarding of degrees to the graduates of 1930. Luncheon at the Liberty Hotel for everybody, including the present students and faculty member, will follow.” In the evening, the visitors could attend the annual commencement play performed by the Dramatic Club.

The Homecoming in May of 1930 was a great event. While one thousand people were anticipated, several hundred did actually attend the luncheon at the Liberty Hotel where they elected new officers; Herman Alders moved from his successful position as corresponding secretary to president. Both President Birdwell and Dean T. E. Ferguson spoke. The Booser Club, as usual, provided the meal. With the county organizations perfecting their lists, it was now obvious that the alumni were becoming an important resource for the recruiting of new students.

The Depression

As the present generation looks back on the Depression, knowing as we do the length of it, we tend to read the end into the beginning. Nacogdoches and SFA did not notice the Depression much in the year immediately following the Great Crash; things in East Texas were fairly depressed anyway; furthermore, the discovery of the East Texas Oilfield improved economic conditions in the region. Having said that, the national preoccupation with economic events did rather quickly become a concern for the college’s administrators. Budgets, especially salaries, become “very embarrassing and distressing,” according to Birdwell. In a report to the Board of Regents, he commented, “It has been difficult to finance the school with the money at our disposal.”

While the Ex-SA held their annual Homecoming Banquets in May of 1931 and 1932 and “acquaintances were joyously renewed and many incidents and experiences of college life were reviewed" (to quote Birdwell), the moods of these celebrations were decidedly reserved. At the May 1932 banquet, Birdwell expressed a desire for the 10th anniversary celebration in 1933 to be an important one, but by the fall of 1932, everyone recognized that it might become a wake for SFA. A series of state budget cuts and policies threatened to close SFA, or, at minimum, reduce it to junior college status. Birdwell challenged the students to apply themselves, and he turned to local and regional friends, to the faculty, and, most importantly, to former students and the Ex-SA to come to the college’s aid. All these groups in East Texas united behind Birdwell in his fight for SFA’s survival. The efforts were the central focus of the 1932-33 academic year.

At this dark time, the college needed a shot of optimism. The Ex-SA, under the leadership of President J. T. Cox and Secretary Sugene Spears, set about planning the largest homecoming ever for SFA's 10th anniversary in May. They sent out more information than ever before, kept press releases before the public, oversaw the planning of special events, and worked with the Booster Club to raise money for a huge barbeque. By the time of Homecoming rolled around, the Texas House had refused to pass the draconian budget cuts. Sensing that the threat of closure was over, the May Homecoming was the largest ever with over two thousand former students and friends of the college joining locals to celebrate. In reporting to the Board of Regents, Birdwell said:

“The recent commencement was the best in our history [73 students]. We were celebrating our tenth anniversary, and a very large number of former students and friends of the college spent the day with us Monday of this week. The citizens of the community gave a barbecue and served something like 3,000 people. In the evening a pageant, entitled the ‘Spirit of East Texas,’ revealing the progress of the college during the ten years, was given. Several thousand people witnessed the pageant.”

The history of the Ex-SA between 1933 and 1938 was a litany of ever-increasing successes. Recognizing that the annual football rivalry between SFA and Sam Houston State brought large numbers of former students back to SFA, the Ex-SA created a fall Homecoming celebration in 1935, though the May events tied to graduation also continued for many years. In June the Pine Log headline read: "Ex-Students Plan Fall Home-Coming Here November 23." Invitations were sent out, posters and stickers were distributed widely, and there was a full-page ad welcoming ex-students. The move of Homecoming to fall was to prove very popular, and, except for the war years, permanent. The fact that the Lumberjacks won over Sam Houston in the 1933 game (33 to 0) seemed to confirm the decisions was right.

In 1935 the Ex-SA adopted a new constitution and by-laws, replacing the temporary rules they had worked under since the founding. In 1937 they introduced a $1.50 annual dues in order to have some working capital; they used their first dues to commission a portrait of Dr. Birdwell, which was placed in the library. The committee in charge of funding for that year consisted of Tom W. Baker, E.B. Byrd, Sugene Spears, Ina Pearl Brewer, Robert Thompson, Stanford McKewen, Moss Adams Jr., Victor Fain, John Lynn Bailey, and James Fuller. As the organization became more established, leadership positions were commonly held by such well know personages as Eugene Sanders, Sugene Spears, Madge Stallings (Edmonds), John Lynn Bailey, and Victor Fain.

“We are grateful for the part that it is our opportunity to play!” Victor Fain–Pine Log Editorial 1936.

On the Association’s tenth anniversary in 1938, Birdwell summarized its development and praised its achievements. He took personal pride in the way the exes were supporting the “vital interests” and welfare of the college. He said there was "no way to measure the services the Ex-Students may render to the College and through the College to all the interests of Texas.” Birdwell felt their "greatest and most lasting result” was “the generation of genuine pride in the institution itself.” He encouraged the group’s affiliation with other alumni groups across the state college system, and then concluded:

"The Faculty of the College join me in the best of the good wishes to Exes everywhere, and also in the desire to join hands with them in promoting not only the interests of the College itself, but also the interest of a finer civilization." - Alton W. Birdwell, President

At the beginning of the fall term in 1941, President Alton Birdwell announced that he planned to retire at the end of the spring semester. Birdwell had guided SFA through its founding and through the trying years of the Depression. The Ex-SA and present students quickly organized the November Homecoming to focus on the career and contributions of Birdwell. Events included a review of SFA's history from 1923 to 1940. John Lynn Bailey, an Ex-SA officer since 1935, became the president of the Ex-SA that November 1. The organization, now operating under a new constitution, with increasing membership funds, and more experienced leadership, was prepared for future challenges. They initiated an important new direction for the Association: the founding of a major scholarship fund for SFA students. While the details of the scholarship program were not worked out until the next fall, the Ex-SA’s first scholarship, the A. W. Birdwell Scholarship in honor of Dr. Birdwell, received its first donations that fall.

By the late '30s and early '40s, SFA had become the county’s leading employer and was graduating the largest classes to date; the faculty increased to 67 professors; and salaries had returned to 1932 levels. The Depression, in short, was dissipating, and SFA felt more secure. The Ex-Students Association had helped with the college’s recovery in the trying years, and the booming Homecomings of 1939-1940-1941 were ample evidence that the future was bright. The college appeared on the brink of a golden era.