Distinguished Alumni

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Richard N. Conolly, Sr. ’37

Richard N. Conolly, Sr. ’37
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Year Awarded: 1985

Athens, GA

Conolly received a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Administration in 1937. He was Vice President of Stewart and Stevenson Services, Inc., a company which distributed engines and transmissions. He was an instrumental part of the establishment of the Texas A&M Research Extension Center at Corpus Christi.



Conolly served as the 1958 President of The Association of Former Students as well as the President of the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce. Conally was also named Texas Motor Transportation Man of the Year for 1971 and also named Who’s Who in the Southwest.

"There is a saying from Holy Scripture that ‘many are called, but few are chosen,’ and by his character, accomplishments, and his feeling for Texas A&M University, Richard Noble Conolly, Sr., is one of the ‘few’."

  - H.C. Heldenfels ’35, Distinguished Alumnus, 1979

O. Wayne Crisman ’38

O. Wayne Crisman ’38
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Year Awarded: 1985

Mansfield, LA

Crisman received a bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering in 1938. His 35+ year career with Gulf Oil Corporation began in 1946 and he worked his way to President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. He retired in 1979 after the company merged with Diamond Shamrock.



Crisman also created and endowed the Crisman Institute for Petroleum Management at Texas A&M University in 1984 and endowed a Texas A&M President’s Scholarship. He was also instrumental in founding Crisman Preparatory School for learning disabled children in Longview.

"O. Wayne Crisman brings honor to everyone who knows him and who has been touched by his caring. His life truly reflects the greatness of America and the goodness of the human heart. He is a man of great intellect, quiet, dignity, and genteel spirit – he is, above all, an Aggie."

  - Peggy C. Coghlan, Ed. D. ’76

Gerald D. Griffin ’56

Gerald D. Griffin ’56
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Year Awarded: 1985

Fort Worth, TX

Griffin received a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1956 and served four years on active duty in the United States Air Force. In 1964 he joined NASA as a Flight Controller in Mission Control Center and later was Director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. He was lead Flight Director for Apollos 12, 15, and 17. During the NASA’s Apollo Program, his real life experience led to Mr. Griffin being a technical advisor for the movie Apollo 13 (Universal), and a technical advisor and an actor in Contact (Warner Brothers) and Deep Impact (Dreamworks). In addition to his Director position, he also served as the Deputy Director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Hugh F. Dryden Flight Research Center in California.



After taking early retirement from NASA in 1986, Mr. Griffin was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Houston Chamber of Commerce, a post held until 1989 when he joined Korn/Ferry International, a worldwide executive search firm, as Managing Director of the firm’s Houston office.

"Whether it is waking up astronauts on the moon to the strains of the ‘Aggie War Hymn’ or advising outstanding high school students to attend A&M, Gerry Griffin is an Aggie who recognizes and attempts to repay every day the debt he owes to his great university."

LTG Eivind H. Johansen ’50

LTG Eivind H. Johansen ’50
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Year Awarded: 1985

Charleston, SC

Johansen received a bachelor’s degree in General Business in 1950 and a master’s degree in International Affairs from George Washington University. Upon graduation, Johansen served in the U.S. Army and rose to the position of U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics.



He served as Chairman of the Army Logistics Policy Council, Logistics Center Advisory Board and Military Logistics Council and member of the Board of Directors of the Goodwill Industries and the Army’s Logistic Management Center and School in Virginia.

Jefferson C. Dykes ’21

Jefferson C. Dykes ’21
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Year Awarded: 1984

Dallas, TX

Jefferson C. Dykes is a retired United States Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service administrator who is nationally known as an author and collector of rare Western books.



Following his graduation form Texas A&M University, Mr. Dykes spent eight years teaching high school vocational agriculture in Stephenville and McAllen and six years as a faculty member at his alma mater before joining the Soil Conservation Service in 1935.



He began collecting books about the Texas Rangers during the mid 1930’s and later elected to include other aspects of the West. His expertise in the field has been recognized both by the University of Texas, which asked him to appraise its Frank Dobie Collection, and his alma mater, which sought his help in acquiring the best range livestock collection in the world. That collection, which includes more than 18,000 volumes, now bears his name.



In 1971, he and his daughter, Martha Dykes Goldsmith, established a charitable remainder trust with the inventory of his book operations, Jeff Dykes/Western books, for the benefit of Texas A&M. He manages the company on behalf of the Texas A&M University Development Foundation.

"Mr. Dykes has made a fine collection for the A&M Library and has done more for the library than any individual with whom I am acquainted. Under his leadership, the library received one of the best collections of books ever written on the western cowboys that any university in the south would have."

Thomas A. O’Dwyer ’47

Thomas A. O’Dwyer ’47
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Year Awarded: 1984

Texarkana, AR

O’Dwyer received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering in 1949. After rising to President of Ling Electric, Inc., he and two partners bought the company, renaming it Ling-Oliver-O’Dwyer Electric, Inc which was one of the top ten electrical contracting firms in volume in the South and Southwest and among the top fifty nationwide.



O’Dwyer served on The Association of Former Students Board of Directors for two years and is a former president of The Aggie Club. He was a charter contributor to the 12th Man Scholarship Program, a founding member of Texas A&M’s Opera and Performing Arts Society and served on the Target 2000 Project Committee.

Dr. Chester J. Reed ’47

Dr. Chester J. Reed ’47
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Year Awarded: 1984

Brown County, TX

Reed received a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1947. He was a successful investor who developed real estate in the Houston area. Reed’s generosity to Texas A&M supported the Corps of Cadets and the College of Veterinary Medicine. Gift’s from Dr. and Mrs. Reed to Texas A&M University include contribution of land worth more than $600,000 to create the Reed Corps Scholarship Program for the Corps of Cadets. They established two President’s Endowed Scholarships and created the Reed Chair in Veterinary Medicine.



He is active in business and community affairs; Reed served as a director of Kincaid School, a prestigious private institution in Houston, and served as a member of the Houston Board of Health.

"I feel that those Aggies who go through the Corps of Cadets gain a unique experience and some what of being an Aggie is all about. I want as many young Aggies as possible to know that feeling."

Gilbert M. Turner ’45

Gilbert M. Turner ’45
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Year Awarded: 1984

Travis Peak, TX

Turner received a bachelor’s degree in Accounting in 1947. His company, Boring & Tunneling Company of America (BorTunCo.), specializes in boring and tunneling under roadways, railways and waterways. He also heads several other companies operating worldwide, including American Steel Building Co., KenMor Electric Company, and Bluebonnet Express of Houston.



Turner has long been affiliated with A&M Athletics and its programs. He served on the Target 2000 Project Committee and has helped sponsor Aggie basketball broadcasts and the football coach’s television show. Turner has also funded a 12th Man Scholarship and a President’s Endowed Scholarship.

"He is a credit to the principles, ideas and aggressive drive characteristic of alumni of Texas A&M."

  - John F. Baugh, Founder of Sysco Corporation

John R. Blocker ’45

John R. Blocker ’45
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Year Awarded: 1983

San Antonio, TX

John R. Blocker, a former member and Vice President of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Blocker Energy Corporation, the fifteenth largest contract drilling company in the world with 54 rigs operating in eight countries. He is also a retired Senior Vice President of Dresser Industries, where he was in charge of that company’s worldwide petroleum and minerals operations.



A member of Texas A&M’s Class of ’45, he left college to serve in the Army during World War II and won the Bronze Star. After the war, he returned to Texas A&M and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in 1948. Following graduation, he worked in various aspects of the oil and gas business in Texas before becoming operations manager for Dresser subsidiary in Argentina. He served dresser in both that country and Venezuela before relocating to Dresser’s Houston office, where he had various responsibilities for foreign operations. He retired from Dresser in 1977 as Senior Vice President.



He was honored as “Texas Business Executive of the Year” for 1982 by Texas A&M’s College of Business Administration and Texas Business Executive magazine. His selection was based on nominations from corporate officers around the state.



Blocker has long been devoted to his alma mater. He has been on The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. In addition to serving as Vice President of the Board, he was Chairman of the Committee for Academic Campus and headed the Regent’s participation in the Texas A&M University System Target 2000 Project. Additionally, he is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Executive Development Program in the College of Business Administration and a Trustee of the Texas A&M University Research Foundation.



He and his wife have endowed two academic chairs in the College of Business Administration and have also founded a President’s Endowed Scholarship and a Twelfth Man Scholarship.

"I feel a major commitment to Texas A&M. When I went to A&M, I didn’t have any money, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I had no plans. A&M brought me out, made me something of a man rather than a boy. The two years I spent there after the war were the most impressive, most influential years of my life. It was the single most powerful influence on my life, that’s the way I feel."

John A. “Jack” Crichton ’37

John A. “Jack” Crichton ’37
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Year Awarded: 1983

Dallas, TX

John A. Crichton is Chairman of the Board of Arabian Shield Development Co., a multi-million-dollar firm that obtained the first mineral concession in Saudi Arabia.



Following his graduation in 1937 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Petroleum Production Engineering, Crichton earned a Master’s Degree in Petroleum Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was awarded the Professional Degree of Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M in 1953.



Prior to serving in World War II, Crichton worked as an engineer and geologist for Union Producing Co. Following the war, he served in a variety of positions, including Vice President of Oil & Gas Property Management, President and Co-founder of Dorchester Gas Inc., and President of Yemen Development Corp. In addition to being President of Arabian Shield, he was also President of Nafco Oil & Gas Inc., Dallas Resources Inc., and Crichton & Co., a consulting and management firm.



Crichton was the Republican candidate for Governor of Texas in 1964 and has served in various GOP committee positions. He was one of the four finalists for the ambassadorship to Saudi Arabia in 1980.



Crichton is Past President of The Association of Former Students, Past President and Founding Member of the Letterman’s Association, and former Chairman and Trustee of the Texas A&M Development Foundation. He served on the Century Council, which was appointed by the Board of Regents in 1961 to help set goals for Texas A&M for attainment by its centennial in 1976, and he served on the Target 2000 Project Committee.

"I know of no one who is more dedicated to Texas A&M than Jack. He has worn his Aggie spirit with distinction in all walks of life. His energetic efforts on behalf of Texas A&M are well known to his fellow Aggies and he is highly respected by all who know him."

  - Edward E. Monteith ’43, Distinguished Alumnus, 1993

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