Sort by: Class Year Year Awarded Name
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Beeville, TX
Hughes received a bachelor’s degree in geology from the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas. While a student, he was a member of the Corps of Cadets, vice president of the Geology Club and a member of the Dallas and Palestine hometown clubs.
After college, he served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army and earned a Bronze Star in Korea. He went to work for Union Producing Co. of New Orleans as a geological scout in 1953 and has continued to work in petroleum exploration and production. In 1963, he formed a partnership with his twin brother, Dudley Hughes, Class of 1951, to create Hughes & Hughes Oil and Gas. In 1982, Hughes & Hughes was dissolved and he formed Dan A. Hughes Company and has offices in Beeville, San Antonio and Houston. In 1996, he formed Hughes Petroleum Colombia, with offices in Bogota, Columbia.
Hughes was awarded membership in 1978 in the exclusive All-American Wildcatters Club. He has also been honored with the M.B. “Duke” Rudman Outstanding Wildcatter Award and as Outstanding Citizen of Bee County, Texas.
He has been a member of The Association of Former Students Century Club for 35 years and is also a member of the A&M Legacy Society, the 12th Man Foundation and the Geosciences Development Council. He was awarded the Michael T. Halbouty Geosciences Medal in 1997. He endowed the Dan A. Hughes ’51 Chair in Geosciences as well as the Berg-Hughes Center for Petroleum and Sedimentary Systems. He also funded the restoration of A&M’s Military Walk, a historic path in the heart of campus.
Hughes is also active in service to his community. He donated an oil and gas building at Coastal Bend College and has supported the Coastal Bend Community Foundation, the Boys & Girls Club, the Junior Service League, and numerous scholastic athletic programs, among many others.
Hughes has three children and nine grandchildren, four of which attended Texas A&M. He and his wife Brenda reside in Beeville.
“I would recommend that freshman students consider entering the Corp of Cadets. The discipline and leadership that they gain will give them an advantage throughout their lives.”
Year Awarded: 2011
Dallas, TX
Ray graduated from Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas with a bachelor’s degree in finance. He was a member of the Corps of Cadets and served after graduation as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force and later the U.S. Air Force Reserves. He received his M.B.A. in 1959 from The Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania in 1959.
He first worked for Sanders & Co. and then was vice president of Zale Corp. before founding his own firm, Gerald L. Ray Investment Advisors, in 1977. The following year he founded Gerald L. Ray and Associates Inc. (later Gerald L. Ray & Associates, Ltd.). Ray remains chairman of that company, which has become one of the Southwest’s most respected investment firms. He is a past chairman of the National Conference for Investment Analysts and a member of the Investment Company Institute and the Association for Investment Management and Research.
Ray has a long history of supporting Texas A&M. He has endowed the Gerald L. Ray ’54 Pillars of Texas A&M, multiple scholarships, a Foundation Excellence Award for minority or economically disadvantaged students, and the Department of Finance Kupfer Distinguished Executive Award. He has been a major contributor to the Aggies on Wall Street Program, which brings A&M’s best and brightest to the center of the financial world and has resulted in scores of Aggies succeeding in Wall Street careers.
In honoring Mr. Ray’s mother and father, he chose to name the Elizabeth and Joseph Ray Auditorium in the May’s Business School in their honor.
He and his wife, Helaine, have two children and five grandchildren.
“The relationships I made at A&M have been important guide posts in my life. Over the years, they have made a significant impact on many of my goals.”
Year Awarded: 2011
College Station, TX
Stark, Class of 1939, graduated from the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas with a bachelor’s degree in history. He later attended the University of Texas Law School but was unable to complete the program because he was drafted into service in World War II. While at A&M, he was associate editor of the student newspaper, club editor of the student yearbook, president of the Glee Club and the Biology Club and secretary for the Little Theatre. He was also a Ross Volunteer and a captain in the Corps of Cadets.
He served as an Army officer in World War II and then worked for Anderson Clayton Corp. before returning to A&M in 1947 as director of the Memorial Student Center. He conceived the mission of the MSC and oversaw construction of the MSC building, which serves as the campus’ “living room” and is dedicated to all Aggies who have died in all wars.
He served as the MSC director until 1980, when he retired and was named director emeritus.
Stark mentored thousands of young Aggies, encouraging both overseas travel and involvement in student organizations. He solicited millions of dollars in gifts and endowments for A&M and the MSC, increased the number of pieces in the University Art Collections and created numerous student organizations, including the Student Conference on National Affairs, the Opera and Performing Arts Society, the Black Awareness Committee and the Committee for the Awareness of Mexican American Culture. He was a recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award from The Association of Former Students, and the J. Wayne Stark Galleries were named in his honor.
Stark and his wife, Jean, had two children. He passed away on Jan. 18, 1993.
“It was a very short step from the camaraderie of cadets and soldiers to the importance of helping Aggies, both graduates and students. He realized that by helping students, he would create relationships with people that would later help other students.”
- Sallie McGehee, daughter of J. Wayne Stark, Class of 1939
Year Awarded: 2011
College Station, TX
Dr. West graduated from Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas with a doctorate in veterinary medicine after graduating as valedictorian of Cotulla High School. While at A&M, he played freshman baseball and was a senior yell leader, vice president of the YMCA cabinet, president of the student chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association and a member of the Aggie Christian Fellowship. West also earned a Master of Science degree in Radiation Biology from the University of Rochester, and a PhD in Comparative Pathology from the University of California at Davis.
He served in the U.S. Air Force Medical Service from 1957 to 1979, rising to the rank of colonel and receiving the Legion of Merit and the Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, among other honors. After retiring from the service, he became an associate professor of veterinary medicine at Mississippi State University before joining the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory at Texas A&M. He has published more than 30 scientific articles and, after retiring from TVMDL, worked in emergency preparedness and response with the Texas Engineering Extension Service. He was recognized as an Outstanding Alumnus of the College of Veterinary Medicine in 2001.
West was the 2001 campus Muster speaker and he and his family cared for A&M mascot Reveille V after her retirement. He is a past president of the Association of Former Yell Leaders, the National Capital A&M Club and the Brazos County A&M Club. He is a Fish Camp namesake, Class Agent and Representative at Large, and has been a member of the Century Club for 40 years. He is also a member of the Corps of Cadets Association and the Sul Ross Group.
He is a past president of the Brazos Valley Veterinary Medical Association and the Texas Academy of Veterinary Practice and was a delegate to the American Veterinary Medical Association House of Delegates. He is also a member of the College Station Noon Lions Club, the Men’s Garden Club, American Legion Post 159, and the Brazos Valley Chapters of the U.S. Air Force Association and the Military Officers Association of America
He and his wife, Carolyn K. West, Class of 1988, have four children, two of whom attended Texas A&M, and three grandchildren.
“My life without being a Texas Aggie is unimaginable. During 1950-1956, I developed a deep and abiding love for Texas A&M, the Aggie spirit and the comradeship we enjoy.”
Year Awarded: 2012
Bryan, TX
Donald A. Adam, Class of 1957, graduated from the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas with a bachelor of business administration degree in insurance. While a student, he was a major in “A” Composite, 4th Battalion, Regimental Staff in the Corps of Cadets, as well as a member of the Business and Marketing Societies.
After graduating, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and discharged as a captain in the U.S. Army in 1961. The same year he returned to Bryan and became president, owner and director of CRA Company in Bryan. In 1969, he founded The Adam Corporation/Group and became Chairman and CEO of Community Cablevision Corporation, also in Bryan. He then formed and became Chairman and CEO of American Cablevision Corporation in 1971, which served 11 states. During the 1970s and 1980s, Adam founded and became active in several different companies. A few of his other endeavors include Adam Development Properties, a company that provides residential and commercial real estate development; Madison Construction, which provides mainly commercial construction services; Courtlandt Farm, one of Adam’s most enjoyable projects, which is a thoroughbred horse breeding and racing operation based in Ocala, Fl.; and a whitetail deer breeding program and hunting lodge in South Texas. In 1988, Adam formed First American Bank, which he owned until 2005 when he sold it to Citigroup, Inc. In addition, he facilitates aircraft charter operations through Adam Aviation Ltd., L.L.P., owns Reliable Reports, an insurance inspection company, and owns and operates Miramont Country Club, a private golf course and country club community he built in Bryan in 2005. In 2006, Adam returned to banking. He formed American Momentum Bank, which is headquartered in Tampa, Fla., and has a branch in College Station. Also in Tampa, he founded the Donald A. Adam Melanoma Research Center at the Moffitt Cancer Center.
Adam is an active contributor to organizations throughout the Bryan-College Station community. He has given time and financial support to Habitat for Humanity of Brazos Valley, American Heart Association of the Brazos Valley, Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial, Allen Academy, the Arts Council of the Brazos Valley, Boys and Girls Club of the Brazos Valley, Bryan I.S.D. Foundation, March of Dimes of the Brazos Valley, St. Joseph Hospital Foundation, Health For All Clinic and more.
Adam was a charter member of the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation, the President’s Council of Advisors and the Chancellor’s 21st Century Council of Advisors. He is a member of The Association of Former Students’ Century Club, the College of Medicine Advisory Council, Texas A&M Vision 2020 Committee, the Texas A&M Foundation and the 12th Man Foundation. He also contributes to the Opera and Performing Arts Society (OPAS) in Bryan, where he served as development chair. Adam is founder and director of The Donald A. Adam Family Foundation, and a member of First United Methodist Church in Bryan.
Adam resides in Bryan with his wife, Donna. Both of his children graduated from Texas A&M.
"Enjoy and participate in every aspect of your college life and seek to identify professor or administrative leaders and study them in-depth and identify those that are truly outstanding in order to mentor yourself. Exercise extraordinary levels of discipline in all facets of your college career as you will be far better to meet the challenges that will lie ahead."
Year Awarded: 2012
Horace S. Carswell, Jr., Class of 1938, studied agriculture at the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas before graduating from Texas Christian University with a bachelor of science degree in physical education and a minor in history.
In 1940, he enlisted as a flying cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps in Dallas. He was commissioned a second lieutenant, air corps reserve, and then promoted to first lieutenant in 1942. Carswell was first assigned to the 62nd Squadron, 39th Bombardment Group at Tucson, Ariz., before he transferred to Biggs Field, where he became a flight commander and later promoted to captain. In 1944, he was transferred to the army air base in Clovis, NM, and then moved to Langley Field, Va., where he was promoted to major before departing for duty in China with the 374th Bombardment Squadron, 308th Bombardment Group. He served on the 374th Bomb Squadron and commanded a detachment of B-24 bombers in Liuchow, China, where his plane was attacked by antiaircraft fire during a sea-sweeping mission over the South China Sea to locate enemy vessels. After two engines were shot out, the hydraulic system and one gas tank were damaged, Carswell’s crew bailed out, but he remained with his aircraft and attempted to save his copilot and another crew member, whose parachute was damaged. All three were killed when the aircraft crashed into a mountain. He was the fourth Texas Aggie awarded the Medal of Honor.
Carswell and his wife, Virginia, had one son. He passed away on October 26, 1944.
"It was a dream come true for me. I've always wanted my father on this base. Flying was his entire life. He belongs here."
- -Robert Ede Carswell, Horace Carswell's son, at the reburial of his father at Carswell AFB
Year Awarded: 2012
Thomas W. Fowler, Class of 1943, graduated from the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas with a bachelor of science degree in animal husbandry. While at A&M, he participated in the Saddle and Sirloin Club, Block and Bridle Club, and Wichita Falls Club. He served as a corporal his sophomore year, a sergeant his junior year, and a cadet captain and executive officer of the cavalry squadron during his senior year.
After college, he completed military training at the Armor Officers Candidate School in Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he was commissioned a second lieutenant, armor. In 1944, Fowler received orders to Italy as a replacement officer and was assigned to the 191st Tank Battalion on the beaches of Anzio. During the attack on Carano, he came upon two disorganized infantry platoons that were held up by an enemy minefield, so he took command and organized the units. He made a personal reconnaissance through the minefield, lifting antipersonnel mines out of the ground with his hands. Once the infantry deployed, he made a second reconnaissance into enemy territory in search of a route to continue the attack. One of the American Sherman tanks was set on fire by German fire, and under intense fire, Fowler ran to the burning vehicle in attempts to save the lives of the wounded tank crew. Only when the enemy tanks had almost reached his position did he withdraw and personally render first aid to the nine wounded infantrymen. Fowler was the second Texas Aggie awarded the Medal of Honor.
Fowler and his wife, Ann, had one son. He passed away on June 3, 1944.
"Thomas was a soldier and a gentleman and he seemed to know better than most of us what we are fighting for. He died that you people back home would never see or feel the suffering that we have seen."
- -Lt. Ralph W. Carr, Jr., an officer serving in Company B, 191st Tank Battalion
Year Awarded: 2012
William G. Harrell, Class of 1943, studied animal husbandry at the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas. While at A&M, he was in Troop C and then Troop D, Cavalry, the honor troop.
When Pearl Harbor was bombed, he left A&M to join the Marine Corps in 1942. He was assigned to the Company A, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division, where he was a corporal. In 1945, the 28th landed on the Japanese beaches of Iwo Jima, one of the Volcano Islands. Harrell was in a two-man foxhole in a perimeter defense around the company command post when Japanese troops infiltrated the line. His counterpart’s rifle jammed, which left Harrell alone while he retrieved another one from the command post. During that brief time, Harrell shot and killed five Japanese soldiers, and lost his left hand and fractured his thigh. Two more enemy troops charged his position and placed a grenade by his head, but Harrell was able to kill one of them and return the grenade to the other, thereby killing the soldier, but he destroyed his right hand in the process. His commander later called Harrell’s position the “two-man Alamo.” He was the seventh Texas Aggie awarded the Medal of Honor.
After the war he worked as a contact representative in the Prosthetic Appliance Group at the Veterans Administration Center in San Antonio, and was later promoted to chief of the Prosthetics Division.
Harrell had two children with his first wife, Larena, and then two more children with his second wife, Olive. He passed away on August 9, 1964.
"We are not a warlike nation. We do not go to war for gain or territory; we go to war for principles, and we produce young men like these. I think I told every one of them that I would rather have that medal, the Congressional Medal of Honor, than be president of the United States."
- -President Harry S. Truman, remarks at a presentation of the Medal of Honor
Year Awarded: 2012
Fair Oaks Ranch, TX
General Hal M. Hornburg (USAF, Ret), Class of 1968, graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor of business administration degree in finance, and earned a master’s degree in human resource management from the University of Utah in 1978. In between his degrees, he attended Squadron Officer School and Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. Afterward, he went to the National War College at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., in 1986, and completed the Seminar XXI for Foreign Political and International Relations at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the National and International Security Program at Harvard University in 1994. While at A&M, he was a Ross Volunteer, Distinguished Student, Outstanding Military Student, Commanding Officer, 2nd Group Staff in the Corps of Cadets, as well as a member of MSC Town Hall Committee, MSC Great Issue Committee and the Apollo Club.
Hornburg entered the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1968 and commanded all levels—flight, squadron, wing, numbered air force and major command. While on active duty, he fought, participated in or commanded forces in four wars, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism. He was also awarded three Legions of Merit, 10 Air Medals, two Air Forces Distinguished Service Medals and the Defense Distinguished Service Medal. In 2004, he was made an honorary Tuskegee Airman in honor of his efforts in developing and mentoring minority officers and airmen. General Hornburg commanded a composite fighter wing during Operation Desert Storm and the first Air Force composite wing during the services reorganization in 1991. He directed air operations over Bosnia, commanded the Joint Warfighting Center, served on the Joint Staff, and directed operations at Headquarters U.S. Air Force. He also has served as Tactical Air Command's F-15 demonstration pilot for the East Coast, Air Force Liaison Officer to the U.S. Senate, Chief of the Air Force Colonels' Group, and he commanded Air Education and Training Command. He retired as commander, Air Combat Command in 2005 after 36 years of service to the USAF and more than 4,400 flight hours. He continues to serve the aerospace field as an Aerospace Industry Consultant.
In retirement, Hornburg has served as director of the Armed Forces Benefit Association, an insurance company founded by General Dwight D. Eisenhower to assist military members. He is a trustee of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, director of the Fisher House, a foundation that assists military families, and is a senior advisor for Segs4Vets, a program that provides Segways for American disabled veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also a senior advisor to the Sierra Nevada Corporation, the Camber Corporation, Environmental Tectonics Corporation and Conceptual Mindworks, Inc.
He has served as member and Chairman of Strategic Planning and Fundraising for the President’s Board of Visitors for the Corps of Cadets since 2003, and he has served on the President’s Advisory Council Strategic Planning Committee since 2010. He is a past chair of The Association of Former Students and an Endowed Century Club Member. He led the Texas A&M Commandant Search Committee in 2010 and is a member of the Aggie Real Estate Network.
Hornburg and his wife, Cynthia, reside in Fair Oaks Ranch. They have two sons, who are both USAF pilots, and five grandchildren.
"A&M re-wove the fabric of my being. It somehow altered my DNA. The entire experience didn't make me what I became, but actually molded me into what who I became. While it may not have fundamentally affected others as much, I would not trade the benefits of my Aggie experience for anything. I owe A&M more than I can ever repay."
Year Awarded: 2012
Lloyd H. "Pete" Hughes, Jr., Class of 1943, studied petroleum engineering at the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas. He had a brief stint at Corpus Christi Junior College (now Del Mar College) before returning to A&M in 1941, but resigned to assist his family the same year.
He enlisted as an aviation cadet in 1942 in the wake of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. After completing the training courses, Hughes received his wings and commission as a second lieutenant. In 1943 he was assigned to the 564th Heavy Bombardment Squadron, 389th Heavy Bombardment Group at Lowry Field, Colo. The group moved to Europe, and then Benghazi, Libya, where the attack against the Axis oil refineries of Ploesti, Romania was launched. Hughes flew in the last formation at dangerously low altitude, and his plane received several direct hits that seriously damaged his aircraft. He continued to approach the target area, Steaua Romana oil refinery in Campina, with full knowledge of the consequences he faced, with his plane leaking oil and the ground ablaze. He continued to bomb the target area with great precision, even after the left wing of his plane caught on fire. He was the first Texas Aggie awarded the Medal of Honor.
Hughes was married to Hazel Dean Ewing. He passed away on August 1, 1943.
"Pete gave his life and the lives of his crew to carry out his assigned task. To the very end he gave the battle every ounce he had."
- Captain Philip P. Ardery, Commanding Officer, 564th Bomb Squadron