A guy i work with has seen the name 4 or 5 times in the last few days (G.Rollie White Downs, the basketball arena, etc). He wants to know what he did to make his money, etc. Any help would be appreciated.

I believe he made his fortune from ticket revenues from that Coliseum he built.

Gig 'Em

i think he was some racist general from the olden days.

He invented fried chicken.

Any serious replies?

i think he was a serious a-hole.

wrong, he was Jolly

Well, one semi-serious. I know I used know this factoid "back in the day", but for the life of me, I can't remember. I did some Internet searching, too, to no avail.

There is a big G. Rollie White Foundation that makes charitable contributions, but I can find no website for them.

bigbloated-

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black-

the G stands for Gay

^
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[for AIT]
least helpful post in the history of texags.

[This message has been edited by olag (edited 12/17/2002 12:18p).]

Thank you ... thank you very much [/Elvis]

He was a famous fish photographer:

cgh1999 - G. Rollie White was born and raised in Brady, Texas (hill country) in the early 1900's. I dont know much about him, other than the fact that he was a rich old Ag that gave alot of money to the school.

He owned a race horse named "Trim Destiny" that ran in the 1955 Kentucky Derby (finished 10th)

There is a sign when you enter Brady, that says

quote:

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Welcome to Brady, Texas - Home of G. Rollie White

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G. Rollie White (born George Raleigh White in Lockhart, Texas) is a Texas AMC former student, class of 1895. There's a picture of him in the very first yearbook to printed, called The Olio in 1895. He was a student under Texas A&M president, Lawrence Sullivan Ross, who had previously been a governor of Texas. He was in Company C at Texas AMC in 1895, and graduated as a Civil Engineering major. After leaving the college, he went to study in New York for a year before returning to West Texas to join his father in the cattle business.

G. Rollie White was known as the Texas Steer King for many years across Texas, and as "Mr. Rollie" around Brady. He made his first cattle drive at the age of 12. He started the electric and water company in Brady, Texas that he and his partner, C.C. Bumguardner, later basically gave to the town of Brady on credit at cost. He owned and leased tens of thousands of acres of land in Texas and was asked to be on Texas A&M's board of directors in 1925. He served on the board for almost 30 years, ten of them as board president.

When the school built a brand new, state-of-the-art coliseum for special events and sports activities in 1954, the school voted to name the building after White. Cattle, oil, land, banking, horse racing...G. Rollie White had his finger in almost every pie there was in Texas. His horse, Trim Destiny, won the Arkansas Derby in 1955 and went on to compete in the 1955 Kentucky Derby. Trim Destiny led the derby early in the race, but ultimately came in 10th place (out of 10 horses).

WWII hero and Texas A&M president, James Earl Rudder, remembered meeting White as a 5-year-old (when Rudder was five years old).

There is an old horse racetrack and a park named for him in Brady, Texas. There was also once a dormitory named for him at Texas A&M. The coliseum that Texas A&M built and named for him hosted many events, including concerts by Nat King Cole and Elvis Presley. I registered in that building in 1983 and graduated with a B.S. in that building in 1987. In 2013, the building was demolished to expand the Kyle Field complex.

You are correct in saying that there's not much on the internet. I know these things about him after doing much research because I'm writing an article for Texas Living magazine about him. The article will come out in the October 2018 issue, I think.

I hope this is helpful. He certainly was a great guy, and a very generous person to many Texans. He was a Texas icon, and it's sad that people at the university he gave a huge chunk of his life and money to don't know anything about the man himself today.

Mark Taylor, Texas A&M Class of '87

How did you find this thread?

Hands-down the best thread bump I have ever seen.

Google

Brought to you by the google bing!

Holy crap. I was a freshman when this question was asked. There's a decent chance I opened this thread at Blocker and then Googled it myself to find the answer.


And now we know the rest of the story

When the GB was good / Human




May God Rest his Soul!

Thanks

TexAg75 said:

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wrong, he was Jolly

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I'm told that his house was a place where one could holler.

Wow. Thanks

G. Rollie > Reed Arena.

AiT said:

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Well, one semi-serious. I know I used know this factoid "back in the day", but for the life of me, I can't remember. I did some Internet searching, too, to no avail.

There is a big G. Rollie White Foundation that makes charitable contributions, but I can find no website for them.

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I'd love to have this handle back.

Quote:

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Any serious replies?

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At least somethings never change.

crosswalk said:

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G. Rollie > Reed Arena.

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Not enough blue stars for this post.

http://www.usbiographies.org/texas/mcculloch/whitegrollie.html

DVC2010 said:

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Hands-down the best thread bump I have ever seen.

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Not to mention from an account created in 2012 and had never posted before.

G. Rollie White was impossible to navigate. If you had a class there, you'd have to enter, go up a floor, down the hall, down two floors, and around the corner to find it.

Quote:

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...and went on to compete in the 1955 Kentucky Derby. Trim Destiny led the derby early in the race, but ultimately came in 10th placeout of 10 horses.

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Aggie sports, amirite

Texags. We know stuff.....eventually.