It’s just after 9 o’clock on a summer Tuesday morning. A group of about 12 — what else, right? — is gathered in the lobby of the Clayton W. Williams, Jr. Alumni Center.
Out back, near the giant Aggie Ring statue, two luxury golf carts wait. They will be used to take Arnold Hayes on — quite literally — a tour of a lifetime.
Wearing a maroon Texas A&M polo, an A&M cap and khaki shorts held up with a belt with an A&M buckle, Mr. Hayes is a redass Aggie. He also wears his fifth Aggie ring.
He’s class of ’52. He’s 95-years-old. He’s in hospice care.
He wants to take just one more tour of his beloved university campus.
“It’s changed so much since I was here as a student,” he said between heavy breaths. “It’s changed immensely. This building right here wasn’t here when I was here. Neither was the MSC. The MSC opened my senior year.
“There’s so many buildings. The campus has changed so much.”
While sharing memories of his Texas A&M days with Acara Hospice nurse Kate Rupp, Mr. Hayes said he’d like to take a last tour of the A&M campus.
She told Acara volunteer coordinator Rachel Hutson, who contacted The Association of Former Students to set it up.
“We like to do a little Make-A-Wish-like thing for patients,” Hutson said. “We like to make things special and make it happen. It’s something we knew would bring a big smile to his face.”
Mr. Hayes’ face is beaming much like it probably did when he graduated from San Saba High School in 1948. Or when he earned his degree in Agricultural Engineering. Or when he married his wife, Tommie. Or when his two children were born.
Those are highlights of an incredible life.
Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force. After leaving the Air Force, he moved to Houston and worked as an irrigation engineer for Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation and then Kaiser Aluminum.
In 1969, he volunteered to work with the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association’s media committee. For 18 years, he organized media reception parties and assisted with game hospitality.
Sports writers can thank Arnold Hayes for all those lavish Cotton Bowl parties they attended.
“Arnold Hayes created the blueprint for our modern-day media operations efforts at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic,” said Charlie Fiss, who retired as the Cotton Bowl vice president of communications in 2020 and historian in 2025. “He taught me how to manage press conferences involving high-profile athletes. He guided me along through the whole process of media operations from A-to-Z.
“I’m not sure where we would be today without his influence. I love the guy.”
Maybe even as much as Mr. Hayes loves his Aggie Ring.
Asked where he keeps his Aggie Ring, Mr. Hayes extended his right hand. Exactly where it’s supposed to be.
Of course, the answer could have been in Guam or San Saba or a Marriott Hotel in Dallas.
He explained what happened to Ring One.
When he was in the Air Force, his ring was lost on the Tarague Beach in Guam.
“We scratched around in the sand for an hour until it got dark,” he called. “We decided to come back the next morning and look for it again.
“The problem was the tide had come in, and we didn’t know where to look.”
Ring Two?
“It’s at the bottom of the San Saba River,” he said. “I was trying to take a catfish off a hook, and it finned me. I had all the slime on my hand, and the ring came off. I spent an hour diving and feeling around in the mud for it but gave up.”
Ring Three?
He left it in his room at the old Marriott Market Center Hotel in Dallas during Cotton Bowl activities. He didn’t realize it was gone until he was driving back to Houston.
“They claimed they turned the room upside down and couldn’t find it,” he said. “I assume some maid got it.”
Ring Four?
The ‘52 denoting his class had worn off, so he contacted A&M to see if another crown could be put on his ring.
He was told that it could be done. Instead, the ring was melted down and turned into a new ring.
Tough break. They charged him $72.
No grudges were held. It’s just another great memory in a life full of them.
So many of those memories were created in College Station.
That’s why Arnold Hayes was so eager to take a final tour and say goodbye to Texas A&M.
“It (Texas A&M) gave me an education,” he said. “I could serve in the service for two years on active duty and then come out and work in a profession that I got an education in.
“That’s my life. It gave me my life.”
