SHARE YOUR MEMORIES OF AYRES HALL!
Do you remember your college days when you climbed the monumental “Hill” to get to a class in Ayres Hall? Once you made it to the top and paused for a deep breath, you could look out over all of campus. At that moment, everything in the world seemed possible.
Ayres Hall has become a campus icon, a building that holds lots of memories for all UT students and alumni.
As we anticipate the re-opening of Ayres Hall, we invite you to reminisce with us. Please share your memories below and read the comments of your classmates, friends and teachers.
As I rushed to my first class in Ayres Hall and reached for the banister to climb the stairs, I was surprised by a great sense of history. As my hand touched the banister, I suddenly thought of my great grandfather, my grandparents and my parents – all attended UT. Realizing that they too had most likely put their hand on this very same banister on their way to class was a feeling that’s difficult to describe. The thought of it still makes me smile. It’s a wonderful memory I’ll never forget.
I have a sharp sense memory when I think of Ayres Hall: Spring sunshine warms my back through the open windows of the first-floor ladies’ lounge, and insects buzz softly in the shrubbery outside. For freshmen liberal arts students, many core classes were taught in Ayres, and the large anteroom of that lounge was a comfortable, casual study area during the hours between classes, especially for we townies. That first spring quarter at UT, prepping for class at the lounge’s long table – complete with ashtrays back then – in the pleasant company of other students, for the first time I felt like a bona fide UT coed, and it felt great! That dear pile of masonry is inextricable from my whole college experience, and I’m so glad it has been restored to its rightful place as an up-to-date academic resource. May it stand another century!
I was back at school for Homecoming 2008 and the first-ever UT Daily Beacon / Orange & White reunion. At the unofficial Saturday night dinner (smaller group), I mentioned I heard a tour guide that weekend escorting a dozen or so future freshmen and parents tell his group at the bottom of the hill (across from the old commuter parking lot) that there were 376 steps to the top (or whatever the actual number is).
He said you could always tell the upper classmen by the size of their calves after four years climbing the hill.
One of our former Beacon reporters said that THAT joke had been around for at least 40 years.
When I read here recently that the Ayers Hall restoration was planned, I fired off a few e-mails suggesting that at least one classroom remain in its original condition — black blackboard, worn wooden floor, etc., in the interest of preserving history and, along with it, memories of no air conditioning, smoking in class (yes it was true), and everything else that went along with being in college in the ’60s. Hope it was possible to hold on to a piece of the past.
Jeff Schenkel
San Dimas, California
Class of 1970
The memory of Ayres Hall and the Hill that sticks in my mind is this. It was finals week and I had to go to my exam in Ayres Hall. Unfortunately, we had an uncommon cold snap and it was 9 degrees when I left West Hall on my trek. Of course, we were not allowed to wear pants in 1962, but I bravely donned my knee socks and a wool skirt for the journey. By the time I reached Ayres and got inside to the warmth of the building. My knees would hardly bend. I can’t remember the subject or how long I took to thaw…..just that freezing cold!
It was back in the 60’s Ayres Hall was used for mostly math classes and was filled mostly with technical types. The classroom for my class had a door would slam shut in the slightest breeze. Most teachers had figured this out and knew how to prop it open. One day I got there a bit early. Sitting on the floor in the hallway was a very pretty girl. She was obvious liberal, with no bra or shoes and wearing blue jeans. I looked technical, swinging a slide rule off my hip like a pistol. I sat down across from her. I could tell she was a bit nervous and out of her element, especially with a geek sitting across from her. Well sur’ e’nuf, the wind caught the door down the hall and “bang.” The girl jerked up stiff and started looking down the hall. Since no one was screaming, she relaxed back to her nervous state. A few minutes later it happened again. “Bang” and she jerked up again. I lifted my eyes from my book and said in a matter-of-fact sort of way, “They are shooting the liberal arts students,” and look back at my book as if reading. Now for a second or two I think she believed my, but she started laughing, and so did I.