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.
Business majors were required to take a lot of courses on the hill, so I spent a lot of time in Ayres and surrounding buildings. I remember one bitterly cold day after a big snow. I left Melrose Hall walked down to the “T” Room, had breakfast, and proceded to Ayers, 4th floor for my 8:00 am class. Nothing special about this, but I was walking with the aid of crutches, and I remember it was a real challange trying to stay upright, what with the crutches having a mind of their own and constantly trying to take a different route than the one I had in mind. I finally made it to Ayers, climbed the four flights of stairs, and waited for the class to begin. Someone stuck their head in the door and announced class was cancelled because professor “X” could not get his car up the hill to his parking space behind Ayers. Poor fellow! I get a little teary eyed just thinking about him even as I write this.
My best memory of Ayres had to do with stair steps. I had an ROTC class in Stokely and we let out 10 minutes early for classes on the “Hill”. My class was sociology on the top floor of Ayres. I had 279 stair steps to climb to reach the top floor. Talk about a workout. As previouly mentioned, you could tell the senior girls from the freshmen just by looking at their calves which all guys did anyway–senior or freshmen — since they were not allowed to wear pants. The good old days!
Giggling with my Bearden High friend Diana Beck during language lab on the very top floor of Ayres–now I wish I had paid attention and learned Italian! And the bell tower that chimed every 15 minutes, alerting me to the near-end of the never-ending lectures!
I have never forgotten the challenge of the “Hello Walkway” leading to Ayres Hall. The tradition required a greeting to everyone you met on that section of the sidewalk. It was a white wooden in the grass on the western side only, as I remember. Being naturally shy, but determined to be brave, I greeted so many fellow Volunteers. It was all the better if they were handsome in my opinion.
It’s not there now. I’ve asked serveral people to see if it could be replaced. Do you think it would change the world? Well, maybe. It changed me!
Anyone remember it?
In the fall of 1960, UT was experiencing the mass enrollment of “wartime boomers” (pre-baby boomers) on campus. Classes were filled beyond seating capacity. I remember Lawrence Silverman’s first quarter History of Western Civilization class on the third floor of Ayres Hall. At the beginning of the quarter, students literally sat on the floor and in the window sills of the classroom. I learned quickly to get there early and claim a seat near the front. Within a month or so, quite a few students had either dropped or stopped coming to class, and stragglers could more easily claim a seat. Those that missed Silverman, a superb lecturer, certainly shortchanged themselves.
William H. Moore (B.S., 1964; M.A., 1965)