There were a heap of a lot of Aggies in their best dressed uniforms Tuesday at the Hilton Anatole for the 83rd Linz Award luncheon benefiting the Junior League of Dallas. The reason was the honoree/Texas A&M alumnus Erle Nye, who seemed still taken aback by the whole thing.
Before the luncheon began, Texas A&M Ross Volunteer honor guards were posted at the reception entrance letting everyone know this was a momentous occasion. Inside, Erle was greeting the likes of Bobby Lyle, Jim Burke and Kelly and Norman Green. Texas Tech board of regents chair Jerry Turner told Erle, “You’re my hero.” Dr. Gail Thomas followed that up with, “I’m so proud of you.” Erle quickly came back with, “The bridge. . . that was the best thing!”
He admitted that he was genuinely surprised and gratified by the honor, the Texas A&M Ross Volunteers participating in the event, and receiving 200 calls, letters and voicemails from people congratulating him on being the 83rd recipient of the prestigious award. “I’ve wanted always to stay active in the community,” Erle says. “This is very helpful, from the point of view that, ‘Maybe you’ve done something worthwhile!’ Dallas is a great community with a special legacy — such a tradition in business, civic activity, religion, doing what’s good for the community.”
But this was only the tip of the Erle celebration. Once inside the Khmer Pavilion, it was a gathering of Dallas eagles from business, government, education, healthcare, arts and philanthropy — Jim Oberwetter, Albert Black, Ron Steinhart, Toni Brinker, Rep. Dan Branch, Lee Jackson, Jennifer Sampson, John Scovell, Jim Moroney, Mike Rawlings, Lee Cullum, Major Charles Ward, Peggy Meyer, Rowland Robinson, Jeremy Strick, Jill Magnuson, Lindalyn Adams, Ruth Altshuler, Dolores Barzune, David Biegler, Tom Dunning, Walt Humann, Ray Hunt, Caren Prothro, John Scovell, William Solomon, Ron Steinhart, Peter Stewart, Robert Thornton III and last year’s recipient Pete Schenkel, to name just a few.
When everyone including Alice Nye and the Nye kids and grandkids took their places, still another Aggie surprise took place. The Texas A&M Singing Cadets sang a selection of tunes including “Texas, Our Texas.” At this point it wouldn’t have been a surprise to have had the Aggie yell leaders lead the room in cheers for Erle. Luncheon chair Lisa Loy Laughlin probably thought that might have been a tad too much.
But there was a schedule to keep and words of appreciation to be spoken. As guests ate a luncheon “inspired by” Erle (tortilla soup en croute, adobo chicken and beef kabobs, cheese enchiladas with chipotle cream, poblano corn rice and a trio of tarts), the members of the head table pointed out guests in the audience. Jim Moroney noted two tables of school kids from Hockaday, Cistercian and Townview Magnet schools. No, they weren’t there to skip school. Rather the hope was that this occasion would inspire them to get involved with the community.
Zale Chairman Jack Lowe recognized Zale CEO Theo Killion before introducing Bobby Lyle, who had a daunting task — introducing Erle within a two-minute period. “That’s impossible,” Bobby said. It would be like introducing the newest knight to the Roundtable! Just reading the full-page description of Erle in the program would have taken more than two minutes. But Bobby eloquently summed it up by saying, “At the Salvation Army our brand promise is ‘doing the most good,’ and Erle has spent his entire life doing that.”
In accepting the award, Erle thanked all including emcee Joel Allison, who had nominated Erle. “I could not have been more surprised, because I’m slightly past retirement.”
He went on to say that this had pulled him “back from the cycle of the Who’s. When you retire, you’re in first stage: ‘Who’s Who.’ In a while, it’s ‘who’s that? A little later, ‘who cares?’ I was right between ‘who’s that’ and ‘who cares.’ You pulled me back from that.”
In typical Erle style, he said,
- “I know most of my [former colleagues] have heard me speak, and yet they came here today anyway!”
- “One of my heroes Winston Churchill once said, there was never a bad short speech.”
- “As Henry VII told his many wives, ‘Don’t worry, I won’t keep you too long.”
Then he got down to business, telling of his and Alice’s coming to Dallas after A&M because it was a socially progressive, economically dynamic city. “Dallas is a city that works” was the slogan.
He recalled July 1961 when businesspeople and African Americans integrated 40+ Dallas restaurants. ‘Whites only” signs came down. In September 1961, the first Dallas schools were integrated.
Looking to the future, Erle told how he understood that, like last year’s and this year’s, next year’s United Way Campaign would be led by a Fortune 500 CEO, adding, “That wouldn’t happen in many places; it’s a testament to the commitment in this community.”
He closed by urging the group to “redouble your efforts to deal with unmet needs.”