| Please join us for one of Texas A&M University’s most treasured traditions as our distinguished guest speaker, Gary Blair, addresses local-area Aggies, family, and friends at the Dallas Aggie Muster!
4:30pm: Check-in, Cash Bar Reception
4:30pm-6:00pm: Dinner
6:00pm: Muster Program
TICKETS
Discounted advance purchase tickets: $12.00
At the door/night of the event: $20.00
Above ticket pricing includes dinner by Gilley’s Dallas and parking in the surface lot adjacent to Gilley’s Dallas.
The $12 discounted advance purchase tickets may be acquired online by clicking on "EVENT SIGN UP" below - at the bottom of this page. Please note that these discounted tickets will be available for purchase until 8:00pm on April 20.
Significant day-of-event sales are expected at the door; so please consider purchasing your tickets in advance. While no one will be turned away, please also be aware that food and seating are limited; and all seats are available on a first-come, first-seated basis.
Contact Corey Nichols ‘07 via dallasmuster@gmail.com or 214-600-4446 with questions on tickets.
PARKING & EVENT ENTRY
Dinner and the Muster program will be held in different event spaces within the Gilley’s complex - versus the Palladium Ballroom, the event space where our Muster was held last year. Therefore, please park in the southwest portion of the parking lot on the south side of the building; and enter/leave Gilley’s through the side entrance - instead of the front entrance, as we are utilizing the entire back half of Gilley’s for Muster this year.
Directions:
Click on "MAP TO LOCATION" below - at the bottom of this page.
DART Directions:
Take DART’s Red or Blue rail line to the Convention Center Station; then walk southeast on S Lamar Street to Gilley’s Dallas, which is located south of the Convention Center (in Downtown Dallas), across the I-30 overpass, and just past Cadiz Street.
OR take DART’s Red or Blue rail line one stop past the Convention Center Station to the Cedars Station; then walk southwest on Belleview Street to S Lamar Street; then proceed northwest on S Lamar Street to Gilley’s Dallas.
Visit www.dart.org/schedules for specific DART rail line location & schedule details.
Roll Call for the Absent
If you would like to add a family member to the roll call or have any questions regarding the ceremony, please contact Corey Nichols ‘07 via dallasmuster@gmail.com or 214-600-4446.
Thank You for Your Continued Support
Help support Dallas Aggie Muster by making a donation! Muster has become a great tradition in Dallas and the Dallas A&M Club could not host such a time-honored event without the generous support of Aggies like you. If you or your corporation is interested in underwriting all or part of the cost of the 2012 Dallas Aggie Muster, please contact Corey Nichols ‘07 via dallasmuster@gmail.com or 214-600-4446.
Any additional proceeds from the Muster program will benefit the Dallas A&M Club Scholarship Fund.
Speaker Biography
Gary Blair’s legacy has impacted hundreds of athletes and thousands of people. Coach Blair’s tireless commitment to his athletes, basketball, and equality has made him one of the most respected coaches in nation. A native of Dallas, Texas, Blair grew up playing baseball at Bryan Adams High School where he was an all-city centerfielder. In 1969 Blair received his U.S. Army draft notice and decided to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. After completing a two-year tour of duty, he used his GI bill to earn his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education with a minor in journalism from Texas Tech, also playing a year of baseball for the Red Raiders. Blair earned his master’s in education from the university immediately following his undergraduate.
After his graduation from Texas Tech, Blair hoped to find a high school baseball coaching job, but was offered the physical education coaching job at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas. South Oak Cliff had just started its women’s basketball program, and Blair became the team’s first coach. He was initially the boy’s P.E. teacher, while waiting for an offer to coach the baseball team, but when asked to coach the girls’ team, he accepted. In his seven seasons at South Oak Cliff, he set a state record with five consecutive state tournament appearances and a 239-18 record. His teams won three State Class 4A Championships, in 1977, 1978, and 1980. After winning the first state championship, he was offered the head baseball job he had been waiting for, but he turned it down to remain coaching the women’s team. In October 1980, Blair was offered an assistant coaching job at Louisiana Tech. Blair initially rejected the offer, but upon his wife’s encouragement, he accepted it. During his five seasons there, Louisiana Tech reached the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament four times, winning two national Championship.
Blair’s first head coaching experience at the collegiate level came at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas. In his eight years with the school, he compiled a 210-43 record. His teams won seven straight conference championships, and appeared in the NCAA Tournament six times. During his last six seasons, his teams were consistently ranked in the final AP Top 25 polls. Blair left Stephen F. Austin to coach at the University of Arkansas in 1993. During his first season the Lady Razorbacks had their first winning season in several years. The following year his team, which consisted of 9 freshmen and sophomores, reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In the summer of 1996, while his Arkansas team was in their offseason, Blair was selected at the assistant coach of the U.S. Jones Cup team, which won the gold medal in Taiwan and became the first U.S. team to go undefeated at the Jones Cup tournament. Blair made history with his 1997-1998 Arkansas team. The team, unranked in the national polls, received a number 9 seed for the NCAA Tournament and reached the NCAA Final Four, the lowest seed to ever reach the Final Four, where defeated by eventual National Champion Tennessee.
Blair came to Texas A&M in 2003 taking over a team which had not had a winning season in seven years. In his first season with Texas A&M, Blair worked hard to attract fans to the women’s basketball games, and by the end of the season attendance had increased 71 percent over the previous year, the best increase in the Big 12. The following year the Aggies earned a postseason invitation for the first time since 1996. In his third season with the Aggies, Blair guided his team to their first Associated Press Top 25 ranking in a decade. That year Blair became only the fourth coach in NCAA history to take three different schools to the NCAA Tournament. Overall, in his first three years as the head coach of the Aggies, A&M home attendance increased 156%. On February 20, 2008, Blair posted his 500th career win as a head coach at Reed Arena. In the 2007-08 season, Blair led his squad to a school-first NCAA Elite Eight appearance, and also won the Big 12 conference tournament title. On March 29, 2011, Blair led the program to its first ever Final Four appearance by defeating Baylor. On April 3, 2011 the Aggies defeated top-seeded Stanford to advance to the national title game. And on April 5, 2011, the Aggies defeated Notre Dame in the championship game to win the tournament for the first time in school history.
Blair has been inducted in the Southland Conference Hall of Honor, the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack Hall of Fame, and the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame. Blair has been named the Big 12 Coach of the Year, two-time Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Coach of the Year, two-time Women’s Basketball News Service National Coach of the Year, Basketball Times National Coach of the Year, five-time Southland Conference Coach of the Year, and five-time District VI Converse Coach of the Year. Blair has been named the Texas Collegiate Coach of Year four times. Blair has also twice been named a Naismith College Coach of the Year finalist, and has received the New York Athletic Club Winged Foot Award.
In addition to basketball, Blair is actively involved with the community. He has been a member of Rotary International for more than 20 years. He has also held his “Celebrity Golf Classic” to benefit Special Olympics for over 15 years; recently, the program has raised over $100,000 annually.
Blair is married to Dr. Nan Smith-Blair, an associate professor and director of the University of Arkansas’ Eleanor Mann School of Nursing. The two met when Blair was coaching at South Oak Cliff High School. The couple has two children named Paige and Matt, as well as two grandchildren named Logan and Lola. |
