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In January, each year, the TxGC Foundation awards the Smith-McCool Sword to the Midshipment from the Chapter area, with the highest order-of-merit, going into their First Class year. The sword, is named after astronaut Michael Smith ’67, who was lost in the Challenger disaster, and astronaut William McCool ’83, who was lost int he Columbia disaster.
The award and keynote address is presented annually by NASA Astronauts. This year, Astronaut Michael Foreman USNA ‘79.
This year’s recipient is MIDN 1/C Jonathan Peck. Jonathan is from the Clear Lake Area in Houston. He studies Mechanical Engineering, accompanied with a Chinese Minor. Jonathan is a proud member of 13th Company. During his time at the Naval Academy, he has served as Plebe Summer Regimental Safety Officer, Plebe Summer Administrative Officer, Squad Leader, Company 1st Sgt, and Company Training Sgt. He is a member of the Club Water Polo Team, Midshipmen Without Borders ECA, and the 13th Company Intramural volleyball team.
Currently, he is conducting research as a Trident Scholar and will serve as a Platoon Commander next semester. He will be commissioning into the Civil Engineering Corps upon graduation.Michael James Foreman is a 1979 USNA Aerospace Engineering major, with a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. He is a retired U.S. Navy pilot and a NASA astronaut. While with NASA, Foreman was part of a mission that delivered the Japanese Experiment Module and the Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator to the International Space Station. Foreman was also a crewmember of the STS-129 mission in November 2009. In 2018, he was elected mayor of Friendswood, Texas. His wife Lorrie is a civil engineer.
Tickets are $35 if purchased after Dec 30
- Only $30 if purchased online, prior to Dec 30
- TxGC Members always get $5 each ticket
February Speaker: John Augusto ‘02, USNA Alumni Assoc. Trustee
John Augusto will provide an update from Annapolis; the latest priorities for both USNA and the Alumni Association and provide a discussion and answer questions about how the Alumni Association is serving the Alumni and how best the Alumni can still serve the Academy.
John recently returned from the Winter Board of Trustees meeting where he represents the TxGC Chapter as a Trustee. The Trustees are responsible for governing the Alumni Association and advising the Naval Academy on matters related to the Alumni Association to include fundraising, donations, governance, and various other matters. John sits on both the Member Services and Admissions committees.
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- TxGC Members, use the discount code, provided via email, at check out
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake
March Speaker: Don Houk, Lone Star Flight Museum
Living History Presentation: The Doolittle Raid: Immediately after the Japanese surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered our military to attack Tokyo, the capital of the Japanese empire. At that time, we did not have an airplane that would go that far. Therefore, under a tight veil of secrecy, Lt. Col. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle was selected to put together a plan to place medium Army bombers on an aircraft carrier for the purpose of completing the order issued by President Roosevelt. Many things went wrong! By special permission by the Doolittle Raiders themselves, Lone Star Flight Museum presents the only first-person presentation of this momentous event.
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- TxGC Members, use the discount code, provided via email, at check out
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake
Buddy Wellborn ‘59 Annual N* Football VIRTUAL Lunch
Special presentation, game to game, Navy football preview and predictions by Mike Yeager ‘76
- Free event for TxGC members
- Disc. code sent via email newsletter
- $5 for non-TxGC members
- Online, virtual event via Zoom
- Limited to 100 attendees
Mike Yeager, ’76, played QB and slot back on the ’73,’74,’75 Navy football teams that won three Commander-In-Chief’s Trophies beating Army 3 times by a combined score of 100-6. Upon graduation, he served in USMC Artillery for 5 1/2 years. After leaving the service, he began a career as a petroleum engineer with ExxonMobil for 26 years and served as the CEO of BHP Petroleum for 8 years. He now serves as a Trustee on the Athletic and Scholarship Program committee at USNA providing needed funds for all 33 Navy Sports teams and is active with local Houston Marine Corps League Detachment #324 providing funeral honors for deceased Marines and assisting local Marines in need.
October Virtual “Lunch” Presentation with Prof. Richard Murray, PhD, Bob Lanier Chair in Urban Public Policy, and Director of Survey Research Institute, University of Houston
- Free event for TxGC members
- Disc. code sent via email newsletter
- $5 for non-TxGC members
- Online, virtual event via Zoom
- Limited to only 100 attendees
Richard Murray is a native of Louisiana with B.A. and M.A. degrees in Government from Louisiana State University (1962, 1963) and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota (1967). Dr. Murray has taught at the University of Houston since 1966, and is the Bob Lanier Chair in Urban Public Policy. After serving as the Director of the University of Houston Center for Public Policy for over nine years, he is now concentrating on the Center’s polling operations as the Director of the Survey Research Institute.
His academic interests are in Houston and Texas politics, focusing on campaigns and elections, political parties and interest groups, and public opinion. Professor Murray has written extensively in these areas including co-authoring Texas Politics: An Introduction (6 Editions, 1972-1992), and Progrowth Politics: Change and Governance in Houston (1991), while teaching courses ranging from graduate seminars to introductory American Government.
Professor Murray has previously consulted in more than 200 political campaigns. He conducts polls for The Houston Chronicle, other media, and local governments, and is the political commentator for the local ABC affiliate, KTRK-TV, Channel 13. In addition, his analyses and commentary are carried by television and radio, as well as print media such as The New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, and The Houston Chronicle.
National Security and International Conflict: China & Russia
Lunch and discussion presented by Prof. Richard Stoll, Rice University, Albert Thomas Professor of Political Science
In addition to being well known as one of Rice University’s outstanding teachers, Professor Stoll is an accomplished scholar of international conflict. He has used computer simulation techniques and statistical analysis to study topics such as arms competitions, comparative foreign policy, and political realism. Dr. Stoll recently participated in a ten university effort funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to collect data on militarized interstate disputes. Along with Devika Subramanian of Rice’s Computer Science Department, Dr. Stoll is engaged in an effort to create events data from online news sources and to predict the outbreak of serious international conflict. This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation.
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- TxGC Members, use the discount code, provided via email, at check out
- Attendance limited to meet COVID protocols
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake
“A Warfare of Dockyards”: Expeditious Shipbuilding in the War of 1812. Lunch & presentation with William Prom ‘09, writer & historian.
During the War of 1812, two self-taught American shipbuilders, the brothers Adam and Noah Brown, made everything from gunboats to ships of the line for the U.S. Navy—including the most successful privateers, the sloop of war Peacock, and the first steam-powered warship, Demologos. However, their most impressive work occurred in the wilderness around the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. The presentation will illustrate some of their impressive feats and provide insight into current debates about raising and maintaining our modern navy.
William Prom commissioned into the Marine Corps after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2009 with a B.S. in History. In the Marine Corps, he served as an artillery officer for 5th Battalion, 11th Marines at Camp Pendleton, CA. He deployed to the Helmand province of Afghanistan in 2012 as a HIMARS Fire Direction Officer and on the 13th MEU in 2013-2014 as the BLT 1/4 Fire Support Officer and Fire Support Coordinator. William left the Marine Corps in 2014 and now works as a writer for CareerPro Global. His freelance work generally focuses on early U.S. Naval history and can be found in Naval History, CIMSEC, Real Clear Defense, and elsewhere.
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- TxGC Members, use the discount code, provided via email, at check out
- Attendance limited to meet COVID protocols
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake
Casual, “no-host” (pay your own meal) lunch in Beaumont for any Alumni or parents in the Beaumont area. No RSVP necessary but it helps us get a big enough table. Just look for us wearing Navy gear at the restaurant.
Buddy Wellborn ‘59 Annual N* Football Lunch
Special presentation, game to game, Navy football preview and predictions by Mike Yeager ‘76
- $30 per person, advance purchase
- $5 OFF for TxGC member
- Disc. code sent via email newsletter
- Lunch provided by El Tiempo Cantina
- Limited attendance, very limited walk-ups
Mike Yeager, ’76, played QB and slot back on the ’73,’74,’75 Navy football teams that won three Commander-In-Chief’s Trophies beating Army 3 times by a combined score of 100-6. Upon graduation, he served in USMC Artillery for 5 1/2 years. After leaving the service, he began a career as a petroleum engineer with ExxonMobil for 26 years and served as the CEO of BHP Petroleum for 8 years. He now serves as a Trustee on the Athletic and Scholarship Program committee at USNA providing needed funds for all 33 Navy Sports teams and is active with local Houston Marine Corps League Detachment #324 providing funeral honors for deceased Marines and assisting local Marines in need.
October Monthly Lunch
- Friday, October 8: 11:30 am – 1:00 pm
- El Tiempo Cantina – 2814 Navigation Blvd
- $30 per person, advance purchase
- $5 OFF for TxGC member
- Disc. code sent via email newsletter
- Lunch provided by El Tiempo Cantina
- Limited attendance, very limited walk-ups
Afghanistan Experiences & Interpreters with Ian Knowles ’02 and Cress Clippard.
Listen to Ian and Cress share their personal experiences as Marines in Afghanistan and the impact interpreters had on their missions. They will discuss what it took to support interpreters seeking U.S. citizenship in the past and the importance of continued advocacy for Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans today.