Calendar

Jun
7
Fri
Monthly Lunch: Prof. Ric Stoll, Rice Univ. @ Tony Mandola's Gulf Coast Kitchen
Jun 7 @ 11:30 – 13:00

TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!

  • Advance purchase online: $30 ($25 for TxGC members)
  • Week-of-event & walk-ups*: $35 ($30 for TxGC members)
    • *if seats available
  • TxGC Member discount is provided by a discount code via member-only newsletter

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

Guest Speaker

Richard J. Stoll

Albert Thomas Professor of Political Science, Rice University

Areas of Interest: Research interests include the study of international conflict, public attitudes on foreign and defense policy, and American national security policy. Professor Stoll’s current research encompasses a number of areas.  He is studying naval arms races from 1816 to the present.  In collaboration with other researchers, he is studying support for foreign policies that promote gender equality.  Finally, working with Professor Devika Subramanian of Rice’s Computer Science Department, he is exploring the use of social media (in particular Twitter) to tap public opinion.
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.

Sep
6
Fri
Wellborn ’59 Memorial N* Football Lunch @ Tony Mandola's Gulf Coast Kitchen
Sep 6 @ 11:30 – 13:00

The Buddy Wellborn ’59 tradition continues…

Annual Navy Football Preview Lunch, presented by Dave Miller ’65

Prepare for an in-depth presentation on Navy football… a summary of what happened (and went wrong) last year, as well as an analysis on the team’s strengths and weaknesses going into this year, player by player.  Additionally, prepare of Dave Miller’s prediction on the potential outcome for each opponent.

TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!

  • Advance purchase online: $30 ($25 for TxGC members)
  • Week-of-event & walk-ups*: $35 ($30 for TxGC members) – if seats available
  • TxGC Member discount is provided by a discount code via member-only newsletter

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

About Guest Speaker, Dave Miller ’65.  Dave hails from the mountains of southwest Virginia. The only industry is coal mining. He played football, basketball and baseball in high school, and as a result, has always been an avid sports fan especially when it involves Navy. Dave served as a Navy pilot, and as an instructor at Whiting Field in VT-3 and flew P-3’s out of Jacksonville, Florida, tracking Russian subs. He left the Navy after almost six years and then worked for EDS for 29 years before retirement. He continues consulting.

In memory of Buddy Wellborn ’59.  Raymond Burke “Buddy” Wellborn, Sr., Captain USN (ret.) died 23 October 2018, in League City TX, of complications from an Aortic Aneurism at age 82. Born in Bryan Texas, 13 August 1936, he attended Rice University for 1 year before entering the United States Naval Academy in 1955 in the Class of 1959. He was a standout football player during his time at USNA. He played on the winning 1958 Cotton Bowl team. After graduation, he married Gladys Hamby of Houston Texas and their journey began. He reported to USS Frank Knox for his first tour then eventually went on to Submarine school. After 15 years and numerous tours on diesel boat submarines, including a Command of USS Entemador, he transferred to the Surface Warfare community. He commanded the USS Mount Baker and the USS Detroit. His final command was Navy Electronics Command in Charleston S.C. After 30 years of service, he retired in June 1989 and eventually moved home to Houston. He taught at Texas A&M while earning his Doctorate in Maritime Economics. He then left Texas A&M to pursue his love of writing and lecturing. He had many hobbies, but in the end he enjoyed being involved with the Navy Football brotherhood and as a Trustee United States Naval Academy Foundation and Scholarship Program. He tirelessly wrote game summaries of each Navy football game for friends and many others to enjoy. Each football season, he would travel around to numerous Alumni chapters to give his Navy Football preview.

Oct
4
Fri
October Monthly Lunch: Convict Cowboys @ Tony Mandola's Gulf Coast Kitchen
Oct 4 @ 11:30 – 13:00

October Monthly Lunch with Mitchel Roth

Join us for lunch with MITCHEL P. ROTH, the author of 16 books including Convict Cowboys: The Untold History of the Texas Prison Rodeo, Global Organized Crime: A 21st Century Approach, and An Eye for An Eye: A Global History of Crime and Punishment, translated into Turkish, Croatian, and forthcoming in Chinese. Roth recently completed Fire in the Big House: The Forgotten Story of the Ohio Penitentiary Fire, America’s Worst Prison Disaster, and its Aftermath. He is professor of criminal justice and criminology at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. He resides in The Woodlands, Texas.

Mitch will discuss his latest book, Convict Cowboys.  Convict Cowboys is the first book on the nation’s first prison rodeo, which ran from 1931 to 1986. At its apogee the Texas Prison Rodeo drew 30,000 spectators on October Sundays. Mitchel P. Roth portrays the Texas Prison Rodeo against a backdrop of Texas history, covering the history of rodeo, the prison system, and convict leasing, as well as important figures in Texas penology including Marshall Lee Simmons, O.B. Ellis, and George J. Beto, and the changing prison demimonde.

TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!

  • TxGC Members, use the discount code, provided via email, at check out
  • $35 for non-members
  • $30 for TxGC Members

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
Nov
1
Fri
November Lunch: Prof. Richard Murray @ Tony Mandola's Gulf Coast Kitchen
Nov 1 @ 11:30 – 13:00

November Monthly Lunch with Prof. Richard Murray, PhD, Bob Lanier Chair in Urban Public Policy, and Director of Survey Research Institute, University of Houston 

Richard Murray, longtime professor @ UH and leading commentator on national and local politics, will speak on What impact will the now likely US House impeachment and following Senate trial have on the 2020 election?
 
He will also comment on the impact of possible outcomes resulting from the Trump case.
 
Murray has spoken to us several times over the years, and he’s proven to be always interesting, usually somewhat controversial, and probably more often right than wrong when pushed to opine on election outcomes.

TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!

  • TxGC Members, use the discount code, provided via email, at check out, and get $5 off regular or advance, online price, for each ticket purchased
  • $35 per person (regular price)
  • $30 per person (advanced, online price)

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
Dec
6
Fri
December Lunch: Hon. Chase Untermeyer @ Tony Mandola's Gulf Coast Kitchen
Dec 6 @ 11:30 – 13:00

December Monthly Lunch with the Honorable Chase Untermeyer 

Ambassador Chase Untermeyer will speak on the US relationship with Saudi Arabia, from the early days when Texans began poking in the sands looking for oil to the present, when the Trump Administration maintains close ties with the Saud family despite widespread criticism of their rule.

Chase Untermeyer is founding chairman of the Qatar-America Institute, which aims to increase understanding of the important Qatari-American relationship in security, education, and energy. From 2004 until 2007, he was United States ambassador to Qatar, on appointment of President George W. Bush.

A 1968 graduate of Harvard College with honors in government, he served during the Vietnam War as an officer in the United States Navy aboard a destroyer in the Western Pacific and as aide to the commander of US naval forces in the Philippines. Upon his return to Texas, Ambassador Untermeyer was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and a member of the Texas House of Representatives, elected for a district in Houston.

He left the Legislature in 1981 to go to Washington as executive assistant to then-Vice President Bush.Three years later, President Reagan appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower & Reserve Affairs. When George Bush became president in 1989, Mr Untermeyer returned to the White House as Director of Presidential Personnel and in 1991 was appointed Director of the Voice of America.

TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!

  • TxGC Members, use the discount code, provided via email, at check out, and get $5 off regular or advance, online price, for each ticket purchased
  • $35 per person (regular price)
  • $30 per person (advanced, online price) – price extended through event

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
Jan
3
Fri
Smith-McCool Award Lunch @ Taste of Texas
Jan 3 @ 11:30 – 13:00
  • 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
Feb
7
Fri
February Lunch @ Tony Mandola’s Gulf Coast Kitchen
Feb 7 @ 11:30 – 13:00

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
Mar
6
Fri
March Lunch: Living History: The Doolittle Raid @ Tony Mandola's Gulf Coast Kitchen
Mar 6 @ 11:30 – 13:00

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
Sep
4
Fri
Wellborn ‘59 N* Football Lunch
Sep 4 @ 11:00 – 12:00

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.

Oct
2
Fri
October Monthly (Virtual) Lunch
Oct 2 @ 12:00 – 13:00

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.