I knew Pat Morris Neff ... and it changed my life

I was green and shy and barely 17 when I entered Baylor University as a freshman in the fall of 1946. And I was much in awe of Dr. Pat M. Neff, who was president of Baylor at the time.

It was not just that I had learned about his extraordinary record as governor of Texas while studying Texas history in the fourth grade. Or that later I heard preachers talk about his exemplary service while twice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. I had also listened to my father and uncle talk of hearing his stirring orations at political rallies and Fourth of July picnics.

I asked for a chapel seat assignment right down front and center. I didn't want to miss a thing the man had to say.

 When Dr. Neff stepped to the podium on that first day, he looked as if he had come to life from a color picture in a history book -- an erect, military, even god-like bearing, dark blue silk suit, long double-breasted coat, winged color and black, string bow tie in the manner worn by his Baylor classmate, Senator Tom Connally. And his long, silver hair, slightly tinted blue, curled up over the back of his collar.
As the crowd hushed, Dr. Neff grasped the pulpit stand with both hands and surveyed the crowd from side to side and said, "There is something you dumb freshmen must learn: Never let your studies interfere with your college education." He had our attention.

He spoke for 20 minutes on that subject, and it changed my life.

"Long after you have forgotten what you learn in the classrooms at Baylor," he said, "you will remember and continue to be blessed by the experiences you have and the people you meet."

Dr. Neff gave some very practical pointers about remembering experiences by tying them to their setting -- whether a building, a tree, a view, or a sunset. With some pride, he suggested that we glance at the silver dome and lighted cupula of Pat Neff Hall, which could be seen from any point on the campus at that time. "And years later," he said, "when you return for a homecoming, you will view it from that angle, and the memory of that experience will come alive."

As to the importance of the people we meet, Dr. Neff reminded us, "While you are here this year, some of the most important leaders of our time will cross this campus -- Artur Rubenstein will play a concert; and you will hear speakers such as Dr. Howard Conant, president of Harvard and father of the Manhattan Project that created the atomic bomb; the noted novelist Dixon Wecter, a Baylor alum; Col. James Sapp, Surgeon General of the United States, who personally rode a rocket sled to test whether a human could survive ejection from an aircraft at supersonic speeds. And Bob Hope and Spike Jones and his City Slickers will perform in this hall."

When our giggles wore down, Dr. Neff continued, "Don't just say, 'I was at Baylor when Artur Rubenstein was there.' Be able to say, 'I knew Artur Rubenstein.

"These people are as interested in what you think as you are in them. Often they are insulated by celebrity, separated from the people. Just walk up to them, stick out your hand and say, 'Hi, I'm Slime So-and-so!'

"Now, look around you," he said. "Go ahead, I'll wait."

There was an uneasy shuffle as we gawked at our neighbors.

"In less time than you know," he said, "those classmates whom you saw will be the leaders of our nation in government, business, medicine, religion ... Don't just say, 'I was at Baylor when so-and-so was there.' Be able to say, 'I knew so-and-so when I was at Baylor.'"

When the words and the ovation had ended, "That Good Ol' Baylor Line" had been sung, I floated out the front doors of Waco Hall, marched straight past Judge Baylor's statue and headed for Pat Neff Hall. I went straight to the president's secretary and announced, "I want to arrange an appointment with Dr. Neff!"

"May I say what the appointment is about?" she asked.\

"I just want to meet him," I said.

When the day came, as I was ushered into the office, Dr. Neff stepped around his desk and strode across the room with his hand extended. "Hi, Slime Dillard!" (He could read my name printed on the bill of my Slime cap.) "What can I do for you today?"

"Nothing, really, sir," I said. "Except, I really believed you in that first chapel service. And I don't want to say, 'I went to Baylor with Dr. Pat Neff was president.' I want to say, 'I knew Pat Morris Neff!"

He threw his head back and gave a belly laugh. "Well, what shall we talk about?" as he removed his coat and settled back in his throne-like chair.

I began by recalling his accomplishment in establishing the state's roadside parks system. Then I told of our family picnics and church hayrides to Mother Neff State Park near Moody, Texas. "I know there's a story there," I said. And he told me the story of the old home place where he grew up and of his love for his saintly mother, "to whom I owe everything I have become," he said.

We filled the next 20 minutes with talk of many things that have been long forgotten. But I will never forget that encounter, and it turned me around.

For the rest of my days at Baylor, whenever I would see Dr. Neff walking across the campus, greeting others with a smile and a nod, he would always call me by name. I knew Pat Morris Neff.

I had more occasions to be close to him, later as freshman president and as a member of a quartet that sang at some of his speaking engagements. But for the rest of my life, I have followed his advice and sought out some of the greats of our day, not content to say I was part of the audience.

Some of those whom I have met have become fast friends. Some will be subjects of other posts, for they were "hinges" of my history. Many have continued to open doors of opportunity. And all of them have enriched my life.

Comments

[air jordans]

The Antarctic penguins are dying, we will go to save it

[Stephen Hudson]

Thank you, Mr. Dillard, as I type through misted eyes.

I will be passing this on to my son, who will be entering Baylor this Fall, Class of 2016.

[Douglas Dillard]

Thanks. This is why I told this story. May I suggest you do what I have done several times. Usually parents stage some kind of off-to-college party for their children. Why not share this story to climax that occasion?

Sent from my iPhone

Doug Dillard
254-939-0419 Home
254-931-3424 Cell
dougdillard@brotherblotz.com
www.brotherblotz.com