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12th Man Foundation Announces Inaugural E. King Gill Award Honorees
COLLEGE
STATION, TEXAS. --- As a descendent of E. King Gill there may be no
more appropriate recipients of the inaugural E. King Gill Award than
Jack Little ’60 and his wife Carolyn, who will be honored for their
lifetime support for Texas A&M athletics during the Aggies’
football game vs. Texas on Thanksgiving Night at Kyle Field.
The
award, which will be presented each year by the 12th Man Foundation,
honors those supporters who have generously helped the Foundation
realize its mission of “Funding scholarships, programs and facilities
in support of championship athletics.”
In addition, the E.
King Gill Award recognizes those who have shown the commitment as a
volunteer advocate of the athletic program through exemplary service
and leadership while demonstrating a high level of distinction as a
role model in career, service and ethics.
The honorees of
this prestigious award will be recognized on an engraved plaque in the
Zone’s Stepp Grand Lobby, located just outside the 12th Man Foundation
offices.
The Littles were surprised with the announcement in their suite at Kyle Field during halftime of the Kansas game on Nov. 19.
“We
couldn’t be any happier,” said Jack Little, former Chair of the 12th
Man Foundation’s Board of Trustees and retired President and CEO of
Shell. “It’s quite an honor and was very unexpected. It took me quite a
while for it to sink in.”
“Since
I’m not on the Board of Trustees anymore, I wasn’t clued in that the
award was being instigated. I certainly would not have thought that my
name and Carolyn’s name would have been at the top of the list. I can
think of many other people who are much more deserving for this award.
It was just a great thrill to be the recipient of this award. It’s
quite an honor.”
Little,
who also was the chair of the Foundation’s first capital campaign for
athletics in 2000, has been a longtime supporter of Texas A&M
athletics. Jack and Carolyn provided the lead gift for the Little
Athletic Complex that houses the softball, soccer and track and field
facilities on A&M’s west campus.
The
Littles are fixtures at A&M athletic events, and so when a program
like Gary Blair’s women’s basketball team reached the pinnacle of its
sport by winning the national championship, there was unfathomable
pride to exude.
“The
experiences of being in a position to see how the athletic program has
blossomed in the last 10 years and how we are just excelling in almost
every sport…I think the 12th Man Foundation has had a tremendous role
to play in addition to Bill Byrne and the athletic department
recruiting the coaches,” added Little, whose mother was a second cousin
of the original E. King Gill. “To see the success we’ve had on
the field of play in all of our sports, it’s just been really
rewarding. It gives you a great feeling to know that in some way we’ve
had a little part to play in bringing that about.”
Carolyn,
who wed Jack the summer before his senior year, said no school deserves
more support than Texas A&M. “It holds such a special place
in both of our hearts,” she said. “We’re just so happy for the school.”
A
posthumous E. King Gill award also was bestowed upon Col. George J.
Eppright, Class of 1926. His great nephew Richard Eppright and
his family of Aggies from Fredericksburg will accept the award in his
honor during the game on Thanksgiving night.
Col.
Eppright lived a life of philanthropy and his beloved Texas A&M
University was usually the recipient of his generosity. He made
numerous gifts to many areas of the University throughout his lifetime
including six separate endowments to the 12th Man Foundation. He
also funded the George Eppright Chair in Aerospace Engineering, endowed
the Eppright Award annually honoring A&M’s Outstanding
International Student and the Eppright Residence Hall was named in his
honor.
Col. Eppright’s final tribute to his alma mater
was the largest cash gift in the history of the 12th Man Foundation at
that time when, in 1998, he left his estate of more than $4 million
dollars to benefit athletic scholarships through the 12th Man
Foundation. The Eppright Distinguished Donor Society was named in
honor of his generosity, honoring lifetime giving by members of the
12th Man Foundation.
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