Chieftain, Volume 19, Number 3, Fall 1971 Page: 1
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McMURRY COLLEGE
(3L ieltain
Fall 1971
Graduation day breaks up McM's 1934 Texas Conference championship basketball team. From left: Connie Smith, Francis Smith, Amon Johnson, Paul Smith, Jim McKenzie, Bob Curry, Herman Hill.
Medleymen Set Homecoming Reunion
The "Medleymen" are returning to the
Reservation on Friday and Saturday, October 22-
23 for Homecoming '71.
A reunion of the 1934 Texas Conference
championship basketball team will add a special
zest to this gathering of Medleymen — all athletes
who played any sport at McMurry during the
coaching tenure of R. M. Medley.
Beginning with the opening of McMurry in
1923, Medley taught and coached at McMurry
through the spring semester of 1939. He is con-
sidered the "Father" of the physical education
and athletic programs at McMurry.
Mr. Medley coached both basketball and
football at McMurry, along with baseball, track
and tennis, during the Medley years. In only the
second year of membership in the now legendary
Texas Conference, McMurry's 1934 basketball
team won the championship. Members of that
team were Jim McKenzie, Paul Smith, George F.
(Francis) Smith, Bob Curry, and C. L. Harless.
First substitute was John Daniel and others on
the team were Herman Bebe Hill, Frank Ferrell,
Connie Smith and Bobby Blackburn.
The first game of that 1934 basketball sea-
son Was lost to Southwestern Oklahoma, a strong
non-conference foe. McMurry then won twelve
straight Texas Conference games, some by very
one-sided scores. Two games were won from each
of the other six Texas Conference members:
A.C.C., Austin College of Sherman, South-
western University of Georgetown, St. Edwards
University of Austin, and Howard Payne College
and Daniel Baker College (now closed) both of
Brown wood.
The only really close conference games that
season were played with A.C.C. McMurry won
each game by three points; the first game in the
final seconds and the last game in the second
overtime. First substitute John Daniel scored the
winning points in this last game when he came in
to replace Francis Smith who fouled out of the
game. Jim McKenzie and Francis Smith were
picked for the all Texas Conference team that year
and Bob Curry made the second team.
Where are these men today? 4- L. McKenzie
is secretary-treasurer and manager of Farmers
Mutual Fire Insurance Company and lives in
Cleveland, Tennessee. Paul S. Smith is execu-
tive vice-president of General Motors Acceptance
Corporation in New York City. George F. Smith
now is principal of West Side Elementary School
in Hearne, Texas. R. W. Curry lives in Pampa,
Texas, and owns Four R Industrial Supply Com-
pany, with several branches in the Texas and
Oklahoma Panhandle regions. C. L. Harless lives
in San Angelo, Texas, and owns the York Nut
Sheller Company, manufacturers of the Texan
Sheller.
Through the years McMurry athletes have
won other championships, but probably none more
satisfying than this 1934 Texas Conference
basketball title.
Coach and Mrs. Medley will host a special
reunion breakfast for the 1934 championship team
on Saturday morning (Oct. 23) of Homecoming.
All Medleymen will gather for a reunion at the
Saturday luncheon in Indian Gym, with Mr. and
Mrs. Medley as honored guests. Other Home-
coming activities will begin on Friday at Teepee
Village — an authentic Indian village erected on
campus by student organizations — and will climax
on Saturday evening at the Homecoming football
game with Sul Ross State University.
In calling for the Medleymen to get
together for a "clam bake," Coach Medley said,
"I, personally, long to see as many of you as
possible. It would be great if all of us could
get there."
The Medley Years at McM
by Mike Davis
McMurry Sports Information Director
R. M. Medley has never been the type to
sit back and watch the world as it turns. You
might say he has done his share to see that the
world keeps spinning. (Continued)
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McMurry College. Chieftain, Volume 19, Number 3, Fall 1971, periodical, 1970; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth238660/m1/1/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting McMurry University Library.