Compiled by Rachel Knight
This month, INSITE Magazine celebrates 35 years in the Brazos Valley. For those of you who have been loyal readers from the beginning, we thank you. Even if this is the first magazine you’ve picked up, we are thankful for your support. As a special treat, we’ve pulled trivia from the last 35 years of INSITE. So dust off your old issues and see how much you remember about the Brazos Valley!
1984 True or false? Mason Lee “Red” Cashion, Jr., an NFL referee and chief executive officer of Anco Insurance, was born in Bryan College Station’s oldest hospital that is still operating today.
Answer: False. He was born on the Texas A&M University campus according to Insite’s June 1984 issue.
1985 On the 40th anniversary of D-Day in France, Margaret Rudder, wife of former Texas A&M University president Earl Rudder, received a note from which famous news anchor according to Insite’s 1985 February issue?
Answer: Walter Cronkite
1986 True or false? In January of 1986, Insite reported that tourism has an annual impact of $55 million in Brazos County, according to the Texas Travel Data Center.
Answer: True.
1987 Rollie Burr is a descendent of Aaron Burr, the man who fatally wounded Alexander Hamilton in a duel on July 11, 1804. Rollie is also a local business owner. What business does he run?
Answer: Burr’s Unfinished Furniture
1988 One of the most famous pancake makers of all time, Aunt Jemima, was born and raised in which Brazos Valley city according to Insite’s June 1988 issue?
Answer: Hearne
1989 According to Insite’s 1989 July issue, what three Native American tribes were the area’s earliest inhabitants?
Answer: Tonkawa, Towakani, and Waco Indians.
1990 In August of 1990, Insite reported that Brazos County had nine inmates on Death Row at the Texas Department of Corrections in Huntsville. Only three other Texas counties had a higher number of criminals awaiting execution. What where those three counties?
Answer: Dallas, Harris, and Tarrant
1991 True or false? Lyle Lovett says in Insite’s January 1991 issue that he was inspired to try his luck as a musician after a summer job power washing Kyle Field was cut short when he broke his collar bone.
Answer: False. He broke his collar bone two weeks into a summer job installing plumbing at construction sites. The next year, he decided to give “something easier” a try.
1992 Bryanite Annabelle Perry Loyd used her artistic specialty called trompe l’ oeil, an intriguing art form that “fools the eye” into thinking a painting is a three-dimensional object, to decorate what popular amusement park in Texas?
Answer: Six Flags Fiesta Texas, according to Insite’s 1992 May issue.
1993 In Insite’s 1993 May issue, readers learned that four big lottery winners, including two multi-million-dollar winners, purchased their tickets at the same Brazos Valley store. All four winners were also residents of this small town. Name the town in which these winners purchased their tickets. Bonus points if you know the name of the store!
Answer: Caldwell. The store was Englemann’s Quick Stop on Highway 36.
1994 The first night depository in the nation was installed at this location of the second oldest bank in Texas. Which Brazos Valley bank and location is this?
Answer: First National Bank building in Downtown Bryan. The bank was organized in 1862 by Guy M. Bryan, Jr., son of William J. Bryan, Bryan’s founding father.
1995 True or false? Two high schools, one all black and the other all white, were merged in 1971 when court-ordered integration finally took place in Bryan. Kemp and Stephen F. Austin students worked together all summer to select a new school mascot, color, and song, to prevent one group from feeling subjugated by the other, according to Insite’s 1995 November issue.
Answer: True.
1996 True or false? Stephen Spielberg’s first movie, Sugarland Express, was based on an incident that culminated in the Brazos Valley.
Answer: True.
1997 If you’ve ever placed an order at a drive through window, odds are you’ve used one of these. This device reduces order-taking errors and was invented by Robert Bower, Jr., former director of the Texas A&M Computer Center and owner of Texas Digital Systems. What is this device, according to Insite’s 1997 January issue?
Answer: Digital display screens listing your order.
1998 Insite’s 1998 November issue featured Angelique Gammon, publisher of Insite Magazine until 2018, and her family on the cover. What did the Gammons do that was so cover-worthy?
Answer: Lived the Amish lifestyle for a week.
1999 Chris Lampo, owner of Christopher’s World Grille, sailed the world on a private yacht cooking for celebrities before returning to College Station to open his restaurant. Name three of the celebrities Insite reported Lampo cooking for in the 1999 January issue.
Answer: Elle Macpherson, Denzel Washington, Norm Nixon, Debbie Allen, Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper, Robert De Niro, Mick Jagger, Yoko Ono, and Naomi Campbell
2000 Insite reported in the 2000 March issue that Texas A&M University considered three different locations, one in west Bryan, one in east Bryan, and one in south College Station, to become a new home for their golf teams. The west Bryan location was chosen and is known as Traditions Club today. What did the other two development sites become?
Answer: Miramont Country Club in east Bryan and Tower Point in south College Station
2001 Insite’s 2001 Big 12 Football Preview featured a full-page image of this two-time Super Bowl Champion who played as a wide receiver for Texas A&M. In his professional football career, he played for the New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, Houston Texans, and the Toronto Agonauts. Who was this player?
Answer: Bethel Johnson
2002 True or false? Insite published an essay by local author William T. Harper in November of 2002 titled The End of the World. The essay went into great detail about his eyewitness account of atomic bomb testing.
Answer: False. Harper’s essay was about the world’s first detonation of a hydrogen bomb. The detonation Harper witnessed was equivalent to the force of 10 million tons of TNT and vaporized an island.
2003 True or false? Washington-on-the-Brazos is the town where 59 representatives voted the Republic of Texas into existence in 1835.
Answer: False. The Republic of Texas was voted into existence in 1836.
2004 This man appears soaring through a bright blue sky on the cover of Insite’s 2004 June issue as he celebrates his 80th birthday. He and his wife called Bryan College Station their home away from home. Who is this person?
Answer: President George H.W. Bush.
2005 True or false? The late Charles Gordone, a Texas A&M University professor, was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for playwriting, but because he resisted any recognition that drew more attention to his race than his achievements, he wasn’t a popular figure among black nationalists, according to his wife in the 2005 February issue of Insite.
Answer: True. He was however a very popular professor at Texas A&M University where he helped invigorate diversity on campus.
2006 In a feature about Texas A&M University’s vet school in Insite’s 2006 February issue, students and faculty are pictured working with four different animals. What animals were students and faculty working with? The answer may surprise you!
Answer: An elephant, tortoise, bear, and lion.
2007 True or false? The Bombers Baseball team played their first season in 2007.
Answer: False. The Bombers started as a minor league baseball team in 1947. They played under the name Bryan Bombers.
2008 True or false? Though the Brazos Valley African American Museum opened in 2006, Mell Pruitt, one of the museum’s founders, started collecting local articles and photos about African American life more than 50 years before the grand opening, according to Insite’s 2008 July issue.
Answer: True.
2009 Insite reported in 2009’s July issue that Blue Bell’s original name was Brenham Creamery Co. Though the brand is a household name now, the Brenham Creamery Co. fell deep into the red in 1919. E.F. Kruse accepted management of the struggling ice-cream company, and chose the new name of the company. What did he name Blue Bell after?
Answer: His favorite Texas flower, bluebells.
2010 In Insite’s October issue of 2010, readers learned about celebrity photographer Connie Wortham. In the article, Wortham reminisces about her days as a glamour girl photographer to 1950s stars. Name one of the celebrities she photographed.
Answer: Ted Lewis, Eddie Arnold, Robert Wagner, Johnnie Ray, Elvis Presley, President Harry Truman, Senator Stuart Symington, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, Jeff Chandler, Joan Crawford, The Crew Cuts, Nat King Cole, and Pearl Bailey.
2011 According to Insite’s 2011 September issue, the Aggies returned to the Cotton Bowl for the first time in a quarter of a century and defeated Alabama in 1968. Who carried Coach Stallings off the field after the Aggies’ victory?
Answer: Bear Bryant, a former Aggie coach and the University of Alabama’s coach in 1968. Stallings was one of Bryant’s “Junction Boys” in 1954.
2012 According to Insite’s February 2012 issue, this Brazos Valley invention revolutionized the ranching and farming industry by allowing individual farmers and ranchers the flexibility of larger loads and more efficient and expedient transport of livestock and other agricultural products using their same trucks. What is this invention?
Answer: The Gooseneck Trailer.
2013 Insite’s July 2013 issue featured photography by Robert Sebree, a Los Angeles photographer and Texas A&M graduate. His first successes were with music artists like Janet Jackson, Van Halen, Tom Petty, and Michael Jackson. He also has high profile advertising clients. Name one of the five corporations listed as his advertising clients.
Answer: Coca Cola, Delta, Hewlett Packard, Sony, and Kohl’s
2014 Insite reported on four businesses with longevity of about 100 years in the Brazos Valley in January 2014. The oldest of these businesses has been in business since 1891, has ties to the man who started the cadet band at Texas A&M University, and is the primary supplier of the Corps’ senior boots. What business is this?
Answer: Holick’s Boots
2015 According to Insite’s May/June issue in 2015, in the early 1900s there were 23 legitimate businesses in downtown Bryan. How many saloons were in Downtown Bryan at that time?
Answer: Twenty-three. One was even nicknamed “Third National Bank of Bryan” because of the large number of deposits made there on Friday and Saturday nights.
2016 True or false? According to Insite’s August issue from 2016, Dr. J.P. Bramhall, an orthopedic surgeon and leader of the physicians who treat Aggie athletes, successfully performed an arthroscopic knee surgery on an African lion when asked to do so by the Texas A&M Large Animal Hospital.
Answer: True
2017 Shiner Park, a popular bar with two dance floors on Northgate today, originally opened as what in 1940?
Answer: A movie theater, according to Insite’s 2017 August issue.
2018 The Cavitts were an influential family, who built their Bryan home in the late 1870s. According to Insite’s September 2018 issue, four streets in Bryan are named after the Cavitt family. What are the names of these five streets?
Answer: Cavitt Avenue, Twin Boulevard, Esther Street, and Ethel Street
2019 Insite reported in March that the Alpaca Capital of Texas is located in the Brazos Valley. Which Brazos Valley town is also known as the Alpaca Capital of Texas?
Answer: Navasota
