JOHNNY MATHIS AT TEXAS A&M

TEXAS A&M CONCERT IN 1967

In 1966-67, I was a recipient of a National Foundation Grant for an Academic Year at Texas A&M. There were approximately 30 of us, all science teachers, given the opportunity to gain more knowledge and perhaps receive a Graduate degree. It was a fun year, one filled with lots of study, but also lots of recreational time. Two other single guys and I lived in a brand-new apartment project and our place became the Friday night poker place, which was one of our fondest memories. We also had the opportunity to play golf at the Aggie golf course. There were also hand ball courts which we had access to. Tennis courts were also available if we wanted to play. Most of the Academic Year participants were interested in sports and so we entered the Intramural sports program and competed in several sports, including Football, Tennis, and Wrestling. We also had available things like concerts and other extracurricular activities. For years I had remembered a concert I attended, but when I asked one of my former roommates, he did not remember going to a Johnny Mathis concert. I was sure that I had gone, and this is what I remembered:

While performing, the sound system was lost, and Mathis performed perfectly with NO working sound system. He sang and sounded good without any electronics, only his natural voice. We became aware of what caused the problem when it was announced that a mouse had somehow caused it. They soon had it restored, so Johnny finished his show with full electronics, but his sound was great without electronics. After all these years I thought maybe I had dreamed that Johnny Mathis had performed at A&M, but today I googled,and found that indeed, Johnny Mathis performed at Texas A&m.