The grass
has long since grown over the well-worn path, but memories of marching
along the Bull Ring remain vivid for many Schreiner Institute-era
former students.
The Bull Ring
was a route around campus that was used to walk off demerits. In the
early days at Schreiner you could get a demerit for almost anything:
talking out of turn, unshined boots, hair too long, seemingly bad
attitude, general principles.
Demerits meant loss of privileges, and in those days privileges were
scarce and valuable, so most Schreiner students chose to walk them
off immediately—or at least as immediately as possible.
Not all students were subject to Bull Ring discipline. Capt. Jack
Stevens USN (Ret) ’43 recalls, “In the olden times there
were at least two categories of ‘Schreiner Boys.’ There
were the regular cadets who lived on campus and the ‘Day Dodgers,’
who did not live on campus and were not subject to many of the strict
regulations.
“The Bull Ring,” according to Stevens “started on
the east side of the Weir Building and ran clockwise along the north
side of Dickey and AC Schreiner Halls, down to the campus entrance
at Hwy 27 then back past the south side of Hoon Hall to the Weir Building.”
One well-remembered Bull Ring walker is Harry Martin ’51, thanks
to a prank he pulled on the new students in Delaney Hall. As Harry
tells the tale, he and his roommate plugged up their bathtub drain
and opened the faucets wide to let the tub overflow. When the water
in their room was about 6 inches deep they opened their door and sent
a wave of water down the hall to greet the new arrivals.
“For this stroke of genius,” Martin recalls, “we
were rewarded with 40 demerits, probation, confinement to quarters,
etc. Each demerit was one hour walking the Bull Ring, which translated
out to four weeks. During that time I became intimately familiar with
the anatomy of the bolt action rifle on my shoulder.”
Stevens also remembers carrying a rifle when, he admits, “I
did have to walk the Bull Ring on at least one occasion. Talking was
not permitted. Marching was always done after school hours, and I
do remember that local young ladies thought it was great fun to ride
out to campus to see who the ‘criminals’ were that day.”
Don Martin ’53 remembers, “Some of us would occasionally
go down to the river and partake of a few ‘adult beverages.’”He
was, as we say today, busted, and in the grand tradition of prisoners
of principle, refused to turn in his fellow imbibers even when called
before ‘the Dreaded Discipline Committee.’
For this selfless act he was, of course “...duly punished by
reduction in rank and by receiving a large number of demerits which,”
he says, “I walked off during numerous tours on the Bull Ring
that fall.” The incident turned out well because, as Martin
recalls, “I got back my rank and went on to graduate second
in my class.”
D. Allen Lawshae ’49 says he had occasion to walk the Bull Ring
for some long-forgotten misdeed, but one bizarre event made it memorable
more than a halfcentury later. “I was walking off demerits one
afternoon with a number of other cadets when a very large woman on
a large motorcycle rode through the south gate with her female companion
on behind.
They did a complete circle of the Bull Ring, scattering cadets as
they went and laughing uproariously. They then proceeded to chase
the cadets all over the parade ground. When they tired of this, they
rode back out through the south gate and disappeared.”
While the Bull Ring stories we’ve heard through the years have
been many and varied, one thread weaves them together. Long after
the “crime” had been punished, there seems to remain a
lingering nostalgia for the days when the rules were clear. If they
were broken, the price had to be paid. But redemption and forgiveness
were always found in the Bull Ring.
Editor’s note: We don’t have a single photograph of anyone
walking the Bull Ring. If you have a Bull Ring photo, would you consider
letting us scan it for our school archives? Please contact graphic
designer Stephanie Lopez at selopez@schreiner.edu or at scene@schreiner.edu.
Front Cover