Main Content
Big Tex at ACU

Bringing Big Tex to campus in 1955 was no small feat

Visitors to the State Fair of Texas this month will find it hard to miss Big Tex, the 55-foot-tall cowboy who has stood sentinel over the nation’s largest state fair since 1952. Millions of fairgoers each year experience his towering presence, friendly wave and iconic “Howdy” greeting. His legacy, however, is not confined to the … Continued
James Segrest

ACU Remembers: James Segrest

James Lewis Segrest (’59), a Texas high school track and field legend and the last surviving member of world record-setting Abilene Christian University relay teams of the mid-1950s, died Aug. 5, 2023, in Fort Worth, Texas, at age 86. Friends and family remembered him in a memorial service Aug. 12 in Granbury, Texas.  Segrest was … Continued

Don Rhoden

ACU Remembers: Don Rhoden

Former longtime ACU trustee Don Clifford Rhoden (’58) died Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Tuscola, Texas, at age 87.  A time of visitation will be held Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, at 5 p.m. at Piersall Funeral Directors (733 Butternut St., Abilene, Texas 79602), followed by a time of remembrance at 6 p.m. Rhoden was born … Continued

Lynay students conduct soccer camp in Poland for Ukrainian refugees.

Lynay students, staff volunteer with Ukrainian refugee children in Poland

A group of ACU students took their soccer skills and a desire to love their neighbors to Poland this summer to conduct a soccer camp for Ukrainian refugee children who have resettled there. The 12 students, all Lynay scholars at ACU, traveled June 4-15 to Warsaw, where they partnered with Abilene-based Play4More Soccer and Bob … Continued

Alumni reflect on FilmFest impact as student festival enters 20th year

This spring more than a hundred students submitted films for the 19th FilmFest Gala at the historic Paramount Theatre: FilmFest Flashback. The event featured short films in a variety of genres including western, scifi, thriller, rom-com and documentary with awards given out in 14 categories.  Because of a shift in scheduling in 2008 that moved … Continued

play4more summer soccer camp

Social impact venture Play4More emerges from soccer camp for refugee children

What started as a summer soccer camp to engage Abilene’s refugee children has expanded into a global effort providing free soccer balls to underprivileged children across the world, and will partner this summer with Bob Goff’s Love Does organization to offer a soccer camp for Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Drs. Jason (’96) and Heidi (White … Continued

Ginna Sadler

ACU Remembers: Ginna Sadler

Virginia “Ginna” Joyce Gufstafson Sadler (’70), professor emeritus of art and design at Abilene Christian University, died March 12, 2023, in Abilene, Texas, at age 74. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. March 25 in the Ministry Activity Center at University Church of Christ (733 E.N. 16th St., Abilene, Texas 79601). Visitation … Continued

ACU Remembers: Dr. Marianna Yarbrough Rasco

Longtime Abilene Christian University professor Dr. Marianna Yarbrough Rasco (’53) died March 10, 2023, in Abilene, Texas, at age 93.  A memorial service will be held at University Church of Christ (733 E.N. 16th St., Abilene, Texas 79601) on Wednesday, March 15, at 2 p.m., with burial afterward at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Abilene. Visitation … Continued