The academies also emphasized physical prowess and that sort

The academies also emphasized physical prowess and that sort of scared me off. I have never had great sports skills and my hand-eye coordination is less than perfect. As a hard core nerd, I was also interested in the science-Brain schools: MIT, Cal-Tech, Berkeley, Rice. By this time Rice Institute had become Rice University.

When I came down to it, Rice won out in my mind and I applied.

Two of my older classmates attended Rice: Charlie Helpinstill (Now known as the musician Ezra Charles) and Homer Walker. Both fellow band nerds. I got to spend a weekend at Rice visiting Charlie in the spring of my senior year.

Probably my best friend in high school was Daniel Patrick Sullivan - Pat. He and I were neck and neck for the best grades and we loved science and math.

At French High School, there was a test given to determine class ranking. I came out valedictorian, Patrick was salutatorian and Judy Walker was high ranking girl (she was Homer Walker’s younger sister). Pat also applied to Rice and we both received our acceptance letters in late March or early April of 1964.