Posted 11:26 pm Saturday, September 22, 2012
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Retired teacher takes logo center field
By Dayna Worchel
dworchel@tylerpaper.com
Alan Shumate, who retired from teaching speech and debate at Robert E. Lee High School in 1996 after a 31-year career, didn’t set out to design the rose emblem that graces the center of the playing field at Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.
dworchel@tylerpaper.com
Alan Shumate, who retired from teaching speech and debate at Robert E. Lee High School in 1996 after a 31-year career, didn’t set out to design the rose emblem that graces the center of the playing field at Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.
Shumate, who announced football games for 43 years until ending that in 2009, recalled talking to former athletic director Johanna Denson in 2001 about the new artificial turf the district was installing. He said he had an idea for a new logo.
“I knew the design had to hold up for both Lee and Tyler; I knew it couldn’t be a Lion or a Red Raider,” he said.
Shumate said he originally preferred the lettering to be in script form, but it was changed to block form.
He said he made the sketch, and a fellow teacher, who also retired in 1996, helped him with the colors used in the emblem.
“I wanted something neat and different, and I thought I had a good idea,” Shumate said.
Shumate said he originally preferred the lettering to be in script form, but it was changed to block form.
He said he made the sketch, and a fellow teacher, who also retired in 1996, helped him with the colors used in the emblem.
“I wanted something neat and different, and I thought I had a good idea,” Shumate said.
Ms. Denson saw the sketch and wanted to use it, Shumate said.
The day the workers laid the turf in 2001, he signed the back of it, along with the other workers who assembled the pieces of the logo to put on the field.
It was a coin toss that would decide which school’s name would go where on the end zones, with John Tyler being selected for the north side, Ms. Denson said. She said the rose logo was glued together in the field house in pieces and then transported to the field.
“It was interesting to watch the assembly and to see the workers flip it over and place it on the field. Everyone was so proud of the design; it was a magnificent feat and very exciting for us,” Ms. Denson said.
The day the workers laid the turf in 2001, he signed the back of it, along with the other workers who assembled the pieces of the logo to put on the field.
It was a coin toss that would decide which school’s name would go where on the end zones, with John Tyler being selected for the north side, Ms. Denson said. She said the rose logo was glued together in the field house in pieces and then transported to the field.
“It was interesting to watch the assembly and to see the workers flip it over and place it on the field. Everyone was so proud of the design; it was a magnificent feat and very exciting for us,” Ms. Denson said.
