Curry Holden and His Boys

Written by Dr. Rob Sledge, Historian-in-Residence

When McMurry started its second year (1924-25), it had on campus four men who would rise to the highest ranks of their disciplines. One of them was Professor William Curry Holden, with a brand new M.A. degree from the University of Texas. He taught all the history and government classes, created the McMurry Museum, and served as sponsor of the Philomathian Club.

In the Philomathians, one of two men’s literary clubs on campus, were three students who were destined for greatness in the fields taught by Holden – sophomore H. Bailey Carroll from DeLeon, freshman Ralph Steen of Clyde, and academy senior V.O. Key Jr. of Lamesa. It is doubtful that Holden could see what lay before these three. Their McMurry grades were decent, but not spectacular; one of them never made higher than a B+ in history or government under Holden. Another only stayed one year and was suspended for two days for cutting chapel. The third was a whiz at Chemistry and English, but somewhat lower in History and Government. No one could know it then, but Holden had two stars and a superstar in his classes.          

During his one-year stay at McMurry, H. Bailey Carroll loaded up on courses in Western Civilization, American History, and Political Parties – Curry Holden’s classes. He then transferred, finally getting his B.A. and M.A. from Texas Technological College in 1928. His was the first Master’s degree granted by that institution. Holden left McMurry after 1927 for Texas Tech, so the two may have been reunited there for a short time. During his time as an Indian, Carroll was the assistant editor for both the Totem and the War Whoop.

Over the next few years, Carroll taught Texas history at several colleges in Texas and New Mexico, while working toward a doctorate at the University of Texas. Dr. Carroll joined the faculty there in 1942. From then until his death in 1966, he was a valued member of the UT history department.

Carroll’s contributions to the celebration and preservation of Texas history were numerous. With Walter Prescott Webb, he edited the first Handbook of Texas, a three-volume project which appeared in 1952. He served as the Director of the Texas State Historical Association for twenty-four years, editing the Southwestern Historical Quarterly and founding the Junior Historian program in the state. He wrote several significant books and mentored hundreds of graduate students. He collected Texana and added precious documents to the University’s collections.

Ralph W. Steen came to McMurry from Clyde. Unlike Carroll, he stayed to complete a four-year degree and to make a big splash on campus while he was at it. He was editor of the Totem for two years, associate editor of the War Whoop, president of the debate club, and president of his senior class.

Steen got his M.A. from the University of Texas in 1929 and completed the Ph.D. there in 1934. He came back to McMurry to teach the 1929-30 school year, then returned to Austin to be a teaching assistant at U.T. From there he went to Big Lake High School, Hillsboro Junior College, and finally to Texas A&M in 1935. Steen taught history at College Station for over twenty years, a good part of that time as department chair. In 1939, he published a history of Texas, a book which became the basic state public school text for many years. He served as president of the Texas State Historical Association, 1957-59. In 1959, he accepted the post of president at Stephen F. Austin State University, leading the school until his retirement in 1976.

 As for V.O. Key, Jr., this Lamesa boy attended the McMurry Academy for a year where his lowest grades were two A-s. He graduated as valedictorian of the academy class. For the next year and a half he took college classes at McMurry, transferring to the University of Texas in January, 1928. Holden was by that time at Tech, which may have affected Key’s decision. During his time at McMurry, V.O. was elected editor of the War Whoop. Ralph Steen was his campaign manager. He was also president of the Press Club and a member of IHR social club.

Key earned his B.A. and M.A. at the University of Texas in 1929 and 1930, then headed for the University of Chicago for a Ph.D. in Political Science, earning Phi Beta Kappa honors along the way. Dr. Key went from there to UCLA, Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Harvard. He was chair of the department at each of the last three. Among his accomplishments were the presidency of the American Political Science Association and the Woodrow Wilson Award for his groundbreaking book Southern Politics in State and Nation. He served federal appointive posts in the Roosevelt and Kennedy administrations. Key is esteemed among the foremost of American political scientists.

Carroll, Steen, and Key – two academic stars and a superstar. And their professor’s subsequent career was just as spectacular. Though born in central Texas, Holden knew the Abilene area well enough – the family lived in Colorado City for a time but moved to Rotan where he graduated from high school in 1914. While at McMurry, he developed an interest in Southwestern anthropology and led McM students in excavations at sites along the Canadian River. At Texas Tech, he continued his anthropological pursuits while teaching history and turning out several books, two of which are of interest at McMurry. The most important was Alkali Trails, taking its title from Rev. J.W. Hunt’s most famous sermon. Another was a biography of a famous South Plains rancher, Rollie Burns, who was once cowboy J.W. Hunt’s foreman.

He founded the museum at Texas Tech, as he had at McMurry. He continued his anthropological work throughout West Texas, New Mexico and across the border in Sonora, Mexico. In Sonora, he worked among and wrote extensively about the Yaqui Indians. This expertise led many to conjecture that Holden was influential on the mystical writer Carlos Castaneda. Holden is also rumored to have been conducting field research near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 when a mysterious object allegedly dropped from the sky. He never confirmed either of the two rumors, nor did he exactly deny them. He died, full of honors, at the age of 96.

Has any other brand-new college ever hosted as brilliant an array of men, and all in related fields? McMurry must have been a stimulating place in the 1920s with this kind of people around.