HOOTS History
Sitting on the back of his blue 1998 GMC pickup truck with 250,000 miles logged on its odometer, son of a migrant worker, Johnny Gomez sips his cold beer and chats with Nelson Correa about the day’s upcoming home football game. The BBQ pit smokes up its offering of tasty hamburgers as Carl Fredricks walks up and says “Guys, you need to invite the community here to share in this good time and start a tailgating scholarship.” The year was 1998 as Johnny and Nelson began to forge the idea of the “High Order of Owl Tailgating Society” (HOOTS). It was to serve as a means to collect money which would be used to help dependent children of the Facilities Engineering and Planning (FE&P) and Housing and Dining (H&D) department employees defray the high cost of college text books. This new group of people was to be known as HOOTS. So it began . . . .
In 1999 Nelson went to work formalizing the scholarship program by inviting Rice attorney Carlos Garcia to volunteer his time to draft a constitution, bylaws and procedures for administering the scholarships. Nelson even took a class in fundraising through Rice’s School of Continuing Studies. Events were held to raise funds such as selling t-shirts and cookbooks. Still, more money was needed to reach the $25,000 threshold required by Rice to form the official HOOTS scholarship endowment. “The party with a purpose” events along with several other fundraising events and generous contributions of benefactors, enabled the endowment to be established and to this day continues to grow.
The first scholarship was awarded in 2000. HOOTS continued to grow, and in 2001 the six-member board of directors was created. In 2007 the Rice Parking and Transportation Department was added to the organization and HOOTS was officially incorporated in the State of Texas. In 2009, the Rice University Police Department (RUPD) joined the organization and HOOTS received non-profit status. All students who meet the scholarship qualifications are awarded a scholarship. Since 2000, scholarships have been awarded to qualifying children of employees in the member departments.
As more funds came in, the HOOTS Board decided to create a scholarship program for students attending the Rice Summer School Program for Middle and High School Students. Scholarships are awarded based on a one-page essay by the student outlining their thoughts on “Why is education important?”
The society continues to raise funds and help the kids pay for their incidental costs associated with higher education. The original green tent passed down by Dr. Gillis, former Rice University President, can still be seen at every home football game and select baseball games as well! Come out and join us great food and even better fellowship. It’s all for the students!