GENTLE GIANT

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

WACO, Texas – Without a doubt, Gale Galloway helped his beloved Baylor University "run with the big dogs."

Starting with his football playing days (1948-51), he played on three-consecutive teams that ended the year ranked in the top 20 in the nation, earning him a spot as the center on the program's All-Decade Team of the 1950s and eventually a spot in the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame.

And then in the 1990s, he served as a Baylor Regent and was the Chairman of the Board in 1995 when he made the motion for Baylor to leave the Southwest Conference for the brand-new Big 12 Conference. He presented then-Baylor President Robert Sloan with a T-shirt that read, "If you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch."

"We're running with the big dogs now," Galloway said in 2014, when the Bears were on the verge of winning their second-straight Big 12 championship in football.

At 96, Gale passed away at his home in Austin, Texas, last Friday, Sept. 25, a little over two months after his wife of 64 years, Connie Bird Galloway, died.

"I'm not sure I've met anyone who loved Baylor more than Gale Galloway," said Baylor Vice President and Director of Athletics Doug McNamee. "Even in my final conversations with him, he was talking about ways he could continue to help and give back to the university. He had a physical presence which made you realize what a formidable player on the field he was, but I always thought of him as a gentle giant. He will be dearly missed."

A native of Pearsall, Texas, which is 55 miles southwest of San Antonio and 100 miles north of Laredo, Galloway was a good enough athlete and student to go anywhere in the country. He turned down Notre Dame, citing that it was too far from home, and was on a train ride to Dallas financed by SMU when he hopped off in Waco, Texas, to check out Baylor.

"I became a believer in Baylor in 1948, and it's been in my mind, in my prayers and sometimes in my deeds, every day since," Gale said in November 2014, when he and his wife were presented with the Baylor Founders Medal.

"Baylor University was founded on the same Christian principles my parents had, and I felt like I was part of a family there," he said. "What Baylor did for me was to perpetuate that commitment of living a Christian life and realizing that you can accomplish all things through Christ."

A standout offensive lineman and linebacker for the Bears, Galloway was a centerpiece on teams that had a combined three-year record (1949-51) of 23-7-1. He was an All-SWC pick and co-captain in 1951 for a Baylor team that was 8-2-1 and finished second in the SWC and ninth in both major polls, losing to No. 5 Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.

"That was a golden era of Baylor football," Galloway said in a halftime radio interview with John Morris in 2013. "People forget that. But I was fortunate enough to play on three nationally ranked teams. In '51, we finished ranked higher than any other team before or since."

That held true until 2014, when the Bears were 11-2 and ranked seventh by the Associated Press and eighth in the coaches' poll.

Taken in the 14^th round of the 1952 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, Gale was called to active duty and was an Air Force officer until the end of the Korean War. Returning to civilian life, he was offered a shot to play linebacker with the Los Angeles Rams, but had a brief coaching stint at Texas A&I before finding his true passion in the oil & gas industry.

Starting out working on a drilling rig in South Texas, Gale rose to the top position as CEO of three Fortune 500 companies. Thriving in the challenging industry, he was CEO of Celeron Corporation in Louisiana, Entex Inc., GLG Energy, LIG Acquisition Corp. and Gas Transmission of London and a board member for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. brand worldwide.

"As CEO of all of his companies, he never fired a person," said Kelly (Vick) McNeese, Gale's great niece and a former Baylor women's basketball player. "If it didn't work out, he always found a place for them to go. And then, every job he took as CEO, he was supposed to state his salary or give them a range. But he never did. He said, 'You pay me what you feel is right, and I will accept it.'''

Giving back to Baylor University for decades, the Galloways contributed to renovations at Floyd Casey Stadium that included the Galloway Sute on the top floor of the north end zone complex.

"I have equal or more interest in Baylor's academic side than athletics," he said in a 2014 interview. "I'm prouder of these athletes who get their degrees in 3 ½ years than I am of their achievements on the field."

Talking to him two or three times a day, McNeese said Gale was looking forward to coming to this past Saturday's football game, when the Bears defeated Colorado, 23-13, at McLane Stadium. But he died Friday afternoon, just hours before kickoff.

"He had such a love for Baylor," McNeese said. "We have had season tickets, eight tickets to football, for decades. We moved our way up to the 50-yard line in the Baylor club on the balcony, and it was just magical. We also had season tickets to men's and women's basketball, and people would come up to him left and right. He was just infamous at Baylor University. And he ate it up."

On Dec. 7, 2013, when Baylor Closed the Case in the final game at Floyd Casey Stadium, Gale turned out the first bank of lights as the representative for the 1950s.

"They asked me to throw the first switch to turn out the lights at the stadium," Gale said that night. "That was quite an honor. And then I thought about it, we were the first ones to turn on the lights in 1950 (for the first game at then-Baylor Stadium)."

Gale was inducted into the Baylor Hall of Fame in 1983 and added to the Wall of Honor for his postgraduation achievements in 2003. He is one of only five people who have been named to both the Hall of Fame and Wall of Honor.

Before his weekly press conference on Monday, current Baylor head football coach Dave Aranda said, "I'm just thinking about the Galloway family with the passing of Gale. He's just meant so much to Baylor and the Baylor family. Just thinking of him and his family at this time."

McNeese said services have not been set yet, but a joint celebration of the lives of Gale and Connie Galloway will be held at Austin Baptist Church. Gale is survived by his three children, Georgia Gayle, Michael Will and Tara Lee Galloway.

Related News

Related Videos

Promotional Background Photo

Footer