Peruna And The President Of TCU

[50's PONY]

I can't get the picture to print so be sure and check the picture -- it is priceless!


Fort Worth Exchange Club ponies up a record $112,000 for Goodfellow Fund


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By BUD KENNEDY

[email protected]

When Fort Worth civic leaders raise money for the Star-Telegram Goodfellow Fund, their holiday party always involves a lot of horsing around.

Never before, though, has the Exchange Club of Fort Worth brought a Shetland stallion into the staid Fort Worth Club.

And never before have the club’s 155 members given so much to local children: a record $112,000, lifting the Goodfellows closer to our $900,000 goal.

In a college football season dominated by the championship finalist Texas Longhorns and undefeated Texas Christian University Horned Frogs, it took a visitor from Dallas to truly prod the Exchange Club into ponying up.

After relentless roast emcee Edward "Buzz" Kemble had extracted gifts from such leaders as investor Lee Bass and lawyer Dee Kelly, "Santa" Kemble challenged TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini to a test involving this year’s annual game against archrival Southern Methodist University.

"You should know this," Kemble, a lawyer and 1950s star SMU running back, teased Boschini. "Who was the fastest runner on the field in the TCU-SMU game?"

Boschini, dressed in a purple balloon hat, couldn’t come up with an answer at first. Then he named TCU stars: "Andy Dalton? Jeremy Kerley?"

Kemble roared: "No! You have failed to answer the question! Unless your table comes up with a gift" — he gestured toward a side door — "you will have to kiss the fastest runner on the field in the TCU-SMU game!"

Somebody from the TCU table passed a check to the podium. Kemble unfolded it and declared, "Six thousand dollars ain’t enough!"

Boschini watched the door nervously as Kemble said, "Bring out the fastest runner!"

The door opened just wide enough to reveal the nose of a stallion — a tiny stallion.

Peruna VIII, 3 feet tall and SMU’s minimascot Shetland, was the fastest runner on the field.

Boschini looked at the horse, then back toward the TCU table, where insurance broker and Exchange Club President Gene Smyers finally stood up and waved. "I’ve got something!" he said.

The TCU alumni had written another check for $10,000.

With Boschini freed, Kemble presented the horse with two Hawaiian leis and kissed him, celebrating SMU’s winning season and invitation to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

The 74th annual party for the men’s business club marked not only a record benefit for the Goodfellows but also a triumphant return as a tall and playfully gruff Santa for Kemble, 74.

His official title is chief extractor. But after emceeing the party for more than 20 years — a role he inherited from original extractor "Tiny" Gooch — he had retired in 2005.

"I’ve never seen so many rich people!" Santa Kemble growled on his way into the room. "And Frogs! Longhorns! Heaven help us."

Club members Leland Clemons Jr., George Young Jr. and Breck Ray helped write the script, which included the obligatory appearance of a young "Santa’s helper," model and physical therapist Heather Celeste of Hurst.

Santa teased Lee Bass about planting hundreds of trees on his property near River Crest Country Club, "selling" him a puny tree for a large donation.

Bill Meadows of the Texas Transportation Commission was handcuffed by Fort Worth Police Chief Jeff Halstead for — in Kemble’s words — "malfeasance and dereliction of duty" for the commission’s failure to fix the Interstate 35W-North Loop 820 interchange.

Kelly and sons Dee Jr. and Craig were issued new "glasses" so they could imagine a new downtown building sign: "Kelly, Kelly and Kelly."

The leaders’ gift far exceeded the club’s 2007 record of $100,396.

You could call it a stampede for the Goodfellows.





Bud Kennedy, 817-390-7538

[Diamond Girl]

This was posted earlier. (See 'Big Photo of Peruna in the Star' below.)

[50's PONY]

Sorry -- didn't know it had already been posted.

[Statler]

Only Peruna could extort cash from TCUSELESS! Let's see the geldings do that!

[ponyboy]

It's a cool story.

[MrMustang1965]

This is the only good thing to ever come out of Fort Worth.
Nice story.

[BUS]

YEAH - I hope TCU does well except for one game a year.
OURS.

[Statler]

YEAH - I hope TCU does well except for one game a year.
OURS.

Shame on you Bus!!! They are our sworn blood rival. I root against them every game...Ask Aggies...do they EVER root for tu....THE ANSWER IS NOT ONLY NO BUT H*** NO!

[PonyKai]

YEAH - I hope TCU does well except for one game a year.
OURS.

Shame on you Bus!!! They are our sworn blood rival. I root against them every game...Ask Aggies...do they EVER root for tu....THE ANSWER IS NOT ONLY NO BUT H*** NO!

I hope they win the National Championship next year. I hope they spend the next 365 days ranked in the top 10. I hope their success is profound and noticeable. This is because when TCU does something great in football, it actually gets the administration and boosters off their asses to do something about building a strong football program at SMU. I want TCU to win the NC so Turner, Orsini, and others get mad, and throw their drinks at the TV and say God Dammit I'm gonna make sure that we do that, because we are better than them, and we know it.