Texas A & M University. Department of Recreational Sports. Intramural Program

Intramural sports events have been held at Texas A & M University as intrabattalion games for members of the Corps of Cadets since Texas A & M College was opened in 1876, but the Intramural Program as we know it today was begun by H. H. House at Texas A & M University in 1923.

House left what was then Texas A & M College for a position at Washington State, and William Lawren Penberthy was hired just after his graduation from Ohio State in 1926 to replace House . It is Penberthy, or Mr. Penny as he was known, who truly laid the groundwork for what is now the Department of Recreational Sports, acting as the first Director of Intramural Athletics in the 1920s and 1930s, until he was made Dean of Men in 1947. Penberthy remained very active in the development of sports programs at Texas A & M University until his retirement on 31 Aug. 1966, though he'd returned to full-time teaching as Professor of Health and Physical Education in 1959. His contributions to the program were commemorated in 1978 with the naming of the W. L. Penberthy Intramural Center . Penberthy is no doubt responsible for most of the early documentation for the Intramural Program as found in these records.

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