Rene Garza
René A. Garza, BA ‘75, MBA ’77, an alumnus of the McCombs School of Business, serves on the RecSports Leadership Team, providing consultation and guidance to the department. René is one of the original members of the Leadership Team, which was formed in 2007. He, along with other members, generously offer their time and resources to help ensure that future generations of Longhorns are afforded the same opportunities they once had, and that current students enjoy today.
René himself enjoyed participating in Recreational Sports during his student years on the Forty Acres. He competed in intramural sports with his Acacia fraternity brothers, and his picture appears three times on the Intramural Wall of Fame in Gregory Gym. His team won the Class B volleyball championship in 1972–73 and was the runner-up in Class A volleyball in 1974–75. He also finished as runner-up in the summer softball tournament in 1975–76 for a team called Forepoints.
On an individual level, René achieved other intramural sports milestones including being named to an All-Intramural team three times. He was also named to the softball second team as a catcher in 1972–73, to the second team in volleyball as a setter in 1973–74 and finally, was unanimously named to the first volleyball team as a setter in 1974–75. In addition, René served as the Acacia intramural team manager in 1973–74, leading the fraternity to a second-place finish in the All-Year Trophy point competition.
In 2006, René proposed the idea of awarding scholarships to deserving student employees. Soon after he and his long-time friend and partner, Mike Carnes, provided a gift to establish the first such endowed scholarship. They named it the Thomas W. Dison Endowed Scholarship to honor Tom Dison for his leadership and commitment to students as director of Recreational Sports since 1988. Both attribute much of their business success to life lessons learned while employed by Recreational Sports and consider the scholarship to be their way of rewarding today’s students who demonstrate excellence and commitment in their jobs.
René is also one of five former members of the Acacia Fraternity who founded the Acacia Fraternity Endowed Scholarship. This scholarship recognizes exceptional RecSports student employees and pays tribute to their fraternity’s intramural achievements during the 1970s when they were students. René has fond memories of his days on the intramural fields and wishes today’s students to also enjoy activities outside the classroom as he did.