title: History of the Big 12 Conference

text:
The Big 12 Conference is a fourteen-school collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas. The Big 12 is a member of the Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A), the higher of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition. Member schools are located in Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah,  and West Virginia.

The Big 12 Conference is the second youngest of the major college athletic conferences in the United States. It was formed in 1994 when all 8 members of one of the oldest conferences, the Big Eight, were joined by 4 of the Texas members of one of the other oldest conferences, the Southwest Conference. From its formation until 2011, its 12 members competed in two divisions. Major membership changes came during the 2010–2013 Big 12 Conference realignment and still more changes came or will come during the 2021–2024 NCAA conference realignment.

In 2012, the Big 12 Conference formed an alliance with the Southeastern Conference for a 12-year deal starting in the 2014 season to host a joint post-season college bowl game between the champions of each conference in the Sugar Bowl (except for the 2014, 2017, 2020, and 2023 seasons when the bowl game is used as a College Football Playoff semifinal game).

Origins

College Football Association last days
On June 27, 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma that the NCAA could not punish its membership for selling their media content. As a result, individual schools and athletic conferences were freed to negotiate contracts on their own behalf.

The Big Ten and Pacific-10 conferences sold their rights to ABC.  Most of the rest of the Division I-A football programs (what is now called the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision) chose to sell their rights together through an organization called the College Football Association to ABC and CBS.  The primary function of the CFA was to negotiate television broadcast rights for its member conferences and independent colleges.

By 1990, the television landscape had changed and a number of the stronger programs saw opportunities for better deals outside of the CFA. Notre Dame left the CFA and sold their home game broadcast rights to NBC.

When the Southeastern Conference (SEC) invited the University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina to join in 1990, it created shockwaves across the CFA. The other CFA conferences correctly assumed the SEC made these additions to create a better TV product with the idea of leaving the CFA.

The SEC represented one of the more valuable CFA assets.  It seemed likely that if the SEC departed, the other conferences could have difficulty securing good TV deals.

After Arkansas' departure from the Southwest Conference, the SWC and Big Eight Conference recognized they were in a poor position. The SEC, with about 18% of the nation's TV audience, had a very strong TV position. The Big 8 had an 8.1% share.  The Texas-based SWC had an even weaker hand with only 6.7%.

In February 1994, the SEC announced that it would leave the CFA and negotiate independently for a television deal that covered SEC schools only.  This led The Dallas Morning News to proclaim that "the College Football Association as a television entity is dead".  In 1995, the SEC and the Big East broke from the CFA, signing a national deal with CBS.  The SEC would earn a staggering $95 million from the deal.  More significantly, this change in television contracts ultimately would lead to significant realignment of college conferences.

The Southwest Conference
For decades the Southwest Conference (SWC) was one of the most dominant football conferences in America. It was seen as a football peer to other elite conferences like the Pacific Coast Conference (precursor to today's Pac-12), Big Ten, SEC, and Big Eight.

Then in 1960, professional football came to Dallas and Houston. Attendance at Rice collapsed.  For over two decades, the SWC membership struggled with the issue. In 1974 a lengthy Texas Monthly article detailed the attendance decline at Rice, SMU, and TCU, and suggested the SWC was in trouble because the University of Texas felt like it was subsidizing the conference. The conference collapsed in 1994.

Though it was not the only conference engaging in recruitment violations, the SWC ranked as one of the worst.  At one point, the football programs at seven of the nine SWC schools—Arkansas and Rice were the only exceptions—were under some sort of NCAA sanction. SMU was given the "death penalty" for their rule violations.

By 1986, SWC schools' NCAA penalties and bowl game ineligibilities had begun to compromise the SWC brand, driving top Texas talent out of state. Even top schools that had mostly stayed clear of trouble found their recruiting diminished. After years of SWC schools doing well in bowls, they suddenly could not compete with the elite schools of other conferences.  A December 18, 1986 Dallas Morning News article stated:

As sanctions began to sap the quality of play at the top of the conference, the big three began to actively look at other conferences.  In attempts to appease the conference powers, the other members made financial rule changes, eventually including allowing home teams to keep their gate revenue (gate revenue was a much larger portion of operating funds at that time). These efforts fell short of satisfying the bigger issues UT and A&M had with the SWC, but would appear to have played a role in UT's position going forward on revenue sharing.

Eventually, Arkansas departed for the SEC, effective July 1, 1991 (although the Razorbacks competed in the SWC during the 1991 football season). The SEC consisted primarily of public schools in rural areas or smaller cities (Vanderbilt was, and still is, the only private school in the SEC) that drew well and the conference had a much larger share of the nation's TV markets. As game day attendance and TV revenue drove athletic budgets, the SEC represented a much more financially sound organization.

UT athletic director DeLoss Dodds reflected on the importance of Arkansas' departure, saying, “What had to happen, [was] there had to be a crisis for change.”

Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles, who played at Georgia Tech when the Yellow Jackets competed in the SEC, said that he was encouraged to leave by UT's and Texas A&M's leaders, because it would destabilize the conference, allowing them to do the same. The leaderships at UT and Texas A&M believed they would never be allowed to leave first. (In the summer of 1990, word would leak of Texas and Texas A&M thinking of following Arkansas into the SEC. Reaction in Texas would be very negative, with politicians threatening both schools' funding before the idea was tabled.)

The Southwest Conference could not find a replacement its membership would agree upon. The private schools were in denial of the depth of problems facing the conference. They suggested simply replacing Arkansas, a public school, with private schools BYU or Tulane, which left the SEC in 1966. With four private schools and four public schools already in the SWC, adding either choice could potentially give the private schools a voting majority.

Private or not, UT and Texas A&M were dead set against replacing Arkansas. The NCAA sanctions and Arkansas' departure made the conference appear broken to fans in Texas. Texas and Texas A&M's leaderships felt the conference was inherently flawed, with too many mouths to feed off too few TVs. Adding a single school was not going to change that dynamic, it would only create the public perception of a healed conference and prolong UT and Texas A&M's suffering.

"Predatory" conferences
Missouri showed interest in Big Ten membership after Penn State joined.
Around 1993, the Big Ten explored adding Kansas, Missouri and Rutgers, or other potential schools, to create a 14-team league with two divisions.

In the early 1990s, Texas had discussions with the Pac-10, a conference with similar academic views. An affiliation with the Pac-10 appealed to UT leaders. Former UT president Robert Berdahl told Mark Wagrin of the San Antonio Express-News: “Texas wanted desperately the academic patina that the Pac 10 yielded... To be associated with UCLA, Stanford and Cal in academics was very desirable.”  The Pac-10 wanted to add UT and the University of Colorado. For some reason, an offer didn't come until after the formation of the Big 12.

Some reports state that Stanford refused to vote to admit UT in an effort to protect the Cardinal's conference dominance in non-revenue sports. (The Pac-10 required unanimous votes for expansion.)

(At the end of 1994, UT's athletic director DeLoss Dodds, as he was turning down the Pac-10, stated that the Pac-10 leadership informed UT they would have a standing invitation for the Longhorns. What is unclear is when the Pac-10 made that offer, although Dodds did use the word "always" in describing the offer.)

One report stated that the offer was changed to UT and Texas A&M.  UT reportedly tried to carry Texas A&M with them into the Pac-10. No evidence confirms Pac-10 support for that idea. This change allegedly upset the leadership at Colorado and drove them to take a more active role in protecting the Big Eight. (Colorado's Chancellor James Corbridge was also the Big Eight chairman.  He was very involved with the TV negotiations for the new conference and the integration of the Texas schools.)

UT then approached the Big Ten, but was turned down, because the conference had recently instituted a moratorium on expansion.

Texas then turned to the SEC, and negotiations reached an advanced stage. UT abruptly withdrew after concluding that the SEC had no interest in strengthening academics. Berdahl said, “We were quite interested in raising academic standards... And the Southeastern Conference had absolutely no interest in that.”

Texas A&M had flirted with the SEC since the late 1980s. In 1993, it had approached the conference about joining, partnered with the University of Houston. UT had given up on the SEC and Texas A&M's leadership didn't want to try leaving the SWC on their own. The SEC moved expansion plans to the back burner.

Then UT's interests turned to the Big Eight.  Texas and Oklahoma's leaders both looked favorably on the idea of being in the same conference, but both schools had other options. Former Kansas State University president Jon Wefald voiced fears that if UT had joined the Pac-10, there would be no way for the Big Eight to ramp up their TV payouts in order to keep Oklahoma from joining the SEC for more lucrative TV payouts.

Negotiations with Texas and other schools
The Big Eight had been in pursuit of some kind of alliance with the Southwest Conference since Arkansas's departure destabilized that historic conference.

The Big Eight and SWC members saw the potential financial benefits from an alliance to negotiate television deals, but a true alliance of 16 teams which would retain the seven other SWC schools was not viewed as optimal by UT. Dodds and the Longhorn leadership viewed proposals of this sort as continuing business as usual in the SWC. Arkansas's departure allowed UT and Texas A&M to clear four or more less profitable dates from their football schedules and eight or more from their basketball schedules.

For years the Big Eight could not interest UT in a merger.  Without Texas to ensure the retention of Oklahoma, the Big Eight was not interested.

Reports at the end of 1993 disclosed the discussions of the Big Eight about adding BYU and half of the SWC, with SMU, TCU, Rice and Houston "priced out" of the new conference.

The Big Eight began negotiations with ABC and ESPN for a new conference that would feature football powers Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Texas.

Texas politicians
After the SEC announced their intent to leave the CFA, the Big 8 and SWC members re-opened discussions to sell their rights together. In a book called The Baylor Project by Barry G. Hankins and Donald D. Schmeltekoff about Baylor's place in Christian higher education on page 68 states that on February 11, 1994, SWC member schools' leaders met a few Big 8 leaders in Dallas to discuss potentially selling both leagues' media content in a package deal. Discussions broke down on February 16, reportedly over UT's interest in the Pac-10. The Big Eight began negotiating a deal that would include the full SWC as a partner and Texas A&M approached the SEC.

In Texas, word leaked out that UT & Texas A&M were close to leaving the SWC; UT to the Pac-10 or Big Eight and eventually Texas A&M to the SEC. Texas state senator David Sibley, a Baylor alumnus and member of the Senate Finance Committee, approached UT Chancellor Bill Cunningham and asked him pointedly whether UT planned to leave the SWC on its own for the Big Eight.  Cunningham tried to change the subject. Ultimately he did not deny it.

Sibley approached Lt. Governor Bob Bullock, a Texas Tech alumnus. Texas state senator John Montford of Lubbock was equally motivated to protect Texas Tech's path to the Big 12. The trio put together a group of legislators who worked to ensure those schools were part of any new sport conference.

Bullock called together a meeting of supportive legislators as well as UT's and Texas A&M's leaders on February 20, 1994. UT Chancellor William Cunningham admitted that Texas planned to join the Big Eight and A&M's leadership still targeted the SEC.

A deal was worked out where all four schools would go together to the Big 12. Baylor and Texas Tech would join the Aggies in coming with UT into the new version of the Big Eight.

Texas's Governor Ann Richards, a Baylor and UT alumna, is often mistakenly credited with getting Baylor included, but, was absent from the February 20 meeting and no investigative reports confirm her active involvement. The Baylor Report claimed that she presented herself as neutral. Richards' former Chief of Staff, John Fainter, is on record saying "She just was not involved to any great degree in working that out...I'd have to say she was informed, but she wasn't pounding the table or anything like that."  Richards was aware of the public perception of her involvement and the thought amused her.)

UT officials informed the Big Eight leadership that the Austin school was now receptive to an invitation and the Big Eight issued invitations to Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Texas Tech. All four schools quickly accepted.

Formation
On February 25, 1994, it was announced that a new conference would be formed from all 8 of the members of the Big Eight and four of the Texas member colleges of the Southwest Conference. Though the name would not be made official for several months, newspaper accounts immediately dubbed the new entity the "Big 12".

Charter members of the Big 12 Conference included all 8 of the schools from the Big 8 Conference:
 University of Colorado at Boulder
 Iowa State University
 University of Kansas
 Kansas State University
 University of Missouri
 University of Nebraska–Lincoln
 University of Oklahoma
 Oklahoma State University–Stillwater

Charter members of the Big 12 Conference included 4 of the schools from the Southwest Conference:
 Baylor University
 University of Texas at Austin
 Texas A&M University
 Texas Tech University

The remaining Southwest Conference members of University of Houston, Rice University, Southern Methodist University, and Texas Christian University were initially considered but ultimately left out of the new soon-to-be Big 12 conference. The conference also expressed interest in other regions with the potential add of Brigham Young University and University of New Mexico. However the conference settled on 12 founding members.

Three months after formation, the schools of the new conference officially announced the conference's name: the Big 12 Conference. Although the new conference was essentially the Big Eight plus the four Texas schools, the Big 12 did not, and to this day still does not, claim the Big Eight's history as its own. Conference competition commenced on August 31, 1996. Steve Hatchell, former Southwest Conference commissioner, was named Big 12 commissioner in March 1995 and later brought experienced SWC administrators Brad Clements and Bo Carter to help make a smooth transition before the new league started in '96.

Seven cities were considered for the conference's headquarters including: Colorado Springs, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City (the former headquarters of the Big Eight), Lubbock, Texas, Oklahoma City, and Omaha, Nebraska before Dallas was chosen as headquarters in May 1995. Later (in 2006) the Big 12 relocated to nearby Irving.

From the conference's formation until the 2010–11 season, the Big 12 was split into two divisions for football.  The Oklahoma and Texas schools formed the South Division, while the six northernmost schools formed the North Division.

In December 1994, the Pacific-10 Conference (now known as the Pac-12) voted to offer membership to Colorado but the CU Regents rejected the offer in a 6–3 vote, opting to stay in the new Big 12.

Potential expansion in the conference's early years
The four Southwest Conference schools were not the only candidates the Big Eight considered. After the Big 12 was founded, leaks in 1994 claimed that the conference also had a plan for a 14 team membership in order to secure a larger TV share than the SEC, something some of the conference leadership felt might be vital for its future TV negotiations.

Reports confirmed that Brigham Young University and the University of New Mexico, then in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), were actively considered for Big 12 membership and if the conference should then decide to go to 16 schools, the University of Louisville and the University of Memphis would be favorites to fill those slots.  In anticipation of the possibility of expansion to 14 by 1996, the new conference trademarked both "Big 12" and "Big 14". The idea was that BYU and New Mexico would raise the conference footprint to 20% of the nation's TV households while also giving the northern division another football powerhouse in BYU.  Articles of the day suggested support for the idea was not uniform among Big 12 schools

UNM's athletic director Rudy Davalos, former athletic director at the University of Houston, questioned the logic of the Big 12 adding UNM. Davalos publicly expressed a commitment to the WAC. Former Baylor President Herbert H. Reynolds speaks of making the case to his board that much of the value of the Big 12 for Baylor arose from the Waco university being the only private school in the conference.

TCU's AD at the time, Frank Windegger was told by colleagues that TCU was discussed as a package deal with BYU, with the idea even going to a vote --- but the expansion vote was narrowly defeated.

Ultimately the conference chose to stay at 12 members. BYU's athletic director Clayne Jensen told the press that while the addition of BYU could likely pay for the Cougars' admission as the conference's 13th member, it appeared no other candidate school made financial sense to allow to become the 14th member.

The greater influence held by the schools in the southern division would later be cited repeatedly as a key component in Nebraska's eventual decision to leave.

Conference realignment

During the 2010–2014 NCAA conference realignment, the Big 12 was one of the more heavily impacted conferences. Persistent rumors of the Pac-10 and Big Ten targeting key members created unease and suspicion. Questions about TV contracts and dissatisfaction with the Big 12's policy of unequal revenue sharing created more conflict. This erosion of trust allowed other conferences to raid the Big 12.

The Big 12 lost four members between 2010 and 2013, replaced by two others (Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, and Texas A&M left; TCU and West Virginia joined). Remaining below 12 members would end the Big 12's divisional format, as the NCAA then only allowed "exempt" football championship games (i.e., games that do not count against the limit of 12 regular-season games) in conferences with at least 12 teams.

Following these departures, the Conference chose to retain the "Big 12" name and logo despite dropping to ten schools, a marketing decision similar to the Big Ten Conference's choice to keep its name after its membership increased to 11 in 1990 with the addition of Penn State (its membership now stands at 18 with the later additions of Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington). This decision by the Big 12 reminded fans of the near collapse of the conference in the realignment period and to suggest the limited expansion options facing the conference.

2010

Destabilization
In May 2010, reports speculated that the Big 12 Conference was on the verge of dissolution. In February, reports stated the desire by the Pac-10 to expand the conference. The article said that the only school that "moved the needle" financially for the Pac-10 was Texas.

In March, the Big Ten received the initial report from consultants hired to investigate five potential expansion candidates, including Missouri. The initial report supported the expansion.

On April 20 and May 3, Sports Illustrated predicted that the Big Ten would ultimately add Nebraska.

Later in May the Big Ten Conference reportedly issued "initial offers" to Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Rutgers. On May 12, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany emailed conference officials, denying that any offers had been made. The league planned to take no action until the league Presidents met in June.

During the Big 12 meetings in June, the Pac-10 was rumored to be on the verge of inviting Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State to join them, a proposal that was dubbed Pac-16.

The Pac-10 had tried to land Texas and Colorado in 1994. This new offer acknowledged that Texas was unlikely to leave the Big 12 without Oklahoma due to the Red River Rivalry's importance to UT's athletic budget. Both schools had in-state rival schools that needed to be included.

Although the Pac-10's attempt bears a number of similarities to the Big 8's raid of the SWC, fans of the targeted Texas schools were resistant. This suggested that the Pac-10 leadership did a poor job of selling the benefits of Pac-10 membership. The Pac-10 was considered too distant for many fans. In contrast, Big 12 concerns about travel distance tended to originate from Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston, cities whose schools were to be excluded.

Rumors that the Big Ten was interested in Texas also emerged. Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds openly talked about both rumors in the media. On June 3, Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne said that the Aggies might consider joining the SEC, should the Big 12 collapse.

Texas and Texas A&M held veto power over each other that would keep them in the same conference. The Big 10 was rumored to be considering adding Missouri and leaving Nebraska stranded in the remains of the Big 12, while the state of Texas reportedly might allow Texas A&M to go the SEC, but that UT would likely not play the Aggies should they leave.

Unequal revenue
One point of contention in the Big 12 was the unequal distribution of TV revenue, as was common in most other top conferences. Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma objected to equal sharing, according to former Commissioner Dan Beebe. Four votes gave them the ability to block revenue sharing votes. After his 2011 firing, Beebe said that Oklahoma, Nebraska, and even Texas A&M were interested in "developing their own distribution systems" for sports programs.

Defections begin
On June 5, a movement was reportedly building in Texas to force the Pac-10 to invite Baylor instead of Colorado. This would give Texas a solid voting block of 4 Texas schools and two strongly aligned Oklahoma schools. The Pac-10 quickly eliminated that possibility by modifying their original offer (a package deal for all six schools) to be a standalone offer for Colorado and a package deal for the other five.

On June 10, Colorado joined the Pac-10, to be effective in 2012, but later advanced to July 1, 2011. Colorado reportedly accepted quickly for fear that Baylor would force its way in, leaving Colorado in a dissolving conference. On June 11, Nebraska applied for and was accepted into the Big Ten, effective July 1, 2011.

The departures of the Texas teams to the Pac-10 was reportedly imminent, including a possibility that Texas A&M might instead choose the SEC.

With Texas A&M opposed to joining, the Pac-10 was rumored to consider either Kansas or Utah for the 16th team.

June 14 agreement
On June 14, the Big 12 announced a deal to save the conference. Lobbying by Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri, supported by pressure from other programs who did not want elite conferences to become 16-team "superconferences". The deal required a restructured revenue sharing agreement that guaranteed Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas A&M $20 million each per year (the other schools would split the rest) and an unexpectedly lucrative television deal if the conference stayed together.

With the big three securing payments that more or less matched what they would have received in a Pac-16 and Texas committing to the conference, Oklahoma stayed and Texas A&M's exit was temporarily obscured.

In the 2010 round of realignment, UT had secured a better conference TV deal and a bigger share of that deal and gained what Dodds considered an easier path to the national title game. It also was permitted its own network (the Longhorn Network) and had gotten Nebraska out of the conference. However, the $20 million payouts did not soothe hard feelings at Texas A&M and Oklahoma. A&M's president at the time, R. Bowen Loftin, was particularly miffed, recalling in a 2021 interview that he felt discomfort with Texas' dominance in Big 12 internal affairs since attending his first conference meeting as president in 2009, and that he had felt especially insulted by remarks that UT's then-president Bill Powers made when Loftin asked him about UT's flirtation with the Pac-10 in a 2010 meeting.

Texas A&M and Oklahoma ended contact with the Southeastern Conference, which had been pursuing both schools as potential candidates if their conference decided to expand past 12 members.

On June 16, 2010, Houston state lawmakers Garnet Coleman and Bill Callegari co-wrote a letter asking Big 12 officials to consider adding the University of Houston (then a Conference USA member) to the Big 12.

2011

Grant of Rights agreement
Following the near disaster in 2010, the other five pushed for a spring vote on a "Grant of Rights" deal that would grant all sports media rights of member schools to the conference. This would make it very difficult for a key school to leave. The proposal needed a 75% majority, but was defeated by Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M.

Longhorn Network
ESPN planned to launch the Longhorn Network (LHN) and to include Texas high school football games. The governing body for sports at Texas public high schools, the University Interscholastic League, is operated by UT, and the UIL chair directly reports to a UT vice president. Oklahoma and Texas A&M objected that broadcasting high school games would create a recruiting advantage for the Longhorns. Texas A&M went so far as to accuse Texas of violating NCAA rules.

In addition to a non-conference game each season, ESPN wanted a Big 12 Conference game on the Longhorn Network. At the same Big 12 meeting discussing high school football broadcasts, it was agreed that a conference game would be acceptable as long as both schools and the conference office approved the broadcast.

It was reported that ESPN asked Texas Tech for permission to broadcast their November 5 game against the Longhorns on the network. ESPN told the university that the game would most likely not be carried on an ESPN network, leaving LHN as the only option. In return, ESPN promised to televise two non-conference football games over the next four seasons, broadcast some other non-football programming, $5 million cash and help from the network to try to arrange a home-and-home series against a top BCS conference school. Texas Tech passed on the offer, explaining, "I don't want a Tech fan to have to give one dime to the Longhorn Network".

ESPN then contacted Oklahoma State, without success. Texas Athletics eventually announced that the Kansas Jayhawks had agreed to let their game against the Longhorns on October 29 be shown on the network (KU's third tier media rights are also managed by LHN co-owner IMG College). The agreement allowed the Longhorn Network to be the national carrier of the game except in Kansas markets, where the game was shown on local network affiliates.

Texas A&M
In August 2011, A&M announced plans to apply to join an unspecified conference. Its desire to leave the Big 12 was presented as concerns about conference stability and the Longhorn Network. In the aforementioned 2021 interview, Loftin recalled, "When the LHN was announced, that just galvanized our former and current students. We went from 50-50 to 95-5 [in favor of the SEC] almost overnight."

On September 2, David Boren, president of the University of Oklahoma, announced that his school was actively re-evaluating its conference membership. Having moved on from its SEC flirtation over concerns of a booster-led backslide into recruiting violations, Oklahoma began pursuing Pac-12 membership in a package deal with Oklahoma State, due to its frustration with the Big 12. Dodds and UT president William Powers attempted to convince OU to stay, but they were unsuccessful. OU reportedly liked the potential of upgrading their academic and research reputation in an effort to earn AAU status in addition to their football coaching staff's desire to expand recruiting efforts into California.

Having just expanded to 12 and landed a very lucrative TV deal, the Pac-12 leaders were not actively looking to expand again. They opted to wait until the SEC added Texas A&M before inviting the Oklahoma schools.

In mid-September, the SEC accepted Texas A&M as its thirteenth member, conditional upon a reaffirmation that the Big 12 would not pursue legal action. The SEC later reported that they had been assured that the Big 12 would waive its rights to legal action. However, Baylor rejected that they had waived their school's rights to pursue legal action for tortious interference. Several other Big 12 schools adopted Baylor's position.

The SEC leadership were angry and embarrassed about being misled. On September 25, the SEC announced that Texas A&M was being accepted unconditionally—regardless of legal threats. Texas A&M announced the school would officially join the SEC on July 1, 2012. As part of Texas A&M's settlement for their exit, the Big 12 Conference withheld $12.4 million of Big 12 revenue otherwise due to Texas A&M.

Media rights and expansion
The Big 12 said it would form a committee to replace Texas A&M with at least one other school. The Oklahoma schools were reportedly still considering applying to the Pac-12, while the other five schools entered talks with the Big East.

Further realignment was temporarily halted on September 20, when the Pac-12 reiterated its desire to remain a twelve-school conference, as Texas would not compromise on the Longhorn Network or commit to equal revenue sharing. The Pac-12 also publicly confirmed the lack of support for adding Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. After Oklahoma and Oklahoma State's path to the Pac-12 crumbled, an Oklahoma source leaked to the media that Oklahoma was just attempting to use the threat of departure to reform the Big 12.

With no prospect of Pac-12 membership, Oklahoma and Texas's positions changed dramatically and preserving the Big 12 became those schools' primary goal. Missouri and Oklahoma in particular would play a leadership role in stabilizing the Big 12. On September 23, Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton, the Chairman of the Big 12 Board of Directors, announced that the conference presidents agreed in principle to pursue granting member school media rights to the conference. Oklahoma's President David Boren called the agreement "'essential' for the league’s future". UT's DeLoss Dodds had opposed the idea saying, "UT officials 'don’t want to sign over' any TV rights to the league", the day before all the league's presidents (including UT's) endorsed the idea.

The same day, the Big 12 announced the departure of Commissioner Dan Beebe, who was seen as dominated by Texas, replaced by Interim commissioner Chuck Neinas, a former Big Eight commissioner. Neinas took over on October 3.

Broadcast revenue
On October 5 the Big 12 agreed to equally distribute Tier I and II television revenues. Dodds had long been firmly against equal sharing of TV revenue, but UT blessed the deal to stabilize the conference.

On October 6, the Big 12 Conference Board of Directors, acting upon a unanimous recommendation of the expansion committee, authorized negotiations with Texas Christian University (TCU) to become a member. TCU had recently agreed to join the Big East Conference. but their fans had wanted to be in the Big 12 since the SWC crashed. On October 10, Texas Christian University's board of trustees voted to accept the invitation, joining on July 1, 2012.

A Big 12 official named Brigham Young University and the University of Louisville as other expansion candidates. It would later leak that the Big 12's television partners were unenthusiastic about BYU.

With the loss of Texas A&M and its Aggie fan base, the conference thought there was now a need/opening for another Texas school. While the TCU fan base was significantly smaller, TCU was in a good location. With the SEC now having a significant Texas presence, adding Dallas/Fort Worth-based TCU made sense in terms of non-Texas based Big 12 schools could use the addition of the Fort Worth-based TCU to the Big 12 as a recruiting tool.

TCU had long rivalries with several Big 12 schools, notably with Baylor, dating back to 1899.

Missouri leaves
By rushing the addition of the Aggies, the SEC had created a two division, 13 team conference for 2012. They needed an acceptable 14th team immediately to ease the scheduling issues created by the Aggies. While the Big 12 had strong candidates, the conference was still unstable.

Despite the work of the Missouri Chancellor to evolve the Big 12, on October 4, Missouri's Board of Curators authorized the school's president to explore applying to other conferences.

A year earlier, speculation grew that Missouri was interested in becoming the Big Ten's twelfth member and was the favorite, but instead Nebraska became the choice.

On October 6, the day after the revenue sharing change, the Big 12 Board of Directors voted 8–0 to formally grant their media rights to the conference. On advice of the Missouri legal counsel, Missouri opted not to vote.

On October 11, Neinas stated that Missouri would remain for the 2012 season. In spite of Neinas's statement, on October 21 its Board of Curators authorized Chancellor Deaton to move the school out of the Big 12 Conference should that be in the school's best interest.
The Big 12 needed to have a replacement for Missouri lined up, because the conference needed 10 schools to fulfill its TV contracts.

On November 6, Missouri officially announced that it would join the Southeastern Conference effective July 1, 2012. As compensation for the departure, the Big 12 withheld $12.4 million of the revenue it would have shared with Missouri; additionally, they announced that Missouri would not share the revenue from a newly signed contract between the Big 12 Conference and Fox Sports. Missouri also agreed to pay the Big 12 Conference for its share of officiating costs of its final year in the conference, as it had done in prior years (an estimated payment of $500,000).

West Virginia replaces Missouri
On October 25, word leaked that West Virginia would replace Missouri. The next day The New York Times reported the Big 12 had backed off their verbal commitment to West Virginia and was now split between Louisville and West Virginia after some Big 12 leaders were lobbied by U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell. West Virginia cancelled plans for a press conference. The conference requested that West Virginia supply it with more information.

On October 28, WVU officially joined the Big 12 and committed to begin play in the 2012 season.

The Mountaineers' former conference, the Big East Conference, required 27 months of notice prior to withdrawal, as drafted by West Virginia's legal team. Big East Commissioner John Marinatto said that West Virginia would not be allowed to leave before July 1, 2014.

In response, West Virginia filed a lawsuit to declare invalid the withdrawal-notice requirement stipulated in the Big East's bylaws. The lawsuit alleged that the Big East breached its fiduciary duty by allowing several football-playing members to depart, causing the conference to no longer be a major football conference and jeopardizing its continued existence. Because of this, West Virginia alleged, its continued performance under the contract had become unreasonably burdensome and its original purpose in entering into the contract had been eliminated.

West Virginia stated its belief that its notice to withdraw in 2012 was indeed accepted, when the Big East Conference accepted its payment of half the $5 million withdrawal penalty. Marinatto denied the allegations.

The Big East countersued. West Virginia's request to dismiss the suit was denied. The Big East Conference's lawsuit was scheduled to begin arguments in April 2012, but on February 14, 2012, West Virginia announced that it had settled.

This cleared the final hurdle for West Virginia. While terms of the settlement were confidential, West Virginia's athletic director said that the settlement would be paid only from private donations and money the athletes raised. According to an anonymous source, the Big East would be paid $20 million, including $11 million  from West Virginia and $9 million by the Big 12. The agreement apparently stipulated that WVU's $2.5 million exit fee and revenue-sharing money would be applied towards the settlement.

2016
On July 19, 2016, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced that the conference had authorized him to begin talks with schools that were interested in joining the conference. The main driving force behind the proposed expansion was to add a conference championship game, which was seen as a crucial extra game that could help the conference earn a college football playoff spot, which the conference had failed to achieve at that point.  On August 31, 2016, ESPN reported that the BIG 12 had narrowed its list of potential schools down to 12, Air Force, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Colorado State, UConn, Houston, Rice, South Florida, SMU, Temple and Tulane. The conference opted not to pursue schools such as Arkansas State, Boise State, East Carolina, New Mexico, Northern Illinois, San Diego State and UNLV, schools that were linked to this potential expansion or had publicly expressed interest in joining the conference.

On September 2, 2016, ESPN reported that the University of Memphis was officially ruled out as a potential member.  No expansion actually eventuated from any of these efforts at the time.

Houston was seen as a top contender for a position, but pushback from other Texas schools resulted in their inclusion being unlikely. BYU’s refusal to schedule games on Sunday hurt their membership chances. Ultimately, the conference chose not to add any more schools, after it was given permission by the NCAA to host a conference championship game with its two top teams.

2021–2024

On July 21, 2021, the Houston Chronicle released an article stating that the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns reached out to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) about a potential move to the conference. The following Monday on July 26, both Oklahoma and Texas notified the Big 12 Conference that the two schools do not wish to extend its grant of television rights beyond the 2024-25 athletic year. On the following day on July 27, the two schools sent a joint letter to the SEC requesting an invitation for membership beginning July 1, 2025. On July 29, 2021, the 14 presidents and chancellors of SEC member schools voted unanimously to invite Oklahoma and Texas to join the SEC, with both schools officially accepting the next day.

The Big 12 Conference sent ESPN a cease and desist letter on July 28, claiming that the network conspired to damage the league by luring Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC. The letter alleges, "[ESPN] has taken certain actions that are intended to not only harm the Big 12 Conference but to result in financial benefits for ESPN... [Also] ESPN employees have discussed and provided incentives for at least one conference to raid 3-5 members from the Big 12. In doing so, they are prepared to reward them with future television proceeds." More specifically, media reports indicated that then-Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby believed that ESPN was encouraging a raid from the American Athletic Conference, up to and including absorbing the remaining Big 12 members. ESPN released a statement stating that the claims have no merit, and officials from The American declined to comment.

Two decisions that the Big 12 made during the early-2010s realignment became significant during this development. First, the conference drafted new bylaws in 2012 with a 99-year duration. A group of members that included Oklahoma and Texas wanted the longest possible duration. Notably, the bylaws allow any member to individually sue any other entity that it sees as violating the bylaws, including other members, different conferences, or broadcast partners. This right to sue remains in force regardless of the number of Big 12 members—even if only one member is left in the conference. Second, the Big 12 registered itself as a Delaware corporation, meaning that any court cases involving the conference's internal governance will be heard in Delaware courts, rather than the courts of the conference's headquarters state of Texas. A story by CBS Sports journalist Dennis Dodd specifically pointed out that this nullifies a potential Texas advantage in any future legal proceedings.

On September 3, Sports Illustrated reported that the Big 12 was on the verge of inviting four schools—American Conference members Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF, plus BYU, an FBS independent and otherwise a member of the non-football West Coast Conference (WCC). This report was soon picked up and expanded on by other outlets. All four schools were reportedly preparing membership applications, and their future entrance could be approved as early as the next scheduled meeting of Big 12 presidents on September 10. The entry timeline was uncertain at the time of the report, but would most likely be in 2024. All four schools received and accepted membership offers on the date of the presidents' meeting, with the official Big 12 announcement stating only that they would join no later than 2024–25. BYU's own announcement stated that it would join in 2023–24, presumably because the WCC had a shorter notice period for departing schools than the 27 months required under American Conference bylaws. Despite said notice period, Houston stated that it could join the Big 12 as early as 2023–24. The three schools set to depart The American entered into negotiations over their departure date, and an agreement allowing those schools to leave for the Big 12 in 2023 was announced on June 10, 2022.

Another interesting situation involved the only then-current Big 12 member that sponsored men's soccer, West Virginia, which had announced it would move that sport to Conference USA (C-USA) in July 2022. Of the 14 schools that were full C-USA members in the 2021–22 school year, nine have announced their departure, including five of the nine schools that competed in C-USA men's soccer in that school year. Of the remaining five full members, only FIU sponsors men's soccer, and Liberty has the only men's soccer program among the four schools set to join C-USA in the near future. Affiliate member Coastal Carolina was set to depart once its full-time home of the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) reinstated men's soccer, which at that time was expected for 2023. With the C-USA men's soccer league also including Kentucky and South Carolina, the only two SEC members that sponsor the sport, this gave three Power Five schools effective control over C-USA men's soccer.

Later developments in the SBC dramatically changed this scenario. The first involved James Madison, a Colonial Athletic Association member that sponsors men's soccer and announced its plan to move to the SBC in 2023. The CAA barred JMU from participation in any further conference championship events, invoking a provision in its bylaws that allowed such a ban. The SBC responded by moving JMU's arrival date forward to July 2022. Soon after this, the other three C-USA members set to move to the SBC in 2023 (Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss, with Marshall and ODU sponsoring men's soccer) announced that they would instead leave in 2022. Following a brief legal dispute, C-USA and the three schools reached a settlement that allowed those schools to join the SBC in 2022. With three men's soccer schools now joining in 2022 instead of 2023, the SBC announced it would reinstate men's soccer at that time. Kentucky, South Carolina, and West Virginia moved men's soccer into the revived SBC league.

On November 2, 2022, ESPN reported that Gonzaga University athletic director Chris Standiford had met with Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark (who succeeded Bob Bowlsby after the latter's retirement earlier in 2022) while the Gonzaga men's basketball team was in the Dallas area, home to the Big 12 offices, for a scrimmage with Tennessee. This meeting was reportedly part of discussions regarding a possible Gonzaga move to the Big 12 as a full member without football (Gonzaga has not had a football program since 1941). Gonzaga men's basketball has become by far the dominant program in the otherwise mid-major WCC. Going into the 2022–23 season, the Bulldogs have played in every NCAA men's tournament in the 21st century, made national championship games in 2017 and 2021, and had been a top regional seed in four of the previous five NCAA tournaments. Gonzaga, which has been transparent with the WCC about its talks with other conferences, has reportedly also been in membership discussions with the Pac-12 Conference and the Big East Conference (the latter being a non-football league).

The Big 12 announced on February 9, 2023 that it had reached a buyout agreement with Oklahoma and Texas. This will allow the two schools to leave for the SEC in 2024 instead of the original 2025 schedule.

After the University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles announced they would leave Pac-12 Conference for the Big Ten Conference on June 30, 2022, speculation emerged over whether Pac-12 members would join the Big 12. In particular, following the inability of the Pac-12 to secure a new media deal, speculation emerged that Arizona and former Big 12 member Colorado would join the Big 12. On July 26, 2023, the presidents and chancellors of the Big 12 member universities voted unanimously to admit Colorado as a member. On July 27, 2023, Colorado's regents approved a resolution on rejoining the Big 12. That same day, Colorado announced it would rejoin the Big 12 effective July 1, 2024. Following Colorado's departure from the Pac-12, the Pac-12 universities' chancellors and presidents met on August 1 where they were presented with details on a new media deal. This did not satisfy the other schools in the conference and on August 4, 2023, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah announced they would follow Colorado in departing the Pac-12 to join the Big 12 beginning in the 2024–25 academic year.

Footnotes

References

Big 12 Conference


title: Mary A. Conroy

text:
Mary Ann Conroy (née O'Connor) was a Democratic State Senator in Maryland representing District 23A, Prince George's County from 1982-1983 and a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, from May 1986 to January 10, 2007. She was born in 1931 in New York City and died in 2014 in Annapolis of hepatitis.

Committees
 2003-2007 Deputy Majority Leader
 2003-2007 Economic Matters Committee
 1986-1993, 1999-2003 Ways and Means Committee
 1998 Judiciary Committee
 1994-1997 Commerce and Government Matters Committee
 1994-2007 Rules and Executive Nominations Committee
 2004-2007 Joint Committee on Federal Relations

References

Democratic Party Maryland state senators
Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates
1931 births
2014 deaths


title: Orkjärve Nature Reserve

text:
Orkjärve Nature Reserve is a nature reserve situated in northern Estonia, in Harju County. It was established in 2005.

Nature reserve was established to protect Orkjärve Bog and Aude and Viisu mires.

Most of the protected area is under Orkjärve Bog. In the northern part of this bog, there is Lake Laanemaa (also known as Orkjärv). Peat deposit is up to .

References

External links

Nature reserves in Estonia
Saue Parish


title: Manitoba Fearless

text:
The Manitoba Fearless are a women's football team in the Western Women's Canadian Football League's (WWCFL) Prairie Conference. The team is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is the longest running Winnipeg-based women's tackle football team, founded in 2008. Their local WWCFL rivals are the Winnipeg Wolfpack.

Three members of the Fearless were part of the inaugural WWCFL board. Together, Fearless founder Tannis Wilson and former-GM Lisa Cummings founded the Manitoba Girls Football Association.

Team history
The Fearless were founded in Winnipeg in 2008. Founder Tannis Wilson had traveled to Alberta after a women's team was founded in Calgary, and returned to Winnipeg with the goal of founding a club there. The Fearless spent several years traveling to play exhibition matches against teams in Alberta, as well as against the Minnesota Vixen. They also invited teams to play in Winnipeg and played some of their games in Brandon, Manitoba. In 2011, the Fearless became a charter member of the WWCFL, joining the Prairie Conference along with three new teams: The Winnipeg Nomads Wolfpack, the Saskatoon Valkyries, and the Regina Riot. Wilson was instrumental in the formation of the new league, and served as its first commissioner.

The close proximity of the new Wolfpack team ensured the creation of a lasting rivalry between the two Winnipeg-based teams, but both found themselves consistently at the bottom of the Prairie Conference standings as the Valkyries and Riot dominated the new league. In the inaugural season, the Fearless opted to forfeit their first-round playoff match against the Riot. The Valkyries won the first four WWCFL championships before the Riot won their first in 2015, the two Saskatchewan-based teams losing only to each other. The Fearless came close to breaking through in the 2018 playoffs when they lost a tight quarterfinal match to Saskatoon by a score of 16–13. A breakthrough finally came in 2019 when the Fearless were able to defeat the Riot 34–9 in Regina on 5 May. It was Manitoba's first win over Regina in ten tries. The win helped Manitoba finish 2nd in the Prairie Conference standings for the first time; however, they lost a re-match to Regina in the playoff Quarterfinals.

The progress of the Fearless was put on hold for two years as the WWCFL cancelled both the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Fearless took a major step when the league resumed play in 2022. They again beat Regina during the regular season and finished 2nd in the Prairie Conference. This time, they managed to get past Regina in the playoffs, defeating the Riot 20–13. They went on to advance to their first WWCFL championship game. In the final, they lost to the Valkyries by a score of 36–6.

Year by year

IFAF competitors
The following lists women from the Manitoba Fearless who have competed in the IFAF Women's World Championship as members of Team Canada.

See also

 Women's gridiron football

References

Canadian football
Sport in Manitoba
Women's sports in Canada
Canadian football teams in Manitoba
2007 establishments in Manitoba
Women in Manitoba
Sports clubs and teams established in 2007


title: Matthew Skinner

text:
Matthew Skinner (22 October 1689 – 21 October 1749) was an English serjeant-at-law, judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1734 to 1738.

Life
A great-grandson of Bishop Robert Skinner, Skinner was born on 22 October 1689, the third and youngest son of Robert Skinner of Welton, Northamptonshire, and of the Inner Temple. His father was judge of the Marshalsea court, and law reporter. Skinner entered Westminster School at the age of 14. Elected to a studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, he matriculated on 18 June 1709, and entered Lincoln's Inn on 20 June 1709.

Skinner was called to the bar on 21 April 1716, and joined the Oxford circuit. In 1719 he purchased from Simon Urling (later recorder of London), a place as one of the four common pleaders of the city of London, who then enjoyed the exclusive right and privilege of practising in the lord mayor's court. He was chosen as recorder of Oxford on 30 May 1721 and gave up his place as common pleader in 1722 to Thomas Garrard (later common serjeant of London).

Skinner's practice grew rapidly, and he was called to the rank of serjeant-at-law in Easter term, 1 February 1724, was made one of the king's serjeants on 11 June 1728, and became his majesty's prime (or first) serjeant by letters patent on 12 May 1734. He served as treasurer of Serjeants' Inn in 1728.

After trying unsuccessfully to enter parliament for  at the 1727 British general election, Skinner, who lived at Oxford from 1722 to 1739, was chosen Member of Parliament for the Oxford constituency at the general election of 1734. He was chosen as a Tory, but he soon went over to the Government. On 16 May 1737, he spoke in favour of the bill against the provost and city of Edinburgh after the Porteous riots.

Skinner was appointed chief justice of Chester, and of the great sessions for the counties of Flint, Denbigh, and Montgomery and vacated his seat in Parliament on 26 November 1738. He occupied this judicial position, together with the recordership of Oxford, for the rest of his life. He was the second counsel for the Crown in the prosecution of Jacobite rebels on the northern circuit in July 1746; and led for the crown at Arthur Elphinstone, 6th Lord Balmerinoch's trial in the House of Lords the same year.

Skinner died at Oxford on 21 October 1749, and was buried in Oxford Cathedral.

Works
Skinner published his father's Reports of Cases decided in the Court of King's Bench, 33 Charles II to 9 William III in 1728.

Family
Skinner married, in 1719, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Whitfield of Watford Place, Hertfordshire. His eldest son died on 8 April 1735; while another son, Matthew Skinner, was also a barrister of Lincoln's Inn.

Notes

Attribution

1689 births
1749 deaths
Serjeants-at-law (England)
18th-century English judges
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
British MPs 1734–1741
People educated at Westminster School, London
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Members of Lincoln's Inn


title: John Hulle

text:
John Hulle may refer to:

John Hulle (MP for Wilton) (fl. 1388)
John Hulle (MP for Totnes) (fl.1402)

See also
John Hull (disambiguation)


title: Masashi Kamekawa

text:
is a Japanese footballer who plays as a defender for  club Avispa Fukuoka.

National team career
In August 2016, Kamekawa was elected Japan U-23 national team for 2016 Summer Olympics. At this tournament, he played 2 matches as left side back.

Club statistics
.

References

External links

Profile at Avispa Fukuoka

1993 births
Living people
Association football people from Osaka Prefecture
People from Minoh, Osaka
Japanese men's footballers
J1 League players
J2 League players
Shonan Bellmare players
Avispa Fukuoka players
Kashiwa Reysol players
V-Varen Nagasaki players
Yokohama FC players
Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic footballers for Japan
Men's association football defenders


title: John Hulle (MP for Wilton)

text:
John Hulle (died after 1403) was an English Member of Parliament.

He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Wilton in September 1388.

References

14th-century births
15th-century deaths
English MPs September 1388


title: Simon Ludders

text:
Simon Ludders is an English film and television actor, writer and director. He is best known for starring as Renfield in Young Dracula, a CBBC television series that initially aired in 2006 and finalised in 2014.

He also played Trevor Smith in Broadchurch and appeared as Mr Swan in TV mini-series Becoming Human.

Next to appearing in film and television, Ludders is a theatre actor. In October 2014, he played Banquo in Macbeth, by William Shakespeare at the Colchester Mercury.

Ludders had most recently appeared in the fifth series of The Dumping Ground, the spin-off of the successful Tracy Beaker franchise as Peter Umbleby, a snobby next door neighbour living next to the care home, with a strong grudge against living next to a children's home, and later in the series finale, trying to get the care home closed and knocked down.

Filmography

As an actor

Film

Television

As a writer, director and producer

Theatre

External links

References

English male television actors
English male film actors
English screenwriters
English male screenwriters
Living people
20th-century English male actors
21st-century English male actors
Year of birth missing (living people)


title: New Geneva Glass Works

text:
The New Geneva Glass Works was an early American glass factory established in western Pennsylvania, active from 1797 until 1847.

In 1795, Albert Gallatin gathered several investors together as Albert Gallatin & Company to purchase tracts of land including the towns of Wilson's Port, Georgetown, and unused lots across the Monongahela River in Greensboro. They named the community New Geneva and built a general store, gun factory, sawmill, and a gristmill. Several years later, in 1797, Albert Gallatin & Company partner John Baddolet wrote to Gallatin about a group of German glassblowers who wanted to build a glass factory in the area. John Gabler, Adolph Eberhart, George Reppert, Lewis Reitz, Baltzer Kramer, and Christian Kramer had the skills and knowledge of glassmaking, but needed the capital and land for a glassworks. Gallatin, Badollet, and the glassblowers entered into the venture, along with partners James Nicholson, Louis Bourdillon, and Charles A. Cazenove. The first glasshouse was built near Georges Creek and production began on January 18, 1798. The glassblowers mainly produced window glass, although whiskey bottles, bowls, and other hollow ware were also made.

Production soon grew to an annual average of 4,000 boxes of window glass. At the same time, the company was troubled by supply and production issues, including properly curing the wood they used for fuel, cleaning the sand used to make the glass, preparing batches of glass, and obtaining clay used to make furnace pots.

Gallatin maintained a half interest in the glassworks and provided all the sand and wood used until 1803. That May, he posted an advertisement in the Tree of Liberty, a Pittsburgh newspaper, announcing an auction of his interest in the glassworks, a ferry across the Monongahela River, and several properties in the town of New Geneva. There were no offers, and Gallatin sold his company shares to his partners. Shortly afterward, the partners decided to move the glassworks across the river to Greensboro and replaced wood with coal as their source of fuel. The Greensboro factory functioned from 1807 into the late 1840s, but closed in 1847 because it could no longer compete with newer, nearby glasshouses.

In 1837, the sons of Reitz and the Kramers (New Geneva's first glassblowers) founded a second glassworks in New Geneva and produced the same products as the earlier factories. The firm existed until 1857, when the last glass was made by John Gabler and Charles Kramer.

References

Defunct glassmaking companies


title: John Hulle (MP for Totnes)

text:
John Hulle (fl. 1402) was an English politician.

He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Totnes in 1402.

References

Year of birth missing
Year of death missing
English MPs 1402
Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Totnes


title: Michelle Rifenberg

text:
Michelle Rifenberg (born January 30, 1957) is an American politician and homemaker who served as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1997 to 2002.

Background
A native of La Crescent, Minnesota, Rifenberg received her Bachelor of Science degree from Viterbo University and was a homemaker. She served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1997 to 2002 as a Republican.

References

1957 births
Living people
People from La Crescent, Minnesota
Viterbo University alumni
Women state legislators in Minnesota
Republican Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians


title: P. moritziana

text:
P. moritziana may refer to:

 Pitcairnia moritziana, a plant endemic to Venezuela
 Platystachys moritziana, an air plant
 Polysiphonia moritziana, a red algae


title: Robert Wastell

text:
Robert Wastell (fl. 1406–1410) of Totnes, Devon, was an English politician.

He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Totnes in 1406 and 1410.

References

Year of birth missing
Year of death missing
English MPs 1406
People from Totnes
English MPs 1410
Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Totnes


Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Limited is a division of Telangana State Electricity Board. It is responsible for power generation in the state of Telangana. It has ceased to do power trading and has retained with powers of controlling system operations of power generation after formation of Telangana state.

Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Limited has been incorporated under companies Act, 2013, on 19 May 2014 and commenced its operations from 2 June 2014.

History
The erstwhile Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board which came into existence in 1959 was responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. Under the Electricity Sector Reforms agenda, government of Andhra Pradesh promulgated Andhra Pradesh Electricity Reforms Act, 1998. The erstwhile APSEB was unbundled into one generating company (APGENCO), one transmission company (APTRANSCO) and four distribution companies (APDISCOMs) as part of the reform process.

Later, on 2 June 2014, when the state was bifurcated, APGENCO distributed all the assets, liabilities and power stations to both the states and Telangana Power Generation Corporation (TSGENCO) was formed for the newly formed Telangana state and APGENCO remained for Andhra Pradesh in accordance with the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. All the plants (thermal, hydel and solar) located in Telangana region were transferred to Telangana Genco on an "as is where is" basis.

Mission
To spearhead accelerated power development by planning and implementing new power projects.
To generate adequate and reliable power most economically, efficiently and eco-friendly.
To implement renovation and modernisation of all existing units and enhance their performance.

Power Plants of TSGENCO

The power plants of TSGENCO are

Thermal-Coal based

Hydro-Water based

Non-Conventional Plants

See also
 List of Power Stations in Telangana
 Transmission Corporation of Telangana
 Solar power in India
 Wind power in India
 Torrefaction
 Central Electricity Authority (India)
 Economics of new nuclear power plants
 Demand response
 National Grid (Great Britain)
 Spark spread
 Electricity market
 Electricity Act (2003)

References

Electric-generation companies of India
Energy in Telangana
State agencies of Telangana
State electricity agencies of India
Industries in Hyderabad, India
Indian companies established in 2014
2014 establishments in Telangana


title: Wastell

text:
Wastell is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Robert Wastell (fl. 1406–1410), English politician
John Wastell ( 1460— 1518), English architect and mason


title: John Warwick (MP for Totnes)

text:
John Warwick (fl. 1406) was an English politician.

He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Totnes in 1406.

References

Year of birth missing
Year of death missing
English MPs 1406
Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Totnes


title: James Johnstone (1801–1888)

text:
James Johnstone (4 July 1801 – 24 February 1888) was a Scottish Peelite politician.

He was the oldest of 8 sons of James Raymond Johnstone (died 1830) of Alva, who was the son of John Johnstone (1734–1795).

He was elected at a by-election in June 1851 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Clackmannanshire and Kinross-shire.
He was returned unopposed in 1852, and did not contest the 1857 election.

References

External links

1801 births
1888 deaths
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
UK MPs 1847–1852
UK MPs 1852–1857
People from Clackmannanshire


title: Alfred Wonston

text:
Alfred Wonston or Wolston (fl. 1407–1426) of Newton Abbot, Devon, was an English politician.

He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Totnes in
1407, for Barnstaple in 1410 and 1411, and for Tavistock in 1426.

References

Year of birth missing
Year of death missing
English MPs 1410
English MPs 1407
English MPs 1411
English MPs 1426
Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Totnes
Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Barnstaple


title: No. 168 Squadron RCAF

text:
No. 168 Squadron RCAF was a heavy transport (H.T.) squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force (unrelated to No. 168 Squadron RAF) that formed at RCAF Station Rockcliffe, near Ottawa, Ontario in on 18 October, 1943. The squadron carried large quantities of mail, freight and later, passengers between Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as to locations in Europe and Africa.

Before October 1943, the Canadian Government had sent mail to Canadian service personnel in the United Kingdom by ship. However, high ship losses and the importance of mail to service personnel prompted the government to switch to air mail. The Squadron's primary role was to deliver mail to Europe, initially using six surplus Boeing Fortress heavy bomber aircraft acquired from the United States. All of the Fortresses were in poor condition when received and the RCAF made numerous modifications to the Fortresses, including  the removal of the machine guns and their turrets and the installation of a replacement solid nose that increased the quantity of mail that could be carried. The paint was later stripped off the airframes to further lighten them.

The first scheduled mail flight was carried out by Fortress 9204 on 15 December 1943 with 2 passengers and  of mail after the aircraft intended for this flight, 9202 was grounded due to a mechanical problem.
On 2 April 1944, Fortress 9207 crashed shortly after take off from Glasgow Prestwick Airport, killing all five crew members.
In August 1944, the RCAF added the first of several Consolidated Liberators to the Squadron's strength.
In addition to the Fortresses and Liberators, 168 Squadron also operated Douglas Dakotas and Lockheed Lodestar transports. A single Beechcraft Expeditor was loaned to the unit in 1944 from No. 12 (Communications) Squadron, and Lockheed Hudson Mk.III BW619 was borrowed in 1944 for mail runs in the Mediterranean.

During its period of service the squadron completed 636 Atlantic Ocean crossings and logged 26,417 flying hours. Over  of mail,  of freight and 42,057 passengers were transported, which included additional detached operations out of Great Britain as well as Gibraltar and Morocco. One of the squadron's VIP Liberators carried  members of the British Royal Family, the Governor General of Canada and Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King.

Once most Canadian troops deployed to Europe had been repatriated following the end of the Second World War, the unit was disbanded on April 21, 1946.

References

Citations

Bibliography

1943 establishments in Ontario
1946 disestablishments in Ontario
Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons (disbanded)
Military units and formations disestablished in 1946
Military units and formations established in 1943
Military units and formations of Canada in World War II


title: AGARD-B wind tunnel model

text:
AGARD-B is a standard wind tunnel model (calibration model) that is used to verify, by comparison of test results with previously published data, the measurement chain in a wind tunnel.
Together with its derivative AGARD-C it belongs to a family of AGARD standard wind tunnel models. Its origin dates to the year 1952, and the Second Meeting of the AGARD Wind Tunnel and Model Testing Panel in Rome, Italy, when it was decided to define two standard wind tunnel model configurations (AGARD-A and AGARD-B) to be used for exchange of test data and comparison of test results of same models tested in different wind tunnels. The idea was to establish standards of comparison between wind tunnels and improve the validity of wind tunnel tests.
Among the standard wind tunnel models, AGARD model configuration B (AGARD-B) has become by far the most popular. Initially intended for the supersonic wind tunnels, the AGARD-B configuration has since been tested in many wind tunnels at a wide range of Mach numbers, from low subsonic (Mach 0.1), through transonic (Mach 0.7 to 1.4) to hypersonic (up to Mach 8 and above). Therefore, a considerable database of test results is available.

AGARD-B is a body-wing configuration. All its dimensions are given in terms of the body diameter "D" so that the model can be produced in any scale, as appropriate for a particular wind tunnel.
The body is an 8.5 diameters long solid of revolution consisting of a 5.5 diameters long cylindrical segment and a nose with a length of 3 diameters and having a local radius defined by the equation .

The wing is a delta in the form of an equilateral triangle with a span of four body diameters. Wing section is a symmetric cylindrical arc with a relative thickness t/c of 4%. Leading and trailing edges of the wing should be rounded with a radius equal to . However, this specification is unclear. It is obvious that the specified radius can not be applied near the wingtips, or large deformations in the plan form of the wing would occur. In the past, this part of the specification was interpreted in different ways by model designers which led to small differences in shapes of the tested models. The recommended solution is to have the leading- and trailing-edge radii of  at the theoretical root chord and to decrease the radii towards the wing tips proportionally to the local chord.

A support sting to be used with the AGARD-B model was defined as well. The initial specification of the model called for a sting having a diameter of  and a length of . In the revised specification the length of the sting was changed to  in order to reduce sting interference, but at that moment a number of wind tunnel tests had already been made. Therefore, published test results for the AGARD-B models do not all correspond to theoretical model configuration.

The drag characteristics of the AGARD-B model were found to be somewhat sensitive to the boundary layer transition on the model. In order to reduce the scatter of results, in some wind tunnel facilities the model was tested with boundary layer transition trips near the leading edges of the wing and the nose of the body. On the other hand, a number of wind tunnel tests was made without fixed transition. Drag results with and without the fixed boundary layer transition differ, which should not be neglected when comparing test results from different wind tunnel laboratories.

In some wind tunnel laboratories, AGARD-B was tested in non-standard configurations, e.g. as a half-model (half-span model).

Some free-flight tests of the AGARD-B model were performed. For these tests, the standard geometry was modified by adding, at the rear end of the body, two triangular vertical stabilisers, one on the ventral and one on the dorsal side of the body. Size of the vertical stabilizers was 50% of the wing size, i.e. their span was .

AGARD-B standard model is intended primarily for the measurement of aerodynamic forces and moments. Test results are most often presented in the form of nondimensional aerodynamic coefficients in the wind axes system. Reference area for the calculation of the coefficients is the theoretical wing area . Reference length for the pitching moment coefficient  is the mean aerodynamic chord (m.a.c.) equal to  while the reference length for the yawing and rolling moment coefficients  and  is the  wing span . Moments are reduced to a point in the plane of symmetry of the model, at the longitudinal position of 50% of the m.a.c. (however, in some published results, moments were reduced to a point at 25% of the m.a.c.). Drag coefficient is presented in terms of forebody drag  obtained by subtracting, from the total measured drag , the base drag  computed from the measured base pressure on the model. Likewise, Lift coefficient represents forebody lift.

Some laboratories have selected to test the AGARD-B standard model for periodic checkouts of the quality of measurements in their wind tunnels.

AGARD-C

At the AGARD Wind Tunnel and Model Testing Panel meeting in Paris, France, in 1954, it was agreed to add a third model configuration to the family of AGARD calibration models, by extending the body of the AGARD-B by 1.5 diameters and by adding a horizontal and a vertical tail in the T-tail configuration. The horizontal tail has an area equal to 1/6 of the wing area. Sections of the vertical and horizontal tail are circular arc profiles defined identically to the profile of the wing. Forward of the 1.5 D body extension, the geometry of the AGARD-C model is identical to that of the AGARD-B. Also, the position of the moments reduction point (the aerodynamic centre) is the same as on AGARD-B.

The support sting for the AGARD-C model is identical to the sting for the AGARD-B model, having a length of  aft of model base and a diameter of .

The longer body of the AGARD-C model and the existence of the tail make it easier to detect (from anomalies in the wind tunnel test results) if the shock waves reflected from the walls of the wind tunnel test section are passing too close to the rear end of the model. The existence of the tail generally makes this model more sensitive than AGARD-B to flow curvature in the wind tunnel test section.

AGARD-C is primarily used in the transonic wind tunnels and the database of published test results is somewhat smaller than the one for the AGARD-B model.

In order to reduce cost and produce more versatile wind tunnel models, actual designs of AGARD-B and AGARD-C are sometimes realized as an AGARD-B configuration to which a body segment with the T-tail can be attached at the rear end to form the AGARD-C configuration.

Gallery

See also
Wind tunnel
Standard wind tunnel models

References

Wind tunnels
Physical models


title: Avaste Nature Reserve

text:
Avaste Nature Reserve is a nature reserve situated in western Estonia, to largest extent in Pärnu County.

Avaste nature reserve consists of forests, fens, bogs and meadows. It is centred on Avaste fen, one of the largest fens in Estonia. The flora of the nature reserve includes sweet gale, mud sedge and several species of orchid. Several species of rare or threatened birds furthermore have a habitat in the nature reserve. These include black stork, white-backed woodpecker, northern goshawk, short-eared owl, three species of eagle and others.

A  long hiking trail runs adjacent to the nature reserve.

References

Nature reserves in Estonia
Wetlands of Estonia
Lääneranna Parish
Põhja-Pärnumaa Parish
Märjamaa Parish


title: I Am King

text:
I Am King is the second studio album by American hardcore punk band Code Orange and first to be released under this moniker after previously being referred to as "Code Orange Kids". The Kurt Ballou-produced album was released on September 2, 2014 through Deathwish Inc. To promote the album, Code Orange released music videos for the tracks "I Am King" and "Dreams in Inertia", in addition to an online stream for "My World".

Writing and recording
Code Orange entered the studio with Kurt Ballou in February 2014. Ballou is the guitarist of Converge and previously recorded Code Orange's 2012 debut album Love Is Love/Return to Dust. Code Orange drummer Jami Morgan described I Am King as a "different" album that will mark "a very new era for our band", and also elaborated: "A lot of the heavier parts are heavier and sometimes more obvious. A lot of the odd parts are weirder and a little more anti-social. Things are a lot more blended together." After the band wrote the "skeletons" of the songs for I Am King, Code Orange revisited the tracks to look for moments where they could, "incorporate these little sonic nuggets that excited us or intrigued us." The songs were also influenced by metal acts such as the groove metal band Sepultura, metalcore band Prayer for Cleansing and grunge band Alice in Chains.

Composition
Critics drew several comparisons between parts or all of I Am King and other metal and hardcore bands, including Converge, Disembodied, the Locust, Melvins, Norma Jean, Refused, Vision of Disorder, and Zao, and noted that the band's heavier music styles on the album included metalcore, hardcore punk, post-hardcore, sludge metal, death metal, mathcore, and grindcore. Some critics noted some non-hardcore influences on select tracks, including shoegaze, post-punk, dream pop, grunge, and indie rock, and noted similarities to the Smiths and Lush.

Promotion and marketing

Code Orange (then known as Code Orange Kids) began teasing the release of its sophomore album 7 months in advance in February 2014 by posting an image of a green panther with a black backdrop accompanied by the phrase "King 2014" on its social media sites. The following month, Code Orange launched a mysterious viral marketing campaign and website dubbed "Thinners of the Herd", which asked for fans' names and home addresses.

In June 2014, Code Orange released a music video for the title track, "I Am King", directed by Max Moore. Writing for Exclaim!, Gregory Adams said "I Am King" is "a little gory" and also said, "While the black and white video strings together savage shots of the group ripping through fast and punchy hardcore licks and a monster of a mosh section from inside a straw-strewn barn, there's even more menacing footage mixed into the clip's runtime." In July 2014, Code Orange released an online stream of the song "My World", followed by a music video for "Dreams in Inertia" in August 2014, again directed by Max Moore. Writing for Fangoria, Samuel Zimmerman described the "Dreams in Inertia" video, stating: "Admittedly mellower (for a spell), the video for 'Dreams in Inertia' is full of occult vibes and lo-fi creep." Adams also discussed the video, commenting: "While we see the band delivering the tune throughout the video, we also get a glimpse of a guy's bathtub purification and a dour crew's march through a forest filled with nooses. Code Orange meet up with the other faction late in the video to offer a few sips of Kool-Aid, which may not be a gesture of good faith." I Am King was made available for online streaming in its entirety a week ahead of its release on August 26.

For supporting tours, Code Orange performed sets of almost entirely new material from I Am King. In an interview about an upcoming show in Portland, Oregon, drummer Jami Morgan explained, "We're gonna play one song off [Love Is Love/Return to Dust] and that's it. Nothing else matters. To me, when you make a record that [makes you] feel like how we feel about this record, the other records don't matter. They're obsolete. They were on a path to get to this record." Code Orange's first tour in support of I Am King was a brief stint opening for Killswitch Engage and Ringworm surrounding its participation in the This Is Hardcore festival on July 24, 2014. This was followed by a September–October 2014 co-headlining tour with Twitching Tongues.

Critical reception

Upon its release, I Am King received critical acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, the album received an average score of 87, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on four reviews.

Writing for Consequence of Sound Ryan Bray stated: "Guttural metalcore still reigns loudly over any dreamy, indie rock ambitions that Code Orange entertain on I Am King. ... But they're trying, and in a genre that adheres so closely to formula like hardcore, metal, and the spaces in between, that in and of itself means something." Andy Biddulph of Rock Sound described the album as "breathtaking" and wrote: "With its heady mix of head-caving drone, battering hardcore and classic rock riffery, I Am King is a record unlike any other." Bradley Zorgdrager of Exclaim! praised for its "crushing cacophony", stating "it's the moments of calm before (and during) the storm here that makes I Am King worthy of its crown."

Terry Bezer of Metal Hammer complimented the band's progression from their debut album stating, "for all the change, Code Orange's progression in sound doesn't feel unnatural off the back of Love Is Love // Return To Dust and marks a different but no less enthralling (or heavy) experience." Punknews.org called the album "heavy and full of rage" and considered it "[to be] in line with what the band has always done best."

Commercial performance
The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at 96, making I Am King the first Code Orange album to appear on a national chart. I Am King also peaked at number 10 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart and number 29 on the Top Rock Albums chart.

Track listing

Personnel
I Am King personnel adapted from CD liner notes.

Code Orange
 Eric Balderose – guitar, vocals
 Joe Goldman – bass
 Reba Meyers – guitar, vocals
 Jami Morgan – drums, vocals

Additional musicians
 AJ Borish (Path to Misery) – guest vocals on "Slowburn"
 Joe Sanderson (Eternal Sleep) – guest vocals on "Mercy"
 Eric Schaeffer (Unit 731) – guest vocals on "My World"
 Scott Vogel (Terror) – guest vocals on "Unclean Spirit"

Production
 Kurt Ballou – recording, mixing, engineering at God City Studios
 Brad Boatright – mastering
 Dave Rosenstraus – additional recording at The Braddock Hit Factory
 Taylor Young – additional recording at The Pit

Artwork
 Kimi Hanauer – artwork, layout, photos
 Jami Morgan – art direction

Charts

References

External links
 I Am King at Bandcamp

2014 albums
Deathwish Inc. albums
Code Orange (band) albums
Albums produced by Kurt Ballou


title: Buckel's Bog

text:
Buckel's Bog was a 160-acre, shallow periglacial lake or a glade that occupied the headwater region of the North Branch of the Casselman River in Garrett County, Maryland, during the late Pleistocene epoch. It is the remnant of the only known natural lake in Maryland.

The eastern side of the remaining evidence of Buckel's Bog is presently traversed by the Casselman River as its waters flow northward into Pennsylvania. In the nineteenth century, the fledgling United States began its westward expansion; the National Road was one artery proposed and constructed to facilitate this westward flow. The proposed road would cross the Casselman River just south of Buckel's Bog, so the (at that time) country's largest stone-arch bridge was constructed (1813–14) over the river. The 80–foot–span Casselman Bridge, first used by wheeled vehicles in 1815, remained in use until 1933. Although now replaced by a nearby steel bridge, the stone bridge now serves as the centerpiece of Maryland's Cassselman River Bridge State Park.

References

Bogs of Maryland
Landforms of Garrett County, Maryland


title: Bhutanthera

text:
Bhutanthera is a genus of terrestrial orchids native to the Himalaya Mountains of Asia.

Bhutanthera albomarginata (King & Pantling) Renz - Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh
Bhutanthera albosanguinea Renz - Bhutan
Bhutanthera albovirens Renz - Bhutan
Bhutanthera alpina (Hand.-Mazz.) Renz - Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh
Bhutanthera fimbriata Raskoti - Nepal
Bhutanthera himalayana Renz - Bhutan

formerly included

Bhutanthera humidicola (K.Y.Lang & D.S.Deng) Ormerod, synonym of Frigidorchis humidicola (K.Y.Lang & D.S.Deng) Z.J.Liu & S.C.Chen,

References

External links
Asian Flora, Bhutanthera albomarginata (King & Pantl.) J.Renz in Sikkim, Tsomgo lake, July 2003 photos

Orchideae
Orchideae genera


title: John Pomeroy (died 1416)

text:
Sir John Pomeroy (c. 1347 – 1416), of Berry Pomeroy, Devon, was an English politician.

He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Totnes in 1407.

References

1347 births
1416 deaths
English MPs 1407
High Sheriffs of Devon
Knights Bachelor
Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Totnes


title: Bonne Marie Félicité de Sérent

text:
Bonne Marie Félicité de Sérent née de Montmorency-Luxembourg (February 18, 1739 – July 3, 1823), was a French courtier. She served as dame d'atour to Princess Élisabeth of France in 1776–92, and as dame d'honneur to Marie Thérèse of France in 1799–1823.

Life
Bonne Marie Félicité de Sérent was born to duke Charles Anne Sigismond de Montmorency-Luxembourg and Marie-Etiennette de Bullion de Fervaques, and married marquis Armand-Louis de Sérent in 1754. She had four children. She was described as forceful, pious and as a convinced autocrat royalist.

In 1776, she was appointed dame d'atour to Princess Élisabeth of France when Elisabeth left the care of the royal governess and formed her own household.
On the outbreak of the French Revolution, she belonged to those courtiers accompanying the royal family from Versailles to Paris after the Women's March on Versailles in October 1789, and continued to serve Elisabeth in the Tuileries.

After the imprisonment of Elisabeth in the Temple in 1792, she kept in contact with her from the outside, even though Elisabeth encouraged her to emigrate for her own safety. Their contact was often made through Clery, servant of the deposed king, and later through the cook Turgot, who described the matter:
"Mme la Marquise de Sérent was the chief person in whom centred the correspondence of the Queen and Mme Elizabeth. At her house I passed as her man of business, and her servants had orders to let me in at any hour of day or night. It is known what a fine character and what noble devotion this lady showed in all the dangers of the royal family and in so many circumstances full of danger for herself."

Upon the release of Marie Thérèse of France from the Temple in 1795, Sérent, along with Louise-Élisabeth de Croÿ de Tourzel, were both refused to attend to her and accompany her during her departure for Austria.

In 1799, she attended the wedding between Marie Thérèse of France and her cousin the Duke of Angoulême in Mitau in Courland, and was appointed dame d'honneur to Marie Thérèse of France, a position she kept until her death. Her daughter, who had accompanied her, was appointed to the household of Marie Thérèse as well. They accompanied Marie Therese to England in 1808.

In 1814, she returned to France along with the reinstated Bourbon dynasty. She continued to serve as the head lady-in-waiting to Marie Thérèse who, in the absence of a queen, was the first lady of the French court, and headed all the formal court presentations of debutantes. Upon her death in 1823, she was succeeded as dame d'honneur by her daughter Anne-Félicité Simone de Sérent, married to Duke Étienne-Charles de Damas-Crux, who had prior served as her deputy.

References

1739 births
1823 deaths
French ladies-in-waiting
Mistresses of the Robes (France)


title: Song of the Shank

text:
Song of the Shank is a novel by Jeffery Renard Allen, published by Graywolf Press in 2014. It is the author's second novel. His first novel, Rails Under My Back, was published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux fourteen years earlier in 2000.

The publisher described the novel as follows: At the heart of this remarkable novel is Thomas Greene Wiggins, a nineteenth-century slave and improbable musical genius who performed under the name Blind Tom.

In 1866, Tom and his guardian, Eliza Bethune, struggle to readjust to their fashionable apartment in the City in the aftermath of riots that had driven them away a few years before. But soon a stranger arrives from the mysterious island of Edgemere—inhabited solely by African settlers and black refugees from the war and riots—who intends to reunite Tom with his now-liberated mother. As the novel ranges from Tom's boyhood to the heights of his performing career, the inscrutable savant is buffeted by opportunistic teachers and crooked managers, crackpot healers, and militant prophets.

In his symphonic novel, Jeffery Renard Allen blends history and fantastical invention to bring to life a radical cipher, a man who profoundly changes all who encounter him. At the heart of this remarkable novel is Thomas Greene Wiggins, a nineteenth-century slave, and improbable musical genius who performed under the name Blind Tom. In 1866, Tom and his guardian, Eliza Bethune, struggle to readjust to their fashionable apartment in the City in the aftermath of riots that had driven them away a few years before. But soon a stranger arrives from the mysterious island of Edgemere—inhabited solely by African settlers and black refugees from the war and riots—who intends to reunite Tom with his now-liberated mother.

As the novel ranges from Tom's boyhood to the heights of his performing career, the inscrutable savant is buffeted by opportunistic teachers and crooked managers, crackpot healers, and militant prophets. In his symphonic novel, Jeffery Renard Allen blends history and fantastical invention to bring to life a radical cipher, a man who profoundly changes all who encounter him.'

Origins of the novel
In an essay Allen wrote about the novel and in interviews, he discusses how he began writing The Song of the Shank when he learned of Thomas Wiggins in Oliver Sacks' book An Anthropologist on Mars. Allen started researching Wiggins and working on the novel while he was a fellow at The Dorothy L. and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. The fellowship began on September 10, 2001, one day before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Allen discusses the terrorist attacks and how they are figured into the novel. He also discusses how his travels on the African continent shaped his creation of a fictional island called Edgemere, a place that is central to the novel's setting and construction of place.

As for music, Allen notes that he avoided listening to any recordings of Blind Tom's compositions because he wanted to use his imagination to create his image of what Tom's music might have sounded like to a listener of Tom's area. On the novel's acknowledgment page, Allen mentions some of the wide-ranging musical influences that shaped his writing, including the Malian singer Oumou Sangaré and the rock band Tool. About the latter, Allen states in an interview that he was inspired by their unusual songs about physical and spiritual transformations of mind and body.

Allen received a support grant from Creative Capital that helped him during many of the years that it took him to write the novel.

Synopsis
Song of the Shank is a novel loosely based on the life of Thomas Greene Wiggins, a nineteenth-century African-American pianist, composer, and performer, who played under the stage name Blind Tom. Born a slave in Columbus, Georgia, in 1849, Tom began giving concert recitals at the age of six and went on to become for several decades one of the most famous Americans of his time. Not only did he play to full houses across the US, the British Isles, and Europe, but he was also the first African American to perform at the White House. However, he has for the most part disappeared from history, in part because musicologists have come to view him as an autistic savant who lacked true creative ability.

Totaling more than 600 pages, the novel has nine sections in all, each told in third or first person from the point of view of varying central characters, which total seven in all. The present action of the novel covers a period of less than four years, from 1866 until 1869, with flashbacks to the earlier years of Tom's life. When the novel opens, Tom is living in isolation in a Manhattan apartment with his sole guardian, Eliza Bethune, the widow of his former manager who wants to rid herself of Tom. The novel's subsequent sections examine Tom's powerful impact on those who try to return him to fame or who simply want to understand him, including his mother after a decade of separation.

In the same way that the novel offers an alternative history of Tom, it also offers an altered history of New York City and America as a whole during the years immediately before the Civil War, the war itself, and the years that followed. These fictive spaces of place and time allow for an imaginative exploration of many subjects, including family, bondage and freedom, religion, and the creative impulse.

Critical reception
The novel was well received by critics. It was the front-page review for the June 22, 2014, Sunday edition of the New York Times Book Review magazine, where it was reviewed by novelist Mitchell S. Jackson. The Chicago Tribune gave the novel considerable attention, both reviewing the novel and publishing an excerpt of the book in the newspaper. Essence magazine listed it as one of five recommend books for summer reading.

Gene Seymour wrote a full-page review of the novel for Bookforum, where he described it as "...an eerie fever dream of an historical novel". He also wrote, "The imaginative artist, especially one such as Allen, who carries the resources of the poet and the psychic in his trick bag.…"

Booklist gave the novel a starred review where the reviewer wrote: "In the extraordinarily talented hands of Allen, Tom is a mysterious and compelling figure, a blind black boy at a time when his perceived infirmities, including his race, should make him insignificant.... [A] tour de force.... A brilliant book, with echoes of Ralph Ellison and William Faulkner."

Kirkus Reviews also gave the novel a starred review, with the reviewer writing: "Allen's psychological insight and evocative language vividly bring to life all the black and white people in Tom's life who, in seeking to understand or exploit Tom's unholy gifts, are both transformed and transfixed by his inscrutable, resolutely self-contained personality. If there's any justice, Allen's visionary work, as startlingly inventive as one of his subject's performances, should propel him to the front rank of American novelists."

In a mixed review that appeared in Publishers Weekly, the reviewer wrote: "Both the conception and the underlying history behind this story will leave readers with a profound understanding of the inhumanity of slavery and 19th century racial attitudes. . . . [An] admirable book that invites an important excavation of the past."

The cover of the novel featured a blurb by Junot Diaz, who writes: "The prodigiously talented Jeffery Renard Allen is without question one of our most important writers." The novel received additional blurbs on the book and printed and online publicity from a number of distinguished writers, including John Edgar Wideman, Ishmael Reed, and Rene Steinke.  Here are the blurbs as listed on the first edition of the book and the author's and publishers websites:

"One of the miracle books. Also a gift for those of us who love reading and writing---a gift for those not born yet who will learn much about writing and reading, about themselves from Blind Tom". -  John Edgar Wideman

"Song of the Shank, for all of its invention, feels like a resurrection of a true past. Jeffery Renard Allen so fully inhabits this imagined history, and so convincingly renders the charisma and mystery of Blind Tom, the story seems as alive and immediate as this very present moment. With his electric and searing prose, with his uncanny insight, Allen has written a spell-binding, masterful novel". - Rene Steinke, author of Friendswood

"Allen’s novel is an amazing, imagining of another time, place, world". - Reginald Gibbons

"Talent and brilliance are not enough. Writing a novel like this is the equivalent of building a three-story building. Single handedly. Jeffery Renard Allen scores highly with this novel about the life of the nineteenth century savant, BlindTom." - Ishmael Reed

References

External links
Song of the Shank at Graywolf Press
 Kate Tuttle, "Jeffery Renard Allen detects alternate history of slave’s genius", The Boston Globe, June 14, 2014.
 "Command Performance." Mitchell S. Jackson. The New York Times Book Review, June 22, 2014.

2014 American novels
Fiction set in the 1860s
Novels about slavery
Graywolf Press books