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Phase II - Donor Gallery - Susan and Sam Torn
Never Torn about A&M
Longtime basketball supporter soaks up Aggies' recent success
By Rusty Burson
For the past 23 years, Sam and Susan Torn have owned and operated Camp Ozark, a Christian-based, athletic-oriented summer retreat for youths located 40 miles west of Hot Springs, Ark. in the scenic Ouachita Lake and Mountain region of the state.
During that time, the Torns have witnessed plenty of beautiful and moving camp scenes. But one on the most memorable scenes in recent years took place on the sidewalks of Reed Arena, as Texas A&M students camped out for basketball tickets.
Sam Torn, a 1970 Texas A&M graduate and a former high school basketball player, has spent the last couple of decades anxiously awaiting a basketball awakening in Aggieland.
He has obviously ecstatic about the last three years—where A&M’s men’s and women’s teams have each advanced to the postseason. And the Torns, who met at a Texas A&M-Texas basketball game in 1969, have opened up their checkbook to support the continued development of Texas A&M basketball.
The Torns recently made a six-figure pledge to the 12th Man Foundation’s Championship Vision Phase II capital campaign in support of the new Cox-McFerrin Basketball Center.
When completed, the facility will feature a foyer rotunda entrance, two practice gymnasiums, significantly larger locker room facilities than what the men’s and women’s teams currently use, players’ lounges, coaches’ offices, a weight room, team meeting rooms, a training/medical room and video rooms.
The $23 million facility, which is tentatively scheduled to be completed by mid-October of 2008, is already having a positive impact on Texas A&M’s recruiting efforts. And combined with the momentum that has already been created by the recent successes of the men’s and women’s basketball programs at A&M, the construction of the Cox-McFerrin Basketball Center could elevate Aggie basketball into a new national stratosphere.
“We’re really very excited to do our part to help continue the success of the programs,” said Torn, a self-proclaimed basketball fanatic. “I have been living for the day when basketball was a priority at Texas A&M. In the last three years it has flat-out become a priority. I’ve got my four courtside seats right by the scorer’s table and, to me, that’s as good as it gets. It’s been a dream come true to see this happen.”
Attending Texas A&M was always one of Torn’s top dreams. His father was A&M Class of ’38, and one of Torn’s most vivid and painful childhood memories was when he first learned that former A&M head coach Paul “Bear” Bryant was leaving Aggieland for Alabama in 1957.
“My first football memories are with Bear Bryant as head coach,” Torn said. “I cried my head off when we lost to Rice in 1957 and then John David Crow’s last game here.”
Torn actually arrived at A&M as a baseball player in the mid-1960s. He lettered on the freshman team and then spent his entire sophomore season catching batting practice. After he left the baseball team, he became a Yell Leader, serving as the Head Yell Leader during his senior year.
After completing his undergraduate degree at A&M, he received his MBA from the University of Texas.
“I got an MBA from Austin, which I threw in the trash,” Torn said. “My wife (a Texas graduate) still had a year to go so I got my MBA up there. I was in the investment business, and then I went back to law school at night and graduated from South Texas School of Law in 1975. I practiced commercial litigation for nine years, and then my wife and I bought a small, struggling summer camp for kids, which is called Camp Ozark.”
That was in 1985, and Camp Ozark—which Torn had attended as a child—had been attracting about 375 campers per summer. Since 1985, it has grown from 18 cabins to 58 cabins and is now attracting about 4,000 campers per summer from 30 states and 10 countries.
“We do that full time, and we have a staff of about 30,” Torn said. “We spend all summer actually operating the camp. It’s kind of like an athletic cycle. You have a recruiting cycle, a planning cycle, a preparation cycle and then you play the season. Our season is about the same length as a football or basketball season. We’re worn out by the end of the summer, but it’s a good worn out.”
By basketball season, however, the Torns are once again ready to roll.
SAM TORN AT A GLANCE
- FAMILY: Sam and Susan have three grown children. Scott is 35, Chris is 33 and Angela is 27. Both of their sons are former Yell Leaders, and their daughter is also an A&M graduate. The couple has eight grandchildren. “They’re all future Aggies,” Torn said of his grandkids.
- WHAT MOTIVATES THE TORNS TO GIVE TO A&M ATHLETICS: “I’ve always been very passionate about athletics,” Torn said. I played basketball in high school for a legendary Texas high school basketball coach, Don Coleman. I’ve always been passionate about basketball and playing it the right way so I was extremely excited when we made a commitment to improve in basketball. I thought Bill Byrne’s hires of Billy Gillispie and Gary Blair were masterful. And I was especially energized when Dr. Gates came on board, and we hired Bill Byrne because they demanded excellence. I don’t see any reason why we should not play the game at the highest level. That’s been my motivation. The culture at A&M needs to be a place where we expect greatness, but in order to do that I think we have to invest in the things that make us great, and that means all of us doing our part.”
- WHAT EXCITES TORN ABOUT A&M’S ATHLETIC FUTURE: “It’s just a lot more exciting around here. We’ve always had uniqueness; we’ve always had camaraderie; and we’ve always had tradition. But now, through the new attitude, we’ve kind of raised the awareness of what it takes. I think Bill Byrne has done a great job of raising the awareness of what it takes. What excites me is that the university is buying in to this vision of excellence, and that we’re going to expect that and demand that.”
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