To honor the memory of Homer Jacobs '87, his family, friends and colleagues set up a scholarship in his name for journalism students, the Homer Jacobs Memorial Scholarship.
“…what has kept A&M unique—and so special—has little to do with bricks and mortar. It has substantially more to do with the people and values that have shaped the university since its days as a tiny land-grant school in the flatlands of Brazos County.”
Homer Jacobs III ’87, who wrote those words in his 2002 book, The Pride of Aggieland: Spirit and Football at a Place Like No Other, was one of those influential people. Not only did he cover Aggie football for more than two decades, creating 12th Man Magazine in the process, but he also nurtured and developed generations of budding journalists at Texas A&M University.
Jacobs passed away unexpectedly in August 2014 at the age of 49, leaving behind his wife, Laurie, and four step-sons. To honor Homer and his legacy, his family, friends, and colleagues set up the Laurie and Homer Jacobs '87 Journalism Scholarship—targeted to students with ambitions in sports journalim.
“The thing that he would have been most excited about in regards to having the scholarship named after him was the type of impact it would have on future writers,” Laurie said. “This scholarship will mean that Homer’s legacy will continue forever, and that Aggie students will always be learning the same type of skills that gave Homer’s life so much joy. He would be proud of that.”
Homer graduated from A&M with a degree in Journalism. He began his career as a sports editor at local papers such as the Sherman Democrat and the Galveston Daily News before returning to College Station in 1992 to cover his favorite team: the Aggies.
Homer started 12th Man Magazine in 1995 and served as the only editor until his death. Throughout his career, he built relationships with the many sports reporters, athletes, and coaches he encountered along the way. As editor of 12th Man Magazine, Homer worked for the 12th Man Foundation, which connects supporters with Aggie sports, and in this position became a friend to many across the Aggie community.
“He was someone who taught a lot of aspiring Aggie journalists,” says True Brown ’04, who worked at the 12th Man Foundation with Homer for 9 years. “There were a lot of people he impacted over the years.”
One of those people is Gabe Bock, director of broadcasting for Aggie sports site TexAgs and host of TexAgs Radio.
“Homer was a great Aggie who spent countless hours pouring into young Aggie journalists, including myself when I was coming up in the media industry,” he said.
Grateful for Homer’s support and guidance, Bock helped organize a major contribution from TexAgs to the memorial endowment.
“[Homer] represented what Texas A&M is all about, and we at TexAgs are thrilled to see his name live on through this scholarship, and that through this scholarship, Texas A&M will be better equipped to produce future journalists. That’s what I call leaving a legacy.”
By Sid Mitchell '16
This article was originally published by the College of Liberal Arts.
Texas A&M Foundation
The Texas A&M Foundation is a nonprofit organization that solicits and manages investments in academics and leadership programs to enhance Texas A&M’s capability to be among the best universities.
If you are interested in contributing to the Laurie and Homer Jacobs '87 Memorial Scholarship, contact Andrew Millar ’14 with the Foundation at (800) 392-3310, (979) 845-5192 or amillar@txamfoundation.com.
