On a sultry September day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy traveled to Rice to deliver a major address.  Rice had owned the land upon which the Johnson Space Center had recently been constructed, and had donated it to the federal government for that purpose.   Rice had just established the nation's first academic Department of  Space Science.  Now it was time to get the space program in high gear.  In deference to its contribution, JFK chose Rice as his venue for an announcement  to the nation.
  

Thousands of schoolchildren (the writer among them) were bused to the stadium for the momentous occasion, and a carnival atmosphere prevailed.  It was the peak time of his administration, a few weeks before the Cuban Missle Crisis, and Kennedy was in an ebullient mood. "There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet," he said. "Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain. Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?"

The Rice students in the crowd cheered wildly, the schoolkids taken somewhat aback. "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win..."

America, of course, did win the moon race.  And on a foggy October evening in 1962, Rice and Texas fought to a 14-14 tie.

Video of JFK Rice Stadium speech ...

Full text of JFK's Rice Stadium speech...