Fred Willis papers

Collection

Identifier: SC-Cent. Misc. Mss. 541

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Fred Willis papers primarily document his activities as a student athlete at Texas Military College (Terrell, Texas) and Centenary College of Louisiana. The collection includes a scrapbook, student newspapers, correspondence, photographs, printed items, and clippings.

The scrapbook features material about Willis attending the high school department at Texas Military College from 1924 to 1926. This includes a report card, football schedule, photographs, and certificates for football, basketball, and track. The scrapbook’s material about Willis’s time as a student at Centenary College of Louisiana from 1926 to 1930 includes correspondence, photographs, football game tickets, handbills, and many newspaper clippings about Centenary football. Also included is a Dixie Classic football program (1930). The scrapbook also features photographs and newspaper clippings about the wedding of Fred Willis and Lucille Cook in 1932.

The collection also includes loose items. This includes issues of the Texas Bayonet, the student newspaper published by Texas Military College, where Willis served as the paper’s athletic reporter. Correspondence to Fred Willis includes telegrams and letters about Centenary football. Correspondence to Lucille Cook consists of letters written by Fred Willis. Lucille Cook’s autobiography provides details about growing up in Ringgold, Louisiana. Photographs include images of football players at Texas Military College, a boat trip on Caddo Lake, and the R. L. Gay discovery oil well (Zwolle, Louisiana). Centenary printed items consist of a commencement invitation (1930) and football schedule card (1931). Centenary clippings feature newspaper articles about Willis as a football player as well as a coach of the college’s freshman football team.

Dates

1924 - 1943

Creator

Willis, Fred, 1905-1988 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

Physical rights are retained by the Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. copyright laws.

Biographical / Historical

Fred Willis (1905-1988) is the son of Charles Albert Willis (1883-1940) and Annie M. Powell Willis (1885-1968). Raised in Dawson, Texas, he attended the high school department at Texas Military College (Terrell, Texas) and was on the track, basketball, and football teams. In fall 1926, Willis enrolled at Centenary College of Louisiana and played on the football team where he served as team captain in 1929. He was also a member of the Theta Kappa Nu fraternity. In 1930, Willis graduated college and worked as Centenary’s freshman football coach for two years. Later, he was an employee at Standard Oil Company as well as Exxon. In 1932, Willis married Lucille Lloyd Cook (1910-1994).

Lucille Lloyd Cook Willis (1910-1994) is the daughter of Lloyd Byron Cook (1878-1947) and Jennie Owen Cook (1884-1939). Raised in Ringgold, Louisiana, she enrolled at Centenary College of Louisiana in fall 1927. While in college, she was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha women’s fraternity as well as a member of the Girls Choral Club. She graduated from Centenary in 1931. In 1932, Lucille married Fred Willis (1905-1988).