A Legacy Like No Other

This Saturday at the Texas State football game, when the Strutters – past and present – do their well-known “Strutter Yell” prior to the halftime performance, the call will be especially for someone not in attendance that night.

Heard throughout the entirety of the stadium, every Strutter will be calling to Strutters founder, the late Barbara Guinn Tidwell, who passed away on May 30, 2022.

A woman almost bigger than life, Mrs. Tidwell was laid to rest knowing she had a tremendous impact on thousands of lives. On Saturday, her spirit and legacy will permeate throughout Jim Wacker Field, awaiting the call from her Strutters.

The day and performance are tributes to Tidwell. Strutters of all ages will gather for a Pregame Founders’ Day ceremony in the Linda Gregg Fields Strutters Gallery prior to the game at 4:15 p.m. And then at halftime, the performance will honor Tidwell – three days before what would have been her 87th birthday.

Tidwell was a fifth-generation Texan born on September 27, 1935 and grew up in Kilgore. She attended Kilgore Junior College and got her undergraduate degree from Southern Miss. In 1962, she received a master’s degree from Southwest Texas State College (now Texas State).

Before choosing Texas State, Tidwell wrote letters to universities and colleges across Texas inquiring to study to be a teacher. One college took note of her correspondence and thought bigger.

In an interview with Hillviews Magazine in 2019, Tidwell said then University President Dr. J. Garland Flowers, wanted Tidwell, who was a Kilgore College Rangerette, to start a dance to keep “fans in their seats” during halftime. He also wanted them to be ambassadors who would represent the college.

“I think when Dr. Flowers asked her to start Strutters, he didn’t have any idea that it was going to be the biggest and best thing that she could possibly create,” said Tammy Fife, a former Strutter and the Strutters Director from 2013 to 2020. “She gave it her heart and soul. I don’t think when he first asked her that he thought that was the way it was going to go.”

The first performance was in September 1960. They performed in the Bobcats’ season opener at Texas Lutheran – a 39-7 loss – but they then took the field for the home opener a week later in the game against Corpus Christi (a 15-6 win).

From there Strutter performances were not limited to halftime of Texas State football games. Tidwell had bigger plans. She used her connections and personal network to get the Strutters at Houston Oilers games and the Sugar Bowl.

“She had big ideas, and she wanted to take those ideas around the world,” said Susan Angell-Gonzalez, also a former Strutter and Strutters Director from 1997 to 2013. “She had the ability and talent and the know-how to get them away from San Marcos to bigger and better things. She knew the people to contact, especially in the NFL … that got the Strutters on the map.” 

Angell-Gonzalez was one of the Strutters who had the opportunity to perform at Oilers games. So was Fife. And they both saw while there was uncertainty in how big the Strutters could be, there was certainly a “determination over doubt” in Tidwell.

“She was determined,” said Fife. “It was determination and she did everything with class. She wanted Strutters to be recognized all over the world. In the beginning, she didn’t think that was a possibility but she definitely wanted to do the very best job that she could.”

In 37 years as the founding director of the Strutters, from 1960 to 1997, Tidwell helped make the Strutters known by: 

• First precision dance team formed at a four-year university
• Largest precision dance team in the nation
• Performed in 26 countries spanning four continents
• First U.S. dance team to perform in the People’s Republic of China
• Two Presidential Inaugural Parades (John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson)
• Thanksgiving Day Parades
• Appeared in 4 movies
• 23 halftime shows at Houston Oilers games
• Several halftime shows for the Dallas Cowboys
• Performed annually at San Antonio Spurs games

This level of reach was no accident. While Tidwell was a visionary, she was also a legend in drill team history. Her technical skills defined the extravagance of more than 3,000 Strutters alumnae.

“She was really good at formations and using the entire field,” said Fife. “That was really important to her. I learned that from her to have formations that covered the field and made interesting patterns. She loved patterns and always called it that.”

In addition to “patterns,” the Strutters shows are filled with other features to level up the experience of the audience.

“One thing I learned from her was she loved big props, huge props,” said Angell-Gonzalez. “We always performed on big props. I performed on a jungle gym. She bought several of these things that kids would climb on, and she had the managers put them together and they were metal and would fall apart. So, when I became the director, I started having these huge props. But I perfected them by putting wheels on them so we can roll them out so that when we had to put them out there, we didn’t have to carry them.”

But even with all the world-renowned achievements and performances, plus the tools used along the way, Tidwell’s goal with the Strutters was to help young women develop confidence, communication, ethics, character and dedication to excellence.

“She was always in a unique situation to help her students and guide us through challenges in our lives, so she wasn’t only a director and choreographer,” said Angell-Gonzalez. “She was a leader and inspiration to everyone. She was somebody we had to go to. She was a coach – she wouldn’t call herself a coach but she was – that we could reach out to as well as a teachable person.”

The impact of the Strutters through Tidwell’s vision has also impacted the overall athletics and university experience at Texas State.

“Besides starting the largest and most entertaining dance team in the country, in my opinion, Barbara’s legacy is decades of Strutters who have represented this University at the highest level, both during their time at Texas State and now as alumni,” said Texas State Director of Athletics Don Coryell. “This is an expectation of Strutters and the foundation established by Barbara that continues to drive the organization values and goals. She established a group dedicated to the positive personal development of young dancers and a tradition that has continued on through other directors, Susan Angell-Gonzalez and Tammy Fife, and will continue with Selina Flores.”

Tidwell loved seeing the Strutters in person after retiring from her role 25 years ago. Angell-Gonzalez, Fife and Flores would all bring her back during training camp each year so Strutters could meet the legend and understand her impact. The Strutters would see the sweet Tidwell and feel the love she had for all of them. They learned of her legacy straight from her.

And for the only other Strutters Directors, the legacy of Tidwell is defined by her qualities.

“She created something that was honorable and exciting,” said Flores, a former Strutter and now the current Strutters Director. “She created something that set the bar for so many dance teams and organizations, and I think the girls see that, as directors we see that, as students you see that, as a community you see that. And as a Strutter you want to honor that and keep those traditions and keep it special.” 

For Fife, she saw how Tidwell lived her life set the standard for generations of Strutters.

“She was so, so classy,” said Fife. “I loved the way that she appreciated every one of her Strutters. I loved that she instilled kindness in us. Be kind to each other. Strutters help Strutters. If girls don’t have a place to stay in training camp, other Strutters will pick up the slack and help them. That was big to her that we were kind to each other and love each other. She was kind to us and loved us. She set that example.” 

And Angell-Gonzalez saw a woman in the 1960s creating an organization out of nothing through pure determination.

“Her integrity, compassion, innovation and resiliency is what carried Strutters,” said Angell-Gonzalez. “Being that type of person, she was a strong woman. And you had to be a strong woman in that era to build such a giant group and to do it over 37 years as their director and choreographer. 

“Honorable, kind and strong. That’s Barbara Tidwell.” 

In the words of Fife, the loss of Tidwell is hard to imagine to replace.

“There’s no one like her.”