{"id":1096,"date":"2026-07-13T23:07:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T23:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2026-07-23T13:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:38:19","slug":"legacy-of-the-ring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/2026\/07\/legacy-of-the-ring\/","title":{"rendered":"Legacy of the Ring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For 40 years, the official Tarleton State University class ring has served as a symbol of achievement for Texans who\u2019ve passed the 60-credit-hour milestone in their academic journey. Each spring and fall, an official ring ceremony celebrates the hard work and dedication of new ring recipients as they don their well-deserved hardware for the first time surrounded by family and friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year marks the 41st year of ring ceremonies. More than 12,500 official Tarleton State rings have been minted, and as the generations of ring holders stack up, some of those treasures are being passed down to children and grandchildren. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freshman Victoria \u201cTori\u201d Lucksinger, an animal science major and soccer player from Belton, is one of those lucky recipients. Last Christmas she was given a pretty little purple box by her grandmother, Tarleton State alumna Christi Lucksinger, whom she lovingly calls \u201cKissy.\u201d Inside was Christi\u2019s class ring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKissy started talking about Tarleton and the ring tradition, and then she pulls the ring out and is like, \u2018Now I have a granddaughter going to Tarleton,\u2019 and gifted the ring to me. It was very exciting,\u201d Tori said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Christi shared the interesting history of her ring: Although it bears the number 0072, it is actually the second official Tarleton State ring ever made. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The official class ring is special in many ways. Its design was conceived by a committee of alumni and students who sought to achieve a distinctive, timeless look, and it incorporates some of the campus\u2019s beloved identifying features, such as the gates, cannon, oak trees, antique light poles and the administration building, which was new at the time of the ring\u2019s debut and symbolized growth and progress. The top of the ring is adorned with the traditional border of the university seal encircling the Tarleton State block T. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But what really sets the official Tarleton State ring apart is that it was the first in the world to feature series numbering as part of the design. On one side of the ring, below the gates, is another block T that bears each ring\u2019s unique number in the crossbar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christi was Tarleton State\u2019s Alumni Association director in 1986 when the official class ring design was finalized and served as the liaison with Jostens as the first rings were being made. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey wanted to give me the second ring as a way of saying thanks. Instead, I asked them to donate the first 10 rings to the Alumni Association to raise money for scholarships. They agreed to engrave 0072 \u2014 the year I graduated from Tarleton \u2014 on my ring instead of 0002. Also, they customized it with my signature engraved on the inside.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first ring, 0001, was auctioned off at Homecoming 1987 and donated back to the university in honor of Clyde H. Wells, longtime member of The Texas A&M System Board of Regents and former president of the Tarleton Ex-students Association in the 1950s. The second ring produced (0072) was gifted to Christi. The remaining rings numbered up to 0010 were to be auctioned off in subsequent years to fund scholarships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember when I got my ring, I just loved it,\u201d said Christi. \u201cAnd I told Ron, my husband, that one day, I wanted to give that to my first grandchild that went to Tarleton.\u201d She wore the ring proudly for many years, until her fingers began to swell and she could no longer slide it on and off easily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt just slipped right on Tori’s finger when I put it on her,\u201d Christi said. \u201cI couldn’t believe my fingers were ever that slim!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, it fits perfectly,\u201d Tori chimed in. \u201cAnd Mom has always told me that my hands look like Kissy’s hands, so I guess it just was meant to be.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tori said she\u2019s honored to have the ring and learn its connection to Tarleton State tradition. She, like countless others, frequently passes by the giant class ring statue at Rudder Way and Texan Trace (a gift to the university from the Alumni Association in 2020) but had no idea of her family connection to the official class ring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s just cool to learn more about my school, because I\u2019d seen the ring statue and knew about the ring ceremony, but I never knew it had such a long history, and one that kind of tied to my family, too.\u201d She still has a few semesters to go before she qualifies to wear it, but Tori said she looks forward to the day when she can, and she might eventually get her own ring to wear with it. In the meantime, Kissy\u2019s ring will stay safely tucked away at home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don’t want to lose it!\u201d Tori said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tarleton State rings have been around the world, and two on display at the Alumni House have even been to space. The first ring, 0001, traveled with 1968 graduate and NASA payload specialist Dr. Millie Hughes-Fulford on a nine-day trip aboard the space shuttle Columbia in June 1991. She brought the ring back to campus that fall during Homecoming and presented it along with a certificate from NASA verifying its flight on the 41st space shuttle mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another ring belonging to 1970 graduate Mike Chandler flew to the International Space Station in 2018 and back home again in 2019, according to Tami Condon, Director of Alumni Engagement. Chandler served 45 years in the U.S. Air Force and was chief of NASA\u2019s Human Space Flight Operations Branch at Johnson Space Center, and as a tribute after his death NASA offered to send two of his most prized personal items on a flight to the space station. His wife Gabriele selected his Tarleton State ring as one of the items. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christi\u2019s husband Ron graduated from Tarleton State in 1971. Their son Adam, Tori\u2019s father, graduated from Tarleton State in 1997; his ring bears the number 2240. Christi couldn\u2019t be prouder to have her granddaughter at the school where she still feels so at home. Tori agrees that having grown up with family stories and memories of the university makes it feel like a very familiar place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWalking around campus, my dad telling me all these stories, memories coming back to him \u2014 it really felt like a home away from home, knowing my family had been there before.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A soccer player since age 5, Tori played for her high school team in Belton and currently plays midfield and center back for the Tarleton State women\u2019s team. She was selected to the All-WAC Freshmen Team and was voted Newcomer of the Year by her teammates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tori<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI definitely was looking for a school to play soccer at, and they had a really good program for my major,\u201d she said of her choice to attend Tarleton State. \u201cI really love the coaches. It was just, like, everything fell into place, so it was an easy choice for me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working in the family\u2019s feed and supply business inspired her to choose pre-veterinary medicine as her animal science concentration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI grew up working with my dad,\u201d explained Tori. \u201cI’ve been around the agriculture community, and I’ve always just loved animals. In high school, I was able to do a practicum where I worked at vet clinics, so that just kind of grew my love for it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each Tarleton State ring symbolizes a chapter in the university\u2019s story, Christi said, and Tori\u2019s chapter is still being written. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTraditions matter most when they outlive us,\u201d she said. \u201cSomeday, Tori will put my ring back in the box to save for her first Tarleton Texan grandchild,\u201d she said. \u201cAfter all, she will have her own uniquely numbered Tarleton State ring by then.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe official Tarleton State ring is more than a symbol of achievement \u2014 it\u2019s a reflection of the journey, the memories and the people who shape us along the way,\u201d said Condon. \u201cChristi\u2019s story is a reminder that those journeys don\u2019t end \u2014 they\u2019re a legacy to be passed on. Each ring\u2019s unique number marks not just a moment in time, but your lifelong place in the Tarleton State family.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Piece of Tarleton State History Encircles a New Generation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"functions-assets\/full-feature-post-template.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-summer-2026-issue"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/290\/2026\/07\/Legacy-of-the-Ring-Main-300x169.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Spring \/ Summer 2026 Issue<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Spring \/ Summer 2026 Issue<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 weeks ago","modified":"Updated 3 days ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on July 13, 2026","modified":"Updated on July 23, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on July 13, 2026 11:07 pm","modified":"Updated on July 23, 2026 1:38 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1096"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1145,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096\/revisions\/1145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}