Only a handful of people at the University of Houston can remember when the towering Hilton UH Hotel and Conference Center was just a “hole in the ground.” Clint Rappole is one of them.

“The city of Houston was then a prosperous, dynamic city and was often called the ‘now and future city.’ Our college was brand new, and it was autonomous. I wanted to be present at the creation, so to speak,” recalled Rappole, emeritus professor and Eric Hilton Distinguished Chair in the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM).

Thirty-three years later, Rappole is retiring from a college that has changed radically since his arrival in 1972, when the first graduating class boasted just seven students. This year, 145 undergraduate and nearly 20 graduate students earned degrees from the college.

During his years at HRM, Rappole never slowed down the flow of ideas and innovations that has distinguished him.

When Rappole came to the college after teaching at Cornell University, he soon proposed Gourmet Night, now a 30-year old tradition and an annual fund-raising event in which HRM students plan and prepare a series of seven-course gourmet meals. Initially, it was called “Inn of 1000 Nights” and made its official debut as “Gourmet Night” at the Shamrock Hilton in l974 with approximately 250 guests.

Later, Rappole had another big idea — Par Excellence, a catering service operated by honors students. The 23-year-old program provides participants with real-world experience in the food service industry, and has served such distinguished guests as President George H.W. Bush.

In the 1970s, NASA tapped Rappole to assist in creating a food service system for the Space Station, and, again, in the late 1990s, to research and to develop wheat products, including tortillas, which would remain edible for long periods of time while stored on the Space Station.

Whether in space or the classroom, Rappole enjoyed working in an industry he loves and teaching hundreds of Cougars throughout the decades.

“A highlight for me, and one I never anticipated, was that staying in one place for 33 years has allowed me to teach two generations, including the sons and daughters of previous students,” he said.

With his new freedom, Rappole plans to travel and hike with his wife.

For HRM students present and future, Rappole had some parting kernels of wise advice.

“John Dewey had a phrase that was elegantly simple: ‘what you do is what you become,’” he said, adding that students should also be flexible, be true to themselves and have fun.

Rappole won’t disappear entirely from the college. He has plans to write the college’s history and to teach a course about the business of fine dining.

Jennifer Jackson
jmjacks3@central.uh.edu