Meat+Poultry - November 2022 - 15

pursuit, a lifelong commitment to Texas A&M
University and the Aggie community.
Especially after his father died when he
was 15 years old, Savell leaned into activities
related to Future Farmers of America (FFA)
including livestock showing and judging. He
was inspired to move in that direction largely
because of the influence of his agriculture
science teacher at Ferris High School, M.S.
Hammack, a 1937 graduate of Texas A&M and
a dyed-in-the-wool Aggie.
" I think that set me on the path for what
would eventually be success that I didn't even
know at the time, " said Savell. " It kept me on
the straight and narrow. "
It was " Mr. Hammack " who first gave Savell
and the rest of his freshmen classmates their
first glimpse of Aggieland during a visit to the
College Station campus to take part in a series
of livestock and meat judging workshops.
" There was this mystique about Texas A&M
and these people, " Savell said. " My ag teacher
was always introducing us to everybody, and
all the faculty members you'd see there would
all have like beautiful silver belly hats on and a
coat with a tie, good-looking boots; they were
just the stockmen of that time, " he said.
Before enrolling at A&M, Savell first
attended Tarleton State University for a year
on a scholarship ($50 per semester) earned
from early success in livestock judging during
high school. But his eye was still on the
prize of being a Texas Aggie. During other
visits to the campus before attending A&M,
he remembered well his first brush with the
greatness that was Gary Smith, PhD, who
was a celebrated professor there from 1969
to 1982 and went on to be the head of A&M's
Department of Animal Science from 1982 to
1990. To many students and colleagues, Smith
is known affectionately as the 'dean' of meat
scientists. Savell said he was also starstruck
in those days by other faculty members like
Zerle Carpenter, PhD, who later was the
Department of Animal Science head and
went on to lead what is now the Texas A&M
AgriLife Extension Service for the Texas A&M
University System. Savell said there was an
unmistakable aura about people like Smith
and Carpenter that inspired him.
" I just remember seeing those guys at the
meat lab because you'd go over to the meat
lab to judge meat and they would be the ones
bringing the carcasses to the classroom or the
cuts of meat with their students and I'd go,
'Man, this is fantastic stuff.' "
AGGIE IN TRAINING
Savell's first semester as an Aggie officially
began in the fall semester of 1972, when
enrollment was a modest 16,000 (compared to
about 70,000 in 2022). In the spring semester he
enrolled in Animal Science 307, instructed by
the one-and-only Dr. Gary Smith. He said taking
that class taught by a world-class instructor
was affirmation of his educational path. It was
Smith that added fuel to the fire simmering in
Savell's belly. He said Smith is part of a very
small fraternity of faculty members that he
considers to be masters of teaching.
" Once I took his course in 1973, I was in
love with the meat science field, " Savell said.
In his second year at A&M, Savell took
a meat judging class and made the meat
judging team, which was very successful in its
competitions. Up until then Savell planned to
receive an undergraduate degree and become
a county extension agent, which was a role
he worked in early in his career. After being
exposed to meat judging though, his vision
shifted and after graduating with a degree in
animal science, he planned to work for a meatprocessing
company.
During the process, he became a student
worker with the department and got to know
some of the graduate students. After hearing
about their pursuits, the prospect of going to
graduate school piqued Savell's interest. He
talked about the possibility with his mentor,
Dr. Smith, who strongly encouraged him to
plan on getting his master's in animal science.
He also began leading the judging team as a
graduate student.
He recalled it was during graduate school
when Smith planted the seed that Savell
should consider pursuing a doctoral degree in
animal science.
" I remember him talking to me about a PhD
and I said, 'I'm not smart enough to get a PhD.' "
" You let me be the judge of that, " Smith
told him.
He took Smith's advice and with his
encouragement, Savell went on to work on
groundbreaking research on the impact of
electrical stimulation on beef carcasses, which
was the topic of his dissertation.
www.meatpoultry.com | 11.22 | MEAT+POULTRY 15
" Dr. Smith told
me I needed
to trust him,
and I did. And
I'm so glad
that I did. "
- JEFF SAVELL
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - November 2022

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