When McMurry College’s first senior class of just six individuals prepared to graduate in 1926, members of the class reflected on an unusual journey.
Many had begun their college careers elsewhere before arriving at the newly founded institution. One hundred years later, those pioneering seniors remained a reminder of the adaptability that has defined generations of McMurry students. Members of the Class of 2026 were high school sophomores when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted classrooms, activities, and daily life, making their path to commencement a unique journey.
The 100th Graduating Class
McMurry University celebrated its Spring Commencement on May 9 in Kimbrell Arena, awarding degrees to 159 graduates. The Class of 2026 included 13 Associate of Science graduates from the Dual Credit Academy, 144 bachelor’s degree recipients, and two graduates earning Master of Accountancy degrees. The ceremony also featured an address from Jay Hardaway ’05 and the awarding of an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree to Kathi Edwards.
This year’s ceremony marked 100 years since McMurry’s first graduating class.
The commencement carried special significance as McMurry commemorated the centennial of its first graduating class, the Class of 1926. According to the 1926 Totem yearbook, McMurry’s inaugural commencement awarded just six Bachelor of Arts degrees in history, mathematics, English, science, and religious education. Reflecting on their time at the then junior college, members of that first class wrote of their hope to witness the “phenomenal growth” of their beloved alma mater in the years to come.
A century later, that vision has been realized. The Class of 2026 graduated from a university offering degrees across more than 50 academic programs, including the arts, sciences, business, education, nursing, cybersecurity, public health, and graduate studies.
McMurry’s First Graduating Class
Class of 1926
“On September 19, 1923, registration was taking place in McMurry College for the first time. It soon came to light that some 15 students had been freshmen at many different colleges and had become dignified seniors at McMurry, the new junior college…
True to our motto, ‘Maximum Only,’ our class did not allow itself to be outdistanced by the growth of McMurry, and when the school became a senior college, here were some of us again claiming the privileges of seniors who might sit in the highest place in the chapel — the balcony.
Five of the six who are candidates for the first B. A. degrees to be conferred by McMurry have been here since the opening day in 1923, and for that reason, we love everything about the campus all the more, because we have been here to see and to help it grow. We will watch with ever-increasing interest the phenomenal growth that we expect will continue to appear in our beloved alma mater.”
Excerpt from the 1926 Totem Yearbook