Business graduates Hal Hornburg ’68, Bob Surovik ’58 and Don Adam ’57 are among this year’s recipients of the 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award, the highest honor bestowed upon a former student of Texas A&M University.
Established in 1962, the Distinguished Alumnus Award is the highest honor bestowed upon a former student of Texas A&M University.
Since the award’s inception in 1962, 216 individuals have been recognized for their significant contributions to their professions, Texas A&M and their local communities.
“Each day, I am reminded of the power of our Aggie Network with its worldwide reach,” said Texas A&M President Dr. R. Bowen Loftin, Class of 1971. “And each day, I am also thankful for the efforts of individual former students such as these, who so generously give of their time, expertise and other resources to help propel Texas A&M to be among the nation’s top public universities, while also making their mark as leaders in their professions and communities. They are truly role models for all Aggies.”
The recipients learned of their honor when surprised in their places of business and other locations by a group of university and Association of Former Students representatives.
The Association will further honor all recipients of this award and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Distinguished Alumnus Award during its annual Distinguished Alumni Gala on Sept. 21. In addition, the 2012 recipients will be recognized during the Texas A&M football game against South Carolina State on Sept. 22.
Other Aggies being honored posthumously this year are Tommie E. Lohman’ 59, and, Dr. Robert V. Walker ’45, and Congressional Medal of Honor awardees George D. Keathley ’37, Horace S. Carswell, Jr. ’38, Eli L. Whiteley ’41, Turney W. Leonard ’42, Thomas W. Fowler ’43, William G. Harrell ’43 and Lloyd H. Hughes ’43.
General Hal M. Hornburg (USAF, Ret), Class of 1968
Hal Hornburg graduated from Texas A&M with a bachelor of business administration degree in finance, and earned a master’s degree in human resource management from the University of Utah in 1978. In between his degrees, he attended Squadron Officer School and Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala. Afterward, he went to the National War College at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., in 1986, and completed the Seminar XXI for Foreign Political and International Relations at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the National and International Security Program at Harvard University in 1994. While at Texas A&M, he was a Ross Volunteer, Distinguished Student, Outstanding Military Student, Commanding Officer, 2nd Group Staff in the Corps of Cadets, as well as a member of MSC Town Hall Committee, MSC Great Issue Committee and the Apollo Club.
Hornburg ’68
Hornburg entered the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1968 and commanded all levels—flight, squadron, wing, numbered air force and major command. While on active duty, he fought, participated in or commanded forces in four wars, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism. He was also awarded three Legions of Merit, 10 Air Medals, two Air Forces Distinguished Service Medals and the Defense Distinguished Service Medal. In 2004, he was made an honorary Tuskegee Airman in honor of his efforts in developing and mentoring minority officers and airmen. General Hornburg commanded a composite fighter wing during Operation Desert Storm and the first Air Force composite wing during the services reorganization in 1991. He directed air operations over Bosnia, commanded the Joint Warfighting Center, served on the Joint Staff, and directed operations at Headquarters U.S. Air Force. He also has served as Tactical Air Command’s F-15 demonstration pilot for the East Coast, Air Force Liaison Officer to the U.S. Senate, Chief of the Air Force Colonels’ Group, and he commanded Air Education and Training Command. He retired as commander, Air Combat Command in 2005 after 36 years of service to the USAF and more than 4,400 flight hours. He continues to serve the aerospace field as an Aerospace Industry Consultant.
In retirement, Hornburg has served as director of the Armed Forces Benefit Society, which assists returning wounded soldiers. He is a trustee of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, director of the Fisher House, a foundation that assists military families, and is a senior advisor for Segs4Vets, a program that provides Segways for American disabled veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also a senior advisor to the Sierra Nevada Corporation, the Camber Corporation, Environmental Techtonics Corporation and Conceptual Mindworks, Inc.
He has served as member and Chairman of Strategic Planning and Fundraising for the President’s Board of Visitors for the Corps of Cadets since 2003, and he has served on the President’s Advisory Council Strategic Planning Committee since 2010. He is a past chair of The Association of Former Students and an Endowed Century Club Member. He led the Texas A&M Commandant Search Committee in 2010 and is a member of the Aggie Real Estate Network.
Hornburg and his wife, Cynthia, live in Fair Oaks Ranch. They have two sons — both USAF pilots — and five grandchildren.
Bob J. Surovik, Class of 1958
Bob Surovik received a bachelor of business administration degree in accounting from the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas and continued on to earn a doctor of jurisprudence degree from the University of Texas Law School in 1961. While a student, he was president of the Student Senate and the Singing Cadets, Sophomore Class Secretary and he was listed among the Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities in 1958. He was on the Southwest Conference Sportsmanship Committee, Town Hall Staff, Election Commission, MSC Council, Arts and Science Council, Accounting Society and the Pre-Law Society. He was Adjutant in the Second Battalion, Second Regiment Staff in the Corps of Cadets, and a member of the Student Government Association.
Surovik ’58
After college, he was a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserves in Austin, and then a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss. In 1963, he earned an Army Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service and started practicing law. After working as an accountant for the Texas Department of Agriculture, he was an instructor of business law at the University of Texas at Austin, state representative aide in the Texas House of Representatives before becoming president and shareholder of McMahon, Surovik, Suttle, P.C.
Surovik has served many organizations in Abilene, including the Abilene Industrial Foundation, Abilene Chamber of Commerce, First Financial Bank-Abilene, The Community Foundation of Abilene, the Abilene YMCA, the Volunteer Council at Abilene State School, Hendrick Home for Children, and the Public Responsibility Committee of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and the St. Paul United Methodist Church Foundation, among others.
He is an active supporter of Texas A&M through the Texas A&M Legacy Society, Endowed Century Club at The Association of Former Students, the Former Student Body President Association, the Texas A&M Foundation Planned Giving Council and the Texas Aggie Bar Association. In addition, he is a past Chairman of the Texas A&M Foundation Board of Trustees, past Chair of the Board of Directors at The Association, past area representative (West Texas) for The Association, and past president of the Abilene A&M Club.
Surovik lives in Abilene. Two of his three children graduated from Texas A&M.
Donald A. Adam, Class of 1957
Donald A. Adam graduated from the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas with a bachelor of business administration degree in insurance. While a student, he was a major in “A” Composite, 4th Battalion, Regimental Staff in the Corps of Cadets, as well as a member of the Business and Marketing Societies.
Adam ’57
After graduating, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and discharged as a captain in the U.S. Army in 1961. The same year he returned to Bryan and became president and director of CRA Company in Bryan. In 1969, he founded The Adam Corporation/Group, became Chairman and CEO of Community Television, also in Bryan. He became Chairman and CEO of American Cablevision Corporation in 1975 before holding the same positions at American Momentum Bank, which is headquartered in Tampa, Fla., and has a branch in College Station. Today, he is concurrently at American Momentum Bank and The Adam Corporation/Group in Bryan.
Adam is an active contributor to organizations throughout the Bryan-College Station community. He has given time and financial support to Habitat for Humanity of Brazos Valley, American Heart Association of the Brazos Valley, Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial, Allen Academy, Arts Council of the Brazos Valley, Boys and Girls Club of the Brazos Valley, Bryan I.S.D. Foundation, March of Dimes of the Brazos Valley, St. Joseph Hospital Foundation, and more.
Adam was a charter member of the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation, the President’s Council of Advisors and the Chancellor’s 21st Century Council of Advisors. He is a member of The Association of Former Students’ Century Club Member, the College of Medicine Advisory Council, Texas A&M Vision 2020 Committee and the 12th Man Foundation. He is also a former chair for development for the Opera and Performing Arts Society (OPAS).
Adam lives in Bryan with his wife, Donna. One of his two children graduated from Texas A&M.
Categories: Former Students, Texas A&M