Page 60 - The First Fifty Years

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54 HOUSTON LAW REVIEW

moderating influence on the faculty. . . . [A]ll faculty
members trusted him, and he could handle delicate
administrative tasks without [offending the sensibilities of
either White’s or Newell Blakely’s acolytes].78
Indeed, so amiable a colleague would Buchanan prove to be
over the years that his colleagues, whatever their biases or
allegiances, came to call him simply “Captain Nice,” whose
signature sign-off on leaving any room, no matter the tumult that
might have transpired theretofore, was the cheerful and
reassuring injunction: “Carry on boldly!” (Or, on occasion,
“. . . rejoicingly!” or “. . . sagaciously!”)79
Only three years along as a law professor by 1970,
Buchanan’s love of scholarship and students nonetheless made
him the obvious choice when Houston Law Review found itself
in need of a new faculty advisor. His two predecessors, between
them, had served only seven years. With nary an interruption,
Captain Nice would hold the HLR fort for the next 36 years.80
Over the decade, in addition to advising a parade of
Houston Law Review editors and presiding, at least
figuratively,81 over the publication of hundreds of professional
articles and student notes, G. Sidney Buchanan has been the
subject to two HLR tributes. The first, published in celebration
of his first 25 years of service in 1995, elegantly but concisely
commended his “even temperament,” “open mind,” “astute
counsel, practical guidance, and emotional support to nearly
1,000 law review students comprising 25 editorial boards.”82
On the occasion of his retirement from the faculty in 2004,
Professor Buchanan was again the subject of HLR’s attention,
this time in a remarkable display of appreciation and affection
by 10 former Editors in Chief, representing each of the five
decades of his service as faculty advisor. A lamentably abridged
selection of those testimonials follows:

Professor Buchanan falls decidedly into that fortunate and
revered group of individuals whose long service has
contributed immeasurably to improving and enhancing the
organization and institution in question.83

[W]e should all be so grateful for the enthusiasm and sound
scholarship of Sidney Buchanan, who greatly helped make
that law school experience and that University of Houston
law degree so valuable and so cherished by so many.84

I cannot say that I remember all the details of the many
First Amendment cases I studied in Professor
Buchanan’s class, but I will never forget [him] belting out
several showstopper songs at the end of class. After he