One Small Step, and Merv’s Giant Leap: How NASA Came to Buffalo State in 1973.

Article by James P. McCabe

The Buffalo State College University 2023 Space Fair and Trade Show has already happened at this point (1). Seeing the post for it on LinkedIn reminded me of this story…

It has to do with what might have been the first time NASA interfaced with Buffalo State, and it happened while I was a student there, during the 1972-73 school year.

My roommate that year was an Industrial Arts major named Tom Larson. He had his own car for student teaching, and he found a sub (hero) shop near the campus we liked going to.

This shop was owned by a man named Merv and his wife. There were other sub shops closer to the campus, but we thought this one made the best subs.

One evening, while waiting for our order, we noticed some framed photos behind the counter: photos of astronauts. Some were autographed, and one appeared to be this shop owner, Merv, standing with a group of them…

We asked Merv about the photos, and he seemed very pleased to tell us that he had been an engineer with NASA for many years, specifically working on designing the spacesuits.

As he put it, he “saw the end coming”, that is, the end of the Apollo phase of the space program, and took retirement.

When he retired he and his wife decided to go into the sub shop business, and that’s what brought them to Buffalo.

As it turned out, he had quite a few stories about his days with NASA. He enjoyed sharing them with us, and he and Tom got to be good friends.

As the school term progressed, Tom was taking a science course that he was required to do a project for.

For his project, which got approval, Tom asked Merv if he would visit the class and share his stories and reminiscences about his career with NASA, and Merv said he’d be happy to.

That was how it happened. Away from the sub shop, Merv was a tall, distinguished gentleman who showed up in his NASA blazer with a briefcase full of official NASA photographs, and he held the attention of everyone in the class for the full hour with stories, anecdotes and insights about working for the space program.

The story about the system malfunction which resulted in a yellow icicle several feet long projecting from the side of the spacecraft was especially memorable…

Merv was quite a celebrity, and it was well-deserved.

As far as I know, Tom got a good grade for his efforts.

When I saw the post announcing the Space Fair and Trade Show, with its theme of “highlighting Western New York companies’ contributions to the recent successful NASA Artemis 1 mission (2)”’, I did not want it to pass without remembering Merv of Merv’s sub shop and his visit to the Buffalo State (now Buffalo State College University) campus. I hope you found it interesting!

(1) Wednesday, August 23, 2023 at Science and Mathematics Complex, Buffalo, NY.

(2) The Artemis 1 Mission

Artemis 1 was the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration at the Moon and future missions to Mars.

Launch: Nov. 16, 2022

Splashdown: Dec. 11, 2022

As the first major spaceflight of NASA 's Artemis program, Artemis 1 marked the agency's return to lunar exploration after the conclusion of the Apollo program five decades earlier.

The final Apollo mission, Apollo 17, launched in December 1972.