The spirit of Aggieland is a powerful thing. It’s positive and community oriented. Aggies are enthusiastic about their culture and their story. They believe Texas A&M’s past matters. I love that. The experience of growing up in College Station has bled into my own writing, when I attempt to add a little heft to my own alma mater. After nearly 50 years, I remain a fan of Aggieland. The spirit is in the blood.
One of my favorite memories of Aggieland comes from 1986. Grant Teaff’s Bears visited defending SWC champion Texas A&M, and Kyle Field was rocking. Baylor and Cody Carlson jumped out to a big lead. Kevin Murray, the father of Heisman winner Kyler Murray, was determined to lead the Aggies back. A last minute TD pass sealed the 31-30 win, and A&M was on its way to defending its SWC title. My A&M Consolidated HS buddies and I were so pumped up after that game, we did what most teenagers still do. We went home and tossed a football. Aggie games have a lot of spirit.
That spirit, however, can have side effects. There’s an overzealousness at Texas A&M that shows up in overreaction. I happened to see it live in 1981.
Eric Dickerson and the Pony Express were running wild at Kyle Field. After yet another Dickerson TD, SMU cheerleaders ran onto the field to spell “SMU”. An Aggie member of the corps of cadets decided on his own to draw his sword and run after them. A confrontation ensued. Luckily, no one was injured.
Some Aggies justified by claiming that only players and band members were allowed on the field. That was news to a lot of folks, and news to me; I ran onto the field after every game, alongside other kids from College Station. Texas A&M has so many traditions, it’s difficult to know which ones are official and which ones are more a matter of personal honor and wounded pride. Online Aggie forums highlight this much debated disagreement.
There have been other instances of overreaction. The Rice Marching Owl Band (MOB) mocked the Aggie Band in Houston during a game in the early 1970s. It wasn’t a nice thing to do, but the MOB probably didn’t deserve to remain hostage in Rice Stadium until the Houston PD arrived. Reveille was kidnapped by two Longhorn students years ago. While mascot kidnapping is not to be praised, the crisis response in College Station might have been a bit overkill.
Aggie overreaction has been a part of the culture for a long time. You may even be vaguely familiar with another story that is nearly 100-years old. A football game against Baylor descended into so much mayhem that members of the Aggie corps of cadets loaded a cannon onto a train and headed to Waco. Only the intervention of the Texas Rangers themselves stopped their arrival. Now that’s a story.
It’s so good, that Baylor grad T.G. Webb wrote about it.
Webb’s book, “Battle of the Brazos: A Texas Football Rivalry, a Riot, and a Murder,” examines the infamous 1926 game between Texas A&M and Baylor and the events that led up to the day. The riot which began at halftime of the game resulted in the death of one Aggie Corps of Cadet member, and cancelled the A&M-Baylor football series for a full five years. In the book, Webb focuses on some of the unanswered questions. Why the Baylor game and why 1926? Which side is more to blame for the violence? And finally, can the individual guilty of murder be identified?
As it turns out, the A&M-Baylor rivalry was a powder keg about to explode by 1926. A&M had dominated the series during the Charlie Moran era in the 1910s, but Baylor’s fortunes had turned around dramatically by the 1920s. By the time of the 1926 game (won by Baylor), A&M had defeated the Bears only once since 12th man E. King Gill suited up in the Dixie Classic after the 1921 season. The Bears had won conference championships in the 1922 & 1924, and all of a sudden were dominating the Brazos rivalry. Wounded Aggie pride was the fuel, and an incident at the Cotton Palace that day was the spark. Blame for the 1926 riot can be found all around, but Aggie overreaction is a part of the story.
Austin College folks may be wondering: do the Kangaroos make an appearance? They do! The history of A&M & Baylor football up to 1926 is reviewed, and Webb mentions historic contests between AC and those two schools in College Station & Waco. But even more interesting is the fact that the site of the infamous riot is the Cotton Palace, the very location of Austin College’s 7-3 upset of the 1924 Baylor Bears.
Baylor was able to win the 1924 SWC title without a single conference loss. Arkansas & A&M both fell to the Bears in Waco, the Longhorns lost the first ever game at DKR to Baylor, and both SMU and John Heisman’s Rice Owls came up short at home. But what the entire SWC failed to do, little Austin College pulled off. The Baylor loss to AC at the Cotton Palace in 1924 had a very positive effect on the Bears; in the papers, Coach Frank Bridges called the loss a wakeup call. From the Houston Post:
“Forgetting the stigma of defeat suffered at the hands of the Austin College Kangaroos, the Baylor Bears plunged into intensive training for their premier gridiron classic of the season against Texas A&M at the Cotton Palace here Saturday.”
Baylor’s renewed focus paid off. The Bears defeated A&M 15-7 and were back on track for a SWC title. As Webb points out in the book, that Baylor win also included near riot tensions that would explode two years later.
The Battle of the Brazos dates back to the first year of Baylor football in 1899. A&M won that first meeting in Waco. There would be no rematch in 1900; Baylor opted to schedule Austin College instead. The Bears and Aggies were playing at the birth of the Southwest Conference in 1915, and were also playing in the last year of the SWC in 1995. That last year, both Baylor & Texas A&M finished the conference season tied for second place at 5-2. The Bears and Aggies played one last time as SWC rivals on October 21, 1995 in Waco. The Bears were led by QB Jeff Watson, who had won a state title for A&M Consolidated HS in 1991. His wide receiver targets were coached by Larry Fedora, a member of the 1981 national championship team at Austin College. But R.C. Slocum’s wrecking crew showed up in Waco, and A&M won the last SWC meeting by a score of 24-9. No riots or murders were reported.
Is the murderer of the Corps of Cadet member identified? Is the story of the Corps loading a cannon on a train bound for Waco a myth or reality? How were the two schools able to eventually overcome the incident and re-establish the rivalry? Well, you’ll just have to read Webb’s book. If you like 100-year old Roo Tales, then you’ll probably like 100-year old Texas tales like this one. It’s a page turner.
Yeah, the overzealousness of Aggieland can be a bit much. But it’s just a negative byproduct of a positive culture. Aggies love who they are and they love to tell their own story. That’s a good thing. My alma mater in Sherman could learn a thing or two from Aggieland.
The glory days of the Cotton Palace (located at Dutton & 15th street in Waco) are long gone. But it’s still worth a drive by if only to see the site of a Texas football rivalry, a riot, and a murder in 1926. As well as the greatest Kangaroo victory ever in 1924.
Thank you T.G. for this book. Roo Tales recommends! Sic ‘em Bears.
