My son Mr. A. is a freshman at Texas A&M, which for me means a great opportunity to tell some Aggie Roo Tales. The Aggies host the Crimson Tide of Alabama at Kyle Field this Saturday, the latest installment of their annual SEC meeting since 2012.
But Texas A&M and Alabama have met before they were conference foes. This Aggie / Bama Roo Tale takes a look at those contests, alongside an Austin College subject that every Kangaroo should know: Coach Henry Frnka.
Henry Frnka played four years for Austin College football, graduating in 1926. Like many Roos in that decade, he entered the college coaching ranks. In 1946, Frnka moved Tulsa to the SEC. He coached Tulane for six seasons, along the way earning an SEC title three victories over Alabama.
He also helped a former Bama player along the way: Future Alabama Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. Kentucky was looking for a head coach and reached out to Frnka at Tulane. Frnka said no. He did have a suggestion for the Wildcats, however. From the Jacksonville Courier Journal:
“Henry Frnka, whom we thought we might obtain, finally turned down the offer. I called him later and asked him to recommend a few people. Frnka…suggested Paul Bryant. Well, Bryant was contacted. When we talked to him, we knew immediately he was the man we wanted.”
By 1951, both Bryant’s and Frnka’s stocks were rising in the SEC. Texas A&M, however, was struggling to replace Homer Norton. The Aggies went looking for someone to jump start the program and thought they had found their man: Henry Frnka. From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
“Henry Frnka of Tulane, mentioned as a possible successor to the head coaching job at A&M, would be a popular choice with many Texans. They reason that Frnka, a skilled and tireless recruiter who has attracted many a top Texas athlete to New Orleans, would help keep the talent at home if he were installed at College Station.”
Frnka, however, had grown weary of the pace of SEC football. He passed on Texas A&M, retired from coaching, and accepted an administrative position at his alma mater: Austin College. Frnka wasn’t done with A&M, however. When asked by the Aggies about the potential hire of Bear Bryant in 1954, Frnka gave an enthusiastic thumbs up.
The legend of Bear Bryant began at Texas A&M, with the help from a player named Gene Stallings. Stallings, who led his Paris Wildcats to a 13-0 win over Sherman Bearcats of Coach Barlow AnderSon (AC M.A. ’52), was one of Bryant’s “Junction Boys” made famous by the Jim Dent novel of the same name. Bryant and the Junction Boys won an SWC title for A&M in 1956.
“Mama called” in 1958, however, and Bryant left Aggieland for his alma mater Alabama. He took Stallings with him as an assistant, and the two won a national title together in 1964. That success convinced Texas A&M to lure Stallings back to College Station as the Aggie Head Coach in 1965. That same year, Henry Frnka was inducted into the Austin College Hall of Honor.
By 1965, a retired Henry Frnka had grown to miss the game he loved. So, he started a pet project that would define his life: the Henry Frnka Coaching Clinic. The best college coaches in the country traveled to Frnka’s clinic in San Antonio for intense sessions with high school coaching staffs. The clinic in 1968 lured one of college football’s finest. From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
“In 1968, Frnka decided to bring the clinic to [high school coaches]. For his lead-off lecturer, he started at the top. He called Bear Bryant and collected an old debt. ‘In 1946, I turned down the Kentucky job,’ Frnka said. ‘I named Bear and told them there wasn’t anybody else. He got the job.’” Bryant recalled the same when he accepted Frnka’s invitation: “Henry, I couldn’t turn you down for what you did for me when you helped me get the Kentucky job.”
Frnka’s 1968 clinic took place in the winter, soon after the Cotton Bowl. That game featured the second meeting between Texas A&M and Alabama, as Gene Stalling’s surprise SWC champion Aggies upset the Crimson Tide 20-16. Bryant lifting up his former Junction Boy Stallings during postgame ceremonies is an iconic moment A&M-Alabama rivalry history.
A few weeks later, Bear Bryant was lecturing at Frnka’s clinic; Stallings sent one of his Aggie assistants to do the same. “’Dangdest clinic you’ve ever heard of,’ says Aggie assistant Melvin Robertson, a defensive lecturer. ‘If [Frnka] catches a coach not paying attention or talking to another coach in a lecture, he’ll tap him on the shoulder, give him his money back, and send him off.’”
“’If a guy wants to, he can learn here,’ said Frnka. ‘And you figure each of the 600 coaches has abut 50 kids on his team. That means we’re touching 30,000 kids. Cut my heart open and you’ll find a football and a kid who wants to learn to use it. I’m proud of this.’”
The latest SEC matchup between Alabama & Texas A&M kicks off Sunday. It will be the 12thmeeting since the two schools became conference foes in 2012. But dig a little, you’ll also find history that includes Aggie-Bama coaching legends with ties to Henry Frnka………a Kangaroo who helped Bear Bryant on his way at Alabama and who politely declined the offer of head football coach at Texas A&M.
Enjoy the A&M-Bama game Mr. A! More Aggie Roo Tales to come.
