Texas A&M’s 12th Man tradition began nearly 100 years ago, when
E. King Gill left the stands, suited up, and prepared to enter a
football game to help his Aggies achieve a victory. Inspired by Gill’s
dedication, the Aggies managed to pull off the upset win in the Dixie
Classic. I wrote about Gill yesterday for the A&M Consolidated
Centennial.
You do know who the Aggies were playing that day, right? Centre College of Kentucky.
Austin College’s last football game was an upset win over a nationally ranked team at home. QB Colt Collins
broke the AC all-purpose yardage record held by Bo Miller, and the Roos
notched their second win of the season by a score of 20-13.
You do know who the Roos were playing that day, right? Centre College of Kentucky.
Trinity University football left the friendly confines of Texas last
weekend and came away with a hard fought conference win on the road.
The Tigers held on late, and notched their second win of the season by a
score of 20-13.
You do know who the Tigers were playing that day, right? Centre College of Kentucky.
Trinity football returns to San Antonio this weekend to hosts its long
time Presbyterian rival Austin College. It’s Alumni Weekend on campus,
and Trinity will be celebrating its 150th anniversary with activities
both before, during, and after the game. I’ve written a piece about
Austin College & Trinity, which will be posted tomorrow. Go Roos!
Beat Trinity.
During halftime on Saturday, the newest class of
Trinity athletes will be inducted into the Tiger Hall of Fame. One of
them is Larry Gottfried.
Larry famously defeated John McEnroe in 1978, giving the Stanford
Cardinal national champion his only collegiate loss. Larry’s brother
Brian, also a Hall of Fame Tiger tennis player, lost in the 1980
Wimbledon semifinals to Bjorn Borg just before McEnroe fell to Borg in
the finals; many consider that 1980 final the best match in tennis
history. Both Larry and Brian will be giving a tennis clinic just
before the game, and tennis fans would be fools not to attend.
Congratulations on the induction Larry!
I’ll be playing tennis this weekend myself, with Mr. Jack Wylie.
Will our match resemble Gottfried-McEnroe in 1978? Uh, no. But hey,
we’ll have some fun all the same. Besides, our tennis match has other
feathers in its cap. You may know Jack Wylie as a member of the 1987
Roo football team which traveled to San Antonio and defeated the Trinity
Tigers on their home field.
So we’ve got THAT going for us. Which. Is. Nice.
Austin College celebrates its 170th birthday this year, but that’s
nothing compared to ol’ Centre College. Established in 1819, Centre is
celebrating 200 years in 2019. Man, that’s old. If you’re following at
home, that’s TWICE as long as A&M Consolidated High School, which
was founded the same year that E. King Gill first showed up at Texas
A&M before helping his Aggies beat Centre College.
God
willing, I plan to be around when Austin College makes it to 200 years
in 2049. I’ll admit though, that I’ll need to put in the work to pull
that off. It’s gonna take a lot of Larry Gottfried tennis matches over
the next 30 years to keep in shape and make it. Jack, let’s get after
it on Sunday. After we’re done, we’ll make our Hilton Garden Inn
reservations in Sherman for 2049.
