Thursday, July 19, 2007

College Football at its Best - Texas A&M Aggies


Today Stiles Points features the Texas A&M Aggies as part of the series "College Football at its Best".....Brad from the blog The 12th Man Child was nice enough to respond....he is a 22-year-old senior at Texas A&M....he works as a photographer for the Texas A&M student media and has been blogging for just under a year.....I want to thank Brad for his time....

  • The 12th Man Child - Texas A&M


  • Q1. What does the 12th Man mean? Please explain what is the meaning behind it and its importance?
    The 12th Man is unequivocally the greatest tradition in college football today. It started in 1922 when the Aggies were playing #1 ranked Centre College. The game was brutal and due to mounting injuries, the Aggie sideline was getting pretty thin. Looking for replacements, coach Dana X. Bible remembered that E. King Gill, a former football player turned basketball player, was assisting reporters in the press box. Gill was called down to the sideline, suited up, and stood ready for the rest of the game, which A&M eventually won 22-14. According to the official Texas A&M Traditions Council (yes, at A&M there are so many traditions that there is a student organization tasked with the oversight of the many traditions) :


    " This gesture was more than enough for the Aggie Team. Although Gill did not play in the game, he had accepted the call to help his team. He came to be known as the "Twelfth Man" because he stood ready for in case the eleven men on the gridiron needed him. That spirit of readiness for service, desire to support, and enthusiasm helped kindle a flame of devotion among the entire student body; a spirit that has grown vigorously throughout the years. The entire student body at A&M is the Twelfth Man, and they stand during the entire game to show their support. The 12th Man is always in the stands waiting to be called upon if needed."

    While students standing and yelling for the entirety of games is nothing special in modern times, there's no other school that alots more seats for students and there's no other school that has coordinated yelling. It's impossible to discuss the 12th Man without explaining what "Yell Leaders" are. Texas A&M does not have cheerleaders, instead there are 5 Yell Leaders positioned throughout the stadium that direct the 12th Man in coordinated yells (not "cheers"). There's nothing quite like being on the field when 80,000 voices yell in unison, it's something no noise machine can duplicate, and no team can truly prepare for. In addition to creating a deafening atmosphere when the Ags are on offense, the 12th Man knows when to be quiet. Broadcasters have often compared Kyle Field to a putting green when the Ags are on offense.

    In addition to yelling and supporting the team from the stands, the 12th Man is represented by a special group of students who walk-on to the football team. Each game, one walk-on is selected to wear the sacred #12 and to play on kickoff and punt team. In 2005, Coach Fran brought back the 12th Man Kickoff Team of the 80's in a modified form. While still consisting of all walk-ons, the team only sees the field when the Aggies are comfortably ahead.

    In short, Kirk Herbstreit's no fool for calling the 12th Man the greatest student section in all of college sports.

    Q2. What is the greatest Texas A&M football game that you have seen - whether it be in-person or on television? Explain the game and why it was so great.
    Well, I didn't really truly follow the Aggies until the 2003 season, so I can't say the 2000 OU game, where the Ags upset #1 ranked Oklahoma and Reggie McNeal shocked the world. Or The 1999 Texas game, days after Bonfire collapsed.

    To me, a great game has to be close for the entirety of the game, and/or be decided in the final minute or OT.

    In 2006, Texas A&M played in 7 great games. While many of those games shouldn't have been close (I'm looking at you, Army), there's nothing like the electricity of a close game with 22 men playing their hearts out. The 2006 Nebraska and OU games were epic, and the raw emotion from the final minutes of those games will stay with me for a long time.

    Most will want my answer to be the 12-7 trench warfare that was the Texas game last November, but I'm going with the 34-33(OT) victory over Oklahoma State in Stillwater last October.

    As a photographer I had the privilege of being on the sideline, able to see and hear the players and coaches working together, refusing to lose, as they marched down the field in the 4th quarter to tie the game. When Red Bryant blocked the FG in OT, the sideline exploded with jubilation, I remember just holding down the shutter as I jumped around and ran onto the field.

    Q3. Why do the Aggies hate the Texas Longhorns so much? (explain the rivalry)
    The rivalry between Texas A&M and Texas is much like that of most rivalries between state schools, born more out of politics, proximity, and competition for funds than competition on the field.

    I attempted to explain the rivalry using actual sentences and I found myself writing pages upon pages, I give you the short version:
    - A&M established first, but UT board of directors tried to have A&M closed.
    - A&M represents blue collar work & military
    - UT represents trust funded English degrees (aggies refer to longhorns as "tea sips")
    - Austin becomes Berkeley of the South, A&M becomes very tied to Republican politics.
    - 1963 Texas A&M integrates and Corps of Cadets participation is no longer mandatory, officialy designated a University. Athletics program is no longer bound and gagged. Record against Texas since 1967 is 18-22.
    - The state of Texas enacts the Top 10% rule, guaranteeing admission to any state university if the student graduates in the Top 10% of their HS class. The quantity and quality of students entering both universities explodes. Currently both schools are the flagship of their own university systems, which compete bitterly for funding, yet often form research coops.

    In the end though, Aggies don't hate Longhorns, or vise versa. When it comes down to it, we're all Texans (explanation in Q4).

    Q4. Explain the tradition of the bonfire before the Texas game?

    Burning stuff because of football isn't unique to any school (unless we're talkin couches), but since 1909 Aggies have been building a bonfire like no other.

    While Bonfire often comes with the description that it represents A&M's "burning desire to Beat The Hell Outta t.u.", that couldn't be further from the truth. What made the tradition of Bonfire so special and dear to Aggies was the camaraderie built during the semester long period of cutting and stacking the gigantic logs. Students from all parts of campus and student life worked side by side to cut and stack the logs. Grades and trees fell, while the stack and the Spirit of Aggieland grew. The week of the Texas game, 50,000+ would gather at the stack for a Yell Practice and to watch it burn.

    In the early morning hours of November 18, 1999 Bonfire collapsed with 58 students working on it. 27 students were injured, 12 died. The rescue effort took 24 hours because the logs were wired together and the logs had to be removed by hand (heavy equipment was ruled out in fear of causing further collapses and killing those trapped inside). The Corps of Cadets and the Aggie football team were called out in the middle of the night to help remove the logs. Getting back why there is no hate between Aggies and Longhorns, in the days after the collapse, Eric Opiela The UT Student VP wrote a letter to various newspapers.

    I had the great privilege of attending the memorial service at A&M tonight and was deeply moved by the events I experienced. The A&M student body is truly one of the great treasures of our State.As part of the UT delegation, we sat on the floor of Reed Arena, and immediately following the end of the service, I heard this rustling sound behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw the sight of close to 20,000 students spontaneously putting their arms on their neighbor's shoulders, forming a great circle around the arena.The mass stood there in a pin-drop silence for close to five minutes, then, from somewhere, someone began to hum quietly the hymn "Amazing Grace". Within seconds, the whole arena was singing. I tried too—I choked, I cried. This event brought me to tears. It was one if not the defining moment of my college career. I learned something tonight. For all us Longhorns discount A&M in our neverending rivalry, we need to realize one thing. Aggieland is a special place, with special people. It is infinitely better equipped than us at dealing with a tragedy such as this for one simple reason. It is a family. It is a family that cares for its own, a family that reaches out, a family that is unified in the face of adversity; a family that moved this Longhorn to tears. My heart, my prayers; and the heart of the UT student body go out tonight to Aggies and their family and friends as they, recover, from this great loss. Texas A&M, The Eyes of Texas are Upon You—and they look with sincere sympathy upon a family that has been through so much tragedy this semester.

    Complacency and stubborn tradition were to blame, the same technology and techniques that were used in 1909 were still being hazardously applied in 1999. With litigation still pending, Bonfire has not returned to campus at A&M, and most likely never will. Yet, there is an off-campus organization that is keeping the tradition alive, hoping for the day Bonfire returns to polo fields of Texas A&M.

    Q5. Make your case why Texas A&M football, as a whole, is the best football program in the country?
    Winning is everything, and A&M hasn't won enough in recent memory to be considered among the best programs in the country. Our last mythical championship was in 1939, and I don't think we've been anywhere near a BCS bowl. Yet, I will say this, you don't fully know all that is college football until you attend a game at Kyle Field.

    While A&M may not be able to claim "best football program in the country" it can easily claim "most unique".

    Most schools have one great tradition for football games (Clemson's entrance, Ohio State's Dotting the i, USC's Song Girls), Texas A&M has a handful (12th Man, Midnight Yell, Yell Leaders, etc).

    Now if only we could win the big games..

    I want to thank Brad once again for his time and great photo of Bonfire....on Monday, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be featured....

    29 comments:

    Unknown said...

    Whoop! gig 'em Aggies.

    Anonymous said...

    Reggie McNeal beat #1 OU in 2002, Reggie was a junior in high school in 2000, if your gonna represent our fine university get your games correct and dig into Aggie football history a little, by the way I'm your age.

    Anonymous said...

    pretty sure that was a typing error...not an error of fact...if you are gonna represent our university quit being so annoying....the article without a doubt shows he knows what he is talking about.

    Anonymous said...

    agree with anonymous #2--freaking calm down a bit dude...

    Anonymous said...

    A&M won the big 12 in 98 and went to a BCS game (Sugar Bowl) that year.

    Anonymous said...

    A&M was not established before THE University of Texas. UT was established, by the Constitution of the State of Texas as the flagship for all state funded institutions of higher learning, with A&M being established as a division of the University of Texas at the same time. A&M was built first because it was a handful of small buildings on a small tract of land in the middle of nowhere offering a very limited curriculum. UT Austin took much longer to build because the state had made a much more significant investment in it and intended it to play a larger roll in the system than any other institution, just as things have turned out. Also, don't forget to mention that A&M has been caught cheating so much in the last 25 years, that they were almost given the death penalty. But you know Aggies NEVER let a little thing like facts get in their way.

    Anonymous said...

    Horns never cheat...

    Anonymous said...

    Yet despite all of its traditions and exclamations of having the "greatest fans", Texas A&M can't sell out home games.

    Anonymous said...

    With nearly 700,000 people living in Austin, it becomes easy for one to sell 80,000 tickets. However when you are located at least 100 miles from the nearest major city and have a former student base that is half yours, I think the number of people we draw is quiet astounding, to say the least.

    Anonymous said...

    Texas A&M, the State of Texas' first university. The oldest and proudest public institution in this great state.

    Anonymous said...

    12-7 sips. See you this year at Kyle where we will knock your program back to the 80's - 90's when you had to push your tickets through Burger King promotions to get over 50k in attendance at DKR.

    Anonymous said...

    You Aggies don't miss too many chances to make yourselves look stupid, do you? If you think that 12-7 was anything but a fluke, then you’re in for a big surprise on T+1. Do you guys honestly think that Texas is worried about playing A&M at Kyle Field? You do realize that UT has a winning record there don't you?

    As was mentioned before, the only time that A&M has enjoyed even moderate success was when they were cheating. The typical A&M fan’s response to that is of course “Texas cheats too”, but the Aggies’ last infraction earned more probation than UT has severed in the entire history of the school.

    The Ags recruiting has been horrible under Fran, and his best season at A&M matches Mac’s worst at Texas. Of course Fran’s was topped off by taking a supreme ass-kicking in the bowl game. When was the last time A&M won a bowl, anyway? It’s funny to me how you dumb Aggies spend so much time patting yourselves on the back for mediocrity, but talk crap about Texas when they out do you sports across the board and in academics year in and year out. Poor Aggies!

    Anonymous said...

    To the "@ 10:14 pm" loser that posted immediately above: That's the most WHINING I've heard since T+1 2006. Wow, ever heard of the term "sportsmanship."

    It's just amazing how nervous you t-sips are about the season coming up. You're so nervous that you're logging on to Aggie-affiliated articles and making yourselves look like fools. The fact is, you're just plain scared. Why else would you be rummaging around on our websites and our web-postings??? As a maroon-bleeding Fightin' Texas Aggie (Class of 1996), I can honestly tell you that I do not ever enter any t-sip-related websites. This year the Aggies return a pretty solid team that is capable of doing a little worse damage on T+1 than 12-7. And, in my opinion (yes, I did say "in my opinion") the t-sips are very overrated this year. In fact, I find it very doubtful that tu (texas university, for those that are not familiar with the "tu" abbreviation) will finish in first in the Big XII South.

    You can mark it down t-sips and worry, worry, worry (and you should). T+1 is going to be a very tough game to win for you guys. Don't expect to come in a blow us out. That will not happen. I'm not saying you won't win; but, I think with the team we've got and the 12th Man in the stands you're facing a very tough task.

    This Aggie team is not the push-over Aggie team of recent past. If in doubt, look behind center (at all three positions behind center).

    GIG 'EM AGGIES! WHOOP!!!

    Anonymous said...

    "but the Aggies’ last infraction earned more probation than UT has severed in the entire history of the school."


    I would say that's a valid point, but OU just had the same violation and only recieved a slap on the wrist. It's ludicrous to think that the NCAA doesn't play favorites and protect certain schools.

    How can you say that A&M's recruiting has been horrible under Fran? A&M is definately bringing in better tallent now than before. It would be fair, however, to say that Fran has underachieved with the talent he's brought in.

    As far as A&M being "out done" by Texas in sports across the board, your argument is true for the past few years looking at the Lone Star Showdown results. As is true in most college sports, the momentum is changing. This year's Lone Star Showdown was much closer with Texas taking the title by 2 points. Let's take a look at the number of conference championships in 2006-07:
    t.u. - 5
    A&M - 7
    As you can see, it's not as "across the board" as you think. Your next response would probably be "I was only talking about the sports that matter." Well:
    Football - A&M won (I'll let you claim a moral victory for saying it's a fluke)
    Basketball - Split, A&M ranked higher and went further in the tournament
    Baseball - Texas swept the regular season series, but A&M won in the Big 12 tournament, including the title and also won their regional.

    I know Texas would NEVER cheat, but I'm glad the Longhorns have model citizens like Ricky Williams and Cedric Benson representing their fine institution.

    Oh, and since you asked, A&M won a bowl game in 2001 (I know it's nothing to brag about).

    Anonymous said...

    We did win the big game when we beat Texas in 2006.

    Anonymous said...

    You can mark it down t-sips and worry, worry, worry (and you should). T+1 is going to be a very tough game to win for you guys. Don't expect to come in a blow us out. That will not happen. I'm not saying you won't win; but, I think with the team we've got and the 12th Man in the stands you're facing a very tough task.
    -------------------------------------

    another moral victory!

    dont you guys have some internet poll to go fix, or something?

    worry about your new rivals: tech and baylor.

    Unknown said...

    Yeah, you're right. It's way more lame to do internet polls. Finding articles about the Aggies to rip on is very cool. We're sorry.

    tamu57 said...

    Do we have to have the bonfire or tower tragedy to agree on anything? Sure we have spirited rivalry in all sports, but both our universities are great in both academics and sports. Sports go through cycles and either side shouldn't forget the good times for each. For the Ags, it was the 80's and 90's (9 out of 10 in FB). And TAMU took TU to the "woodshed in all sports in 2007 except FB. We'll be there too in 2007 or 2008. Franchione is doing it with a "clean program" so Austin can't complain that the only reason we won is because we cheated. Just ask Rick Barnes what he thinks about Bill Byrne being in charge at A & M.

    Anonymous said...

    Re: History Lesson on 'sip Traditions
    Quote:
    Our yearbook was called Longhorn for many years, since it was a logical symbol for an Agricultural College.
    http://gallery.bcentral.com/ProductD...01&PID=4740448

    Quote:
    By the way, I have a another image of one of their Yell Books from 1926. They have a Yell called "Hulla Balloo" that goes like this:

    Hulla Balloo, ray, ray
    Hulla Balloo, ray, ray
    Who-ray, Who-ray
    Varsity, Varsity

    http://www.cah.utexas.edu/exhibits/T...ge/large2.html

    Quote:
    Quite original, don't you think? Hulla Balloo? Yells? In 1936, the sips had five Yell Leaders, all male, who wore white suits. Hmmm.
    http://www.utexas.edu/tours/nowthen/30/14.html

    Quote:
    They received their big Texas flag idea from the Ole Miss Band in the 1961 Cotton Bowl. The Rebels made a very large Texas flag (51 feet wide and 90 feet long) and unfurled it during their halftime show as a display of sportsmanship. After the game, they presented it to the Texas Governor, who presented it to the sips, who promptly adopted the idea as their own. Of course, most sips think their school invented the idea. They probably think they invented the state flag design, as well.

    On January 1, 1961, the University of Texas played Mississippi in the Cotton Bowl. By request of Mississippi, a large Texas flag was made for their half-time show so that they could salute the University of Texas and the state
    http://lhb.music.utexas.edu/history/...ons_index.html

    Quote:
    The Chicago drum was contaminated with nuclear radiation from the atomic pile. The drumheads rotted off. It was worthless, but Dallas oilman Harold Byrd bought it (for $1) in 1955, decontaminated it, restored it, and donated it to the sip band as "The World's Largest Drum - creating another great sip tradition that was copied from someone else.

    Big Bertha, the largest marching drum in the world, became the "SWEETHEART OF THE LONGHORN BAND" in 1955. Orignally built for the University of Chicago, long time benefactor of the Longhorn Band, D. Harold Byrd, and then director, Moton M. Crockett, purchased and transported her to her permenant home deep in the heart of Texas. For her performances at football games, she is graciously escorted by a group known as the "Bertha Crew".
    http://lhb.music.utexas.edu/history/...ons_index.html

    Quote:
    Of course, their little cannon Ol' Smokey was not an original idea. Oklahoma fired blank shotgun shells at the Red River Rivalry games, and the sips wanted something similar. So, in 1953, they built a little tube on wheels that fires blank shotgun shells. I wonder where they might have seen another college with students who FIRED A CANNON?

    No idea if this is true. The texas part is true, but no idea if OU did it first

    Quote:
    Their "Hook 'em Horns" was first used in 1955, well after the Gig 'em Aggies gesture had been in use for years. They wanted to be like us, and had to come up with their own hand signal.
    http://www.texasmonthly.com/ranch/readme/handsign.html


    Quote:
    The name of their nutless mascot was influenced by a 13-0 loss to the Aggies. Lucky for them we didn't win 27-14 or their mascot would be unpronouncable.
    http://www.cah.utexas.edu/exhibits/T...ge/large6.html

    Quote:
    They got tired of feeding their mascot in 1920 (the records claim it cost fifty cents per day to feed) so they barbequed the beast and served it to both football teams before the 1920 game. They presented the side branded "13-0" to the Aggie team, who apparently discarded the disgusting hide at the first opportunity. Imagine if we had it on display today - but back then, who could have imagined the sips would ever again have a steer for a mascot, when they just slaughtered and ate the current one?

    http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxT...ghorn-Bevo.htm

    Quote:
    Their sports teams were called Varsity, not Longhorns.
    The Texas Varsity, as they were called, ended up the victors that day, besting the Dallas team 18-16.
    http://www.utopia.utexas.edu/project...vers/1893.html

    Quote:
    The sips first school colors were gold and white. They changed to orange and white in 1895. In 1897, 1898, and 1899 their teams wore ORANGE AND MAROON because the white was too hard to clean. I'm not making this up. Their yearboook (called the Cactus) said the official colors were gold or orange and white. The Medical school used royal blue. Their fans were adorned in all the colors of the rainbow even back then.

    An election was held to decide the matter, and orange and white gained 562 votes, with orange and maroon in second place with 310 votes. Just a few more votes and they would look like Virginia Tech.

    http://www.utopia.utexas.edu/project...vers/1900.html


    Quote:
    The orange dye of the early 1900's tended to fade to yellow with washing. The sip players were called "yellow bellies" by opponents. I'm not making this up, either. They played in yellow (awww, that matches your handbag!) for several years before their coach decided to look for a darker shade of orange that would resist fading. It became known as burnt orange.

    Of course, the sips just used this custom color until it became too expensive during the Great Depression. Remember the nutless mascot costing to much to maintain? They went back to bright orange in the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's.

    Darrell Royal revised the burnt orange color on his own in the early 1960's because it looked similar to the football. It made it easier to hide the ball during fakes. So much for "tradition." Just let the football coach change the uniform colors to match the pigskin and tell everyone they "always were burnt orange."
    http://www.texassports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=61&url_subchannel_id=& url_article_id=1463&change_well_id=2
    last paragraph

    Quote:
    The "Eyes of Texas" was written as a joke for a campus Minstrel Show. Minstrel Shows would be considered politically correct today, but don't remind the sips their beloved song has such an unsavory history.

    The idea for the lyrics came from a common saying of their President, William Prather, who had attended Washington College in Lexington, VA. At that school, headmaster General Robert E. Lee continually told the students to act responsibly, because the "Eyes of the South are upon you." Prather came up with the original idea of telling his students "The Eyes of Texas are upon you."

    By the way, the sips didn't even own the copyright to the "Eyes of Texas" until they BOUGHT it from the owner in 1984. Of course, the sips claimed they copyrighted it without knowing the real owner had filed paperwork several years earlier (1928) - snicker, snicker, we just made a little mistake!

    http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/...ee1_print.html


    Quote:
    Then, there's Texas Bite. The sip band calls it Taps. Why? Because it was specifically written to counteract an early Aggie Yell called Taps. The Aggie Band Buglers would play Taps (the real one) and the Corps would yell "Farmers Fight" in time to the music. It was a slow and imposing yell. The sips hated it.

    One of their creative geniuses decided to speed up the tempo and yell "Texas Fight." Impressive, huh? Next time you hear the sip band play the song, you might be able to hear it starts out like Taps played very quickly. Once again, it's a good thing they didn't copy one of our longer yells or they might have a song called "Fifteen for Team, Texas Fight and Call it a Night."
    From a 1952 letter by Colonel Walter S. Hunnicutt on the history of Texas Fight:
    "I wrote 'Texas Fight' ... in an attempt to counteract the songs and yells of the Texas Aggies, which were not too complimentary to our Student Body and some of which tended to ridicule 'The Eyes of Texas'.
    http://lhb.music.utexas.edu/history/songs_index.html

    Quote:
    As previously discussed in other threads, the Aggies started using the term "t.u." in lower case, but did not reverse the letters. The sips often called themselves Texas University, although the term University of Texas was also in use.
    The only time i've ever seen it called texas university was a football program from the 1941 game at Kyle. I have the pic and have seen the program but can't find an internet source
    __________________
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dustin00whoop
    "we should all be more Polish-like"

    Anonymous said...

    "A&M was not established before THE University of Texas"

    Under the Morrill Act of 1862, several Land Grant Colleges were established. Of note:

    A&M College of Texas (Texas A&M)
    Kansas A&M (Now Kansas State)
    Oklahoma A&M (Now Oklahoma State)

    So tell me, with your "superior" education, how does 1862 (A&M began in 1876) not PRECEDE 1894?

    Anonymous said...

    penis

    Anonymous said...

    The12thmanchild, I like the interview you gave to Stiles Point, I am also impressed with the number of followers from that school in Austin.

    Anonymous said...

    73-35-5...........pooooooooor aggy.

    Anonymous said...

    For poor aggy... let's continue to revise history. The first university in Texas was Baylor. The first University established by the Republic of Texas was THE University of Texas. The College was just a little outhouse on a podunk prairie... a branch of THE University... nothing better or more impressive than the branch later estalished out in Boy's Town (oops... meant El Paso... once you've seen one donkey show, you've seen 'em all, right?)

    But, for the literate aggy here's the info from a reliable source, The State of Texas Handbook (now let's see if the Morril Act happened prior to 1839).

    From the State of Texas Handbook:
    The University of Texas originated in 1839, when the Congress of the Republic of Texas, in an act locating the seat of government, ordered a site set aside for a university. A subsequent act the same year allocated fifty leagues (231,400 acres) of land to the establishment and the endowment of two colleges or universities. Whether because of frontier conditions, scarcity of money, a feeling that higher education was the concern of the rich who ought to pay for it, or disagreement as to where the university should be located, nothing more was done by the Congress or by the Texas legislature until 1858. That year the legislature made financial provision for a university by appropriating for the institution the fifty leagues granted in 1839, $100,000 in United States bonds remaining from the $10 million paid to Texas in the Compromise of 1850, and one section of land out of every ten reserved to the state in grants made in aid to railroads and a navigation company. The same act placed the university under the control of ten administrators: the governor, the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and eight others nominated by the governor. Secession and the Civil War prevented the act of 1858 from being carried out, however. Indeed, a great portion of the university fund derived from the sale of the fifty leagues granted in 1839 was diverted to the general needs of the state and was not fully repaid until 1883. The Constitution of 1866 directed the legislature to put the university in operation at an early date. In 1871 the legislature established the Texas A&M College, but the university was still postponed. The Constitution of 1876 specified that the legislature, as soon as practicable, was to establish, organize, and provide for the maintenance and support of a "university of the first class" to be located by vote of the people and styled the University of Texas, for promotion of the study of literature and the arts and sciences. An agricultural and mechanical branch was mandated. The same article (7) of the constitution made A&M a branch of the university and ordered the legislature to establish and maintain a college or branch university for instruction of black youth, though no tax was to be levied and no money appropriated out of the general revenue for such a school or for buildings of the University of Texas. This prohibition prevented establishment of a branch of the university for African Americans, although Austin was selected for its site in 1882. The constitution left the university the fifty leagues granted in 1839 but repealed the gift of alternate sections of land granted to railroads, substituting instead 1,000,000 acres of land in West Texas; however, 3,200,000 acres would have accumulated from railroad grants by 1882.

    By an act of March 30, 1881, an election for location of the university was ordered, government was vested in a board of eight (later nine) regents, and provisions were made for admission fees, coeducation, and nonsectarian teaching. On September 6, Austin was chosen for the site of the main university and Galveston for the location of the medical department. At the first meeting of the board of regents, on November 16, 1881, Ashbel Smithqv was chosen president of the board and Alexander P. Wooldridgeqv secretary; the faculty was also chosen and the curriculum determined. On November 17, 1882, the cornerstone of the west wing of the first Main Building was laid in a ceremony at which the main address was delivered by Ashbel Smith. He said, prophetically, "Smite the rocks with the rod of knowledge, and fountains of unstinted wealth will gush forth." The university was formally opened in the new building on September 15, 1883, though classes were held in the temporary Capitol as late as January 1884.

    Anonymous said...

    Hey guys, it's time for Texas Monthly's Bum Steer Award nominations. What can be more deserving than UT's lawsuit over the Saw 'Em Off parody? Tell John Broders at TM:

    jbroders@texasmonthly.com

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