11/27/2024 TLSN volume VIII Newsletter # 26 by Larry Carlson and Billy Dale – The history of the A&M and Texas football traditions

TLSN is not affiliated with the UT Athletic Department or any organization closely aligned with UT.
11/27/2024 TLSN volume VIII Newsletter # 26


**IMPORTANT NOTICE**: The TLSN data migration to WordPress is still in process but active at Texaslsn.org. Try It! The site has many new features and much more flexibility for delivering photos, articles, podcasts, interviews, etc. However, TLSN continues to face challenges with merging the WordPress newsletter format and the contact list to deliver email to the subscriber base. We will continue using the Squarespace newsletter format until we fully master the WordPress software.






1946 Max Bumgardner catches a pass against Colorado.
Matt Bumgardner, Max’s grandson, scored the winning touchdown to beat Texas.


The story of the Bumgardner family’s football heritage is a unique blend of fate, destiny, and strong personal connections to their maroon and burnt orange roots. The family embodies the competitive spirit of each university, striving for victory, but not at any cost. I know that each university united as one for at least one day, sharing a moment of Amazing Grace. Billy Dale wrote this article.

Destiny turned a successful Aggie Coach into a successful Longhorn Coach (Bible) and a Longhorn football player’s grandson into a Texas Aggie. Read on to witness a rare moment in Longhorn and A&M history when these two proud Universities shared the same heartbeat.
In 1947, Captain Max Bumgardner led former Aggie Coach Bible’s Longhorn team to a 10-1 record, beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Max was Bobby Layne’s favorite receiver. Max’s story is told in more detail at the link
https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/max-bumgardner
Fast-forward from the Longhorn and Aggie football game in 1947 to 1999, and the pre-game bonfire collapse that had devastating consequences. It was a somber moment in college sports history.
Into this void with sadness pervading the game, Max’s grandson, Matt Bumgardner, made the winning touchdown to beat Texas. For many the win felt spiritual.
For as long as I can remember, beating Texas A&M bordered on a personal physiological need for me. It was as important as eating, sleeping, and drinking water.
But this game was different. It was a game where spiritual overtones and epiphany moments were discernible, transcending the pride, ego, and id of both Universities. For the first time in my life, I swallowed my pride, smiled in deep reflection, and honored the Aggie nation.
I still want to beat the Aggies, but losing to A&M no longer represents a life-altering moment for me. Amazing Grace, not football, is now my anchor.
Go to the 2:30 mark at the link below to hear the Longhorn band play an inspired version of “Amazing Grace”.
https://youtu.be/4rLj3vw5fwI



Devastation


The following article, written by Larry Carlson, offers an insightful reflection on the sports history of the Longhorn and Aggie football rivalry. It features links, photos, and comments that highlight the passion of the fans, players, and students involved. Larry’s article is the most comprehensive newsletter in the TLSN’s eight-year history. Due to the newsletter’s length, it is organized into sections, allowing readers to focus on the topics that interest them and ignore sections of no interest.


The Eternal Scoreboard By Larry Carlson
“Lord make us good winners”- quote from either Pat Culpepper or John Treadwell.
“Indulge this aged writer for just a second, please. “You get imprinted by your surroundings, your influences, as a kid.
From second grade through college, I enjoyed Thanksgiving with my parents, my older sisters, and then their husbands. We ate turkey and dressing—my Mom made traditional cornbread dressing and tasty oyster dressing—and then watched Texas beat the hell out of the hapless Aggies on TV. It was tradition. Only once in those first 15 years of my Longhorn fandom did the Horns falter.
Early on, Daddy and I had read that one of UT’s hammering linebackers, either Pat Culpepper or Johnny Treadwell, had uttered this as a team prayer at Thanksgiving:
“Lord…make us good winners.”
Forevermore, that was my family’s Thanksgiving pre-game prayer.
Tradition is a huge part of what makes Thanksgiving my favorite holiday.”
“Every football fan in the Lone Star State who has ever eaten a frito pie at a high school concession stand knows that the Longhorns and Aggies are set to resume the talking of the shoulder pads, the hatred, hijinks, and everything else that comes with a rivalry that was more than a century old when it went on hiatus after 2011 when A&M joined the SEC.
Folks in burnt orange or maroon can well recall that UT’s Justin Tucker slammed a 40-yard kick to the hearts of all Aggies as time expired that November night thirteen years ago.
Mack Brown, interviewed by ESPN from North Carolina this month, referred to that moment as “The Eternal Scoreboard.”
For Larry’s whole story and links to many more articles on the Aggie-Longhorn football history, click on https://texaslsn.org/the-eternal-scoreboard-by-larry-carlson/









TLSN is a compassionate and educational ethos-driven support system that shares Longhorn Sports’ history and helps those who qualify for financial assistance. Please send donations to:
https://texas-lsn.squarespace.com/send-donation-to
Billy Dale will confirm your donation via email after receipt.

TEXAS LEGACY SUPPORT NETWORK shares a panoramic view of Longhorn sports history as seen through the eyes of those who created it.


TLSN’s Reflection Point

TLSN invites you to join this journey through the TLSN time machine to discover the splendor of Longhorn sports’ past eras. Former student-athletes, renowned writers, media personalities, well-researched books and magazines, and tales from Longhorn enthusiasts bring Longhorn sports history to life. ACCESS TO THE SITE IS free.

Https://texaslsn.org

Sports//College//Texas Sports Nation

Texas vs. A&M: Before Justin Tucker’s kick, there was Case McCoy’s run. ‘And then it got very quiet’
By Kirk Bohls,ColumnistNov 29, 2024 Houston Chronicle

Subscribe to the Houston Chronicle and Kirk Bohls to read and see more about the Texas Longhorns

Texas quarterback Case McCoy (6) throws a pass against Texas A&M during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game at Kyle Field Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, in College Station. Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle





AUSTIN — Case McCoy mostly remembers the deafening noise at Kyle Field.
Until he didn’t hear it anymore.
The former Texas quarterback who reflected on the Longhorns’ 27-25 last-second victory over Texas A&M in the last meeting between these two schools can still recall the wild atmosphere from that 2011 game.
It figures to be equally or even more raucous Saturday night when No. 3 Texas visits College Station to play No. 20 A&M before well north of 100,000 fans for a berth in the SEC championship against Georgia on Dec. 7.
AGGIES VS. LONGHORNS: A RIVALRY RENEWED
On the Longhorns

• This is the biggest UT-A&M game of them all.
• Current generation may not know history but understands what’s at stake.
• An Aggies-Horns version of nine things and one crazy prediction.
• Top 10 Longhorns wins vs. A&M

On the Aggies
• A worn class ring, an unbreakable Aggie and a life well lived.
• What a mean over Texas would mean for the Aggies.
• R.C. Slocum: A&M is better off with Texas in SEC.
• It will be like the ‘Alabama, Notre Dame and LSU games on steroids.’
• Top 10 A&M wins vs. Longhorns.
See Less

“I remember it was the loudest I’ve ever experienced,” McCoy said this week. “We’d played at a lot of places that would be loud, but A&M has always been really good about being loud when they need to be loud.”
Texas thought it knew how to deal with it. The offense planned to huddle all game-long not only to milk the clock but to better communicate with McCoy’s teammates. But there was only so much they could do.

THE A&M VIEW: A penalty that still hurts.
The 33-year-old Longhorn hero, a tenant specialist who lives in Austin with his former UT cheerleader wife Jessica and four young children, including newborn Briggs, laughs at the memory.
He’s been asked about that night by several reporters this week and jokes, “I’ve become a little bit popular, but I’ll be completely irrelevant after this week.”
Not likely.
Interestingly enough, he and David Ash had rotated at quarterback for much of the season, and McCoy wasn’t even told he was starting until the team’s pregame warmups for the Aggie game.
And just how loud was that crowd of 88,000-plus that Nov. 24 night?

“We kept getting pinned back there at the horseshoe end the whole game, which only intensified our huddles,” McCoy said. “I mean, I lost my voice in the first quarter. But I had hundreds of plays on my wristband, and I would point to the play in the huddle.”
He also recalls the struggles he and his offensive teammates had against a strong Aggies defense that allowed them 237 yards and 12 first downs. Luckily for Texas, the Longhorn defense with linebackers Emmanuel Acho and Keenan Robinson, end Alex Okafor, defensive backs Quandre Diggs, Kenny Vaccaro and Carrington Byndom and even safety Blake Gideon, who currently coaches safeties on Steve Sarkisian’s staff.
BIGGEST OF THEM ALL: What return of rivalry means to state.
The two sides were so evenly matched that 17 players on each team would go on to play in the NFL.
“They outplayed us for most of the game,” McCoy said. “But we had a bunch of dudes too who went on to play in the league.”

Texas went into the game with a, you might want to say, conservative gameplan. Mack Brown wasn’t about to throw the ball all over the lot with a young redshirt freshman quarterback even with receivers like Marquise Goodwin, Jaxon Shipley and Mike Davis. McCoy would complete 16 of 27 passes in the game but for only 110 yards.
He expects a more wide-open game plan out of Sarkisian when he and several buddies, including a couple of Aggies, will be on hand for Saturday night’s game. McCoy’s attended most of this year’s Texas home games and traveled to watch the Longhorns win at Michigan and Vanderbilt.
He won’t be wearing his No. 6 jersey in the Kyle Field stands, however.
“No, I know better than that,” he said. “Maybe I’ll wear a mustache and glasses.”

He might go incognito in enemy territory but he’ll always be well-known for his role in big games. And none was bigger than that last date with the Aggies.

“History will tell you the more mature team and the one that wins the turnover battle will win the game or have the opportunity to win,” McCoy said. “I think we’re really good this year, and our defense is unbelievable. The offense is high-powered but there have been times it feels a little bit out of sync. But they’ve got playmakers everywhere and they find ways to put it together.”
So did Texas that 2011 game.
“Mack told me that night, ‘I just want to kick the ball after every series. I don’t care if it’s a field goal or a punt.’ And Coach Brown’s words were true.”
The Aggies had future NFL quarterback Ryan Tannehill on its side with Luke Joeckel blocking for him, but he completed only 20 of 49 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns and threw three interceptions in a four-turnover game for the hosts.

Subscribe to the Houston Chronicle and Kirk Bohls to read and see more about the Texas Longhorns