The Aggies had not been scored on or lost a game in two years, but on this day the largest crowd in the history of football, at that time, in the state when 20,000 fans saw Texas beat A&M 7-3. Texas finished the season undefeated.

Since the Horns had not defeated A & M at Kyle field since 1920 Some UT fans implored Mrs. Augusta Hipple, a fortune teller, to help break the jinxes. She instructs the Longhorn fans to burn red candles, and the Longhorns would win. In 1941 Texas won 23-0 at Kyle Field. 

After its success in 1941, the red candle hex was used sporadically when the Longhorns faced highly-ranked opponents. In 1950 the red candle tradition helped Texas defeat the No. 1 Southern Methodist University (SMU) Mustangs 23-20.

In 1953 The Daily Texan called on all fans to light their red candles to defeat a Baylor team that was unbeaten and battling for a national championship. The #3 Baylor team fans countered the hex by lighting up every green candle in Waco. Time magazine said this tradition was the “most potent whammy in Texas traditions, and nothing to lightly invoked…” Texas won 21-20 .

In 1955 The red candles came out for the Texas A & M. The Horns were heavy underdogs. The Hex was put on the Aggies, and the Hook’em Horns hand signal was introduced at the Friday night pep rally.

In 1963 the Red Candle tradition led to another victory over a great Baylor team. But the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s changed students’ attitudes toward long-established university traditions. Many were abandoned and forgotten, including the red candle hex.

In the 1980’s, the Red Candle tradition evolved into more of a hex-breaking Chinese legend.

THE 1986 MUSTANG HEX RALLY. 

With the Longhorn Band’s arrival and the Main Mall packed with students, the inaugural Hex Rally began at 11:30 p.m. with songs, yells, speeches, and a retelling on the origins of the tradition. The Aggies were “hexed” at midnight as thousands of students raised red candles and sang “The Eyes of Texas.”

2001- Mack Brown attends a Hex Rally

In the drizzle on the Main Mall, Mack Brown experienced his first Hex rally. In attendance were 1000 fans, the Showband of the Southwest, Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, and a modern dance group.

Visit the Texas Exes UT History Central Web site for more fun facts about the university’s history.

Many years later, Mrs. Hipple shared her story about the Red Candle tradition. She told the students who came to see her in 1941 that “red means alert and that they needed something to show the team they were behind them.” She concluded her interview by saying, “the boys were struggling so; they only needed something to relax the child that is within us all.”

In Bill Little’s book Texas Longhorn Stadium Stories, “the message of the red candles wasn’t magic; it wasn’t an ancient Chinese hex breaker. It was the simple truth that applies to whatever in life you choose to do. “There is a “force” out there when people band together in a common goal, and the strongest force of all is the bright, burning will that lives inside of you.”

How Madame Hipple Became Austin’s Greatest Psychic

With a stroke of luck, she went from cleaning classrooms to telling fortunes.

By Rosie Ninesling

September/October 2022

AS-72-79784, Austin American-Statesman Photographic Morgue (AR.2014.039). Austin History Center,
Austin Public Library, Texas.

A chance encounter in 1941 turned Augusta Hipple into Madame Hipple, Austin’s resident clairvoyant. While working as a janitor at the University of Texas, she was approached by a group of students with a problem: The football team had a crucial game against A&M, and they were seeking supernatural assistance. “A fortune teller?” she asked. “I am one.”

Without thinking, Madame Hipple conjured up an impromptu hex that consisted of a red candle left in a window overnight. When the Longhorns won 23-0, the cleaning lady was launched into campus-wide fame.

That week, she traded her work apron for kaftans and tied her cherry-red hair up in scarves. Using the money she began to make from her college-aged clients, she was able to leave her rundown apartment for a home in West Campus. With hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs cut into the picket fence, she aptly named it “The House of Cards” and conducted readings from a closet-sized space at the front of her home. 

Decades passed, and the problems varied: Sorority girls wanted to know when they were getting married. The boys questioned life after graduation. And when Charles Whitman came to see her just weeks before the tragic UT Tower shooting in 1966, she allegedly advised him to “quit playing with his toys and grow up.” A permanent fixture on West 29th Street, she was a resource for anyone seeking direction up until her retirement in the mid-’90s.

Could there be truth in the magic Madame Hipple harnessed? Perhaps a secret is best kept secret. When her son sold the house in 2004 to Adam and Maggie Stephens, the new homeowners made sure to ask about his mother’s powers. He responded with a smirk. “Let’s put it this way,” he said. “My mother was always a very good businesswoman.”

 #1 Texas beat #2 A&M 57-28 at Kyle field. Earl Campbell gained 222 yards. Earl also took a screen pass 60 yards for a touchdown for his only touchdown pass of his college days. Randy McEachern tied the record for touchdown passes in a game with 4.

Larry asks, what if Johnny Manziel had chosen Texas over the Aggies? He answers the question by entering Rod Serlings Twilight Zone. A dimension made possible by traveling in the “Back to the Future” time portal machine.

A dimension where “Johnny be Good”

Instead of “Johnny Be Bad”

A dimension in time where all the terrible recruiting decisions after Colt McCoy graduated are corrected.

Such as decisions to not offer Johnny Manziel and tell RGIII Texas would use him as a defensive back. Both were Heisman trophy-winning quarterbacks who Texas never considered as quarterbacks for Texas.

Then there were Baker Mayfield, Nick Foles, and Drew Brees, who were in Austin’s backyard. Two of these three were Super Bowl MVPs! And what about Andrew Luck’s courting dance with Texas before choosing Stanford? Read the three links below to see all the other insufficient data recruiting decisions made by the Longhorns.

Johnny Manziel

https://bleacherreport.com/…/1769270-history-of-texas…

Johnny Manziel

https://www.goodbullhunting.com/2013/8/2/4576342/what-if-johnny-manziel-texas-longhorns-safety

Robert Griffin III

https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sbnation.com%2Fncaa-football%2F2012%2F1%2F31%2F2758874%2Fnational-signing-day-texas-baylor-recruiting-robert-griffin&data=05%7C01%7C%7Ccd5c857d08dd4854d19308da2881a974%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637866834601888887%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=rFKlwBFDE85bBAVVUCYg75hdo4kaEgdBuYLjI%2BRrM6M%3D&reserved=0

Larry begins Good Johnny’s story after his football career is over, and he returns to serve as Grand Marshal of “Bevo week” in Austin.

Enjoy a moment of alternative history and read with a sense of humor, not a vindictive spirit. Larry’s article is a spoof, and all the other synonyms surrounding a spoof, such as parody · pastiche · burlesque · takeoff · skit · imitation · pasquinade · pasticcio. Nevertheless, it is a “what if” moment worthy of reflection.

AUSTIN, TX: April 23, 2022

 An Alternative History for longhorn football – A trip “Back to the Future” 2010-2021.

by Larry Carlson- lc13@txstate.edu

If Johnny Be Good

Back to the future -Johnny Manziel is #2 for the Longhorns in the photoshopped image taken in 2013.

 Manziel, who announced his retirement from football in January after seven stellar NFL seasons with the New England Patriots, including five Pro Bowl selections and three Super Bowl rings, is getting around just fine, thank you, after his second knee replacement surgery.  

 “It’s all good,” said a beaming “Johnny Football,” who came to be known as “the Night Owl of New England” and “the Fleet Feet of Foxboro,” while dazzling Pats fans with his on-and-off-field derring-do as a quarterback-turned-slot receiver/return man and man about town extraordinaire.

“Heck yeah, I wish the knees had hung in there better,” said Manziel, whose “triple axel” mid-air spins became the trademark of his elusiveness on the gridiron.  “But there’s a time for more chapters, always,” he said, waxing philosophical.  “I’m always gonna be a Longhorn, I’m always gonna be a Patriot,” but I’m looking forward to just everything in life.  I’ve seen enough bright lights and I’m ready to relax in peace,” he continued, flanked by UT Athletic Director Mack Brown and Texas coach Todd Dodge outside Bellmont Hall  Saturday afternoon. 

“Give credit to Johnny,” Brown said, “he was a team player first but we wouldn’t have those two other national championships (2013, 2014) without his unique talents.  It’s that simple,” concluded Brown, who turned over the coaching reins to Dodge after celebrating his third national title team in ’14. 

Dodge was all aglow about Manziel’s $5 million dollar donation to what Johnny Football called a “slush fund of NIL money earmarked for five-star quarterback recruits at Texas.” 

“Johnny’s generosity to the program is going to help lead us back into the championship picture,” said Dodge, often criticized of late for a 2021 season that saw Texas lose twice and beat lowly Kansas by just 13 points in an 11-2 campaign that did at least bear fruit in the form of a New Year’s Day win in the Cotton Bowl.

Not surprisingly, Manziel made light of what is by far the largest contribution to UT by a former player.

“Hell, I made that at the tables in Vegas during last season’s open week,” he cracked. 

Manziel, of course, came to the Forty Acres in 2011 as a much-hyped freshman QB from Kerrville’s Tivy High School.  But he was moved to defensive back in August and a nagging hamstring sidelined him almost the entire season.  Until the legend was born in College Station the night Texas and Texas A&M teed it up for what has been the last edition of the rivalry, pending UT’s much-anticipated move to the SEC.  Texas fans from nine to ninety know what happened when ‘Horns QB Case McCoy received a shoulder injury late in the first half with the Ags leading a defensive battle, 16-7.

Manziel successfully lobbied Brown into inserting him at quarterback. He came off the bench and ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more in the second half, igniting a 42-25 victory.  He famously needled the conquered Cadets in post-game remarks with ESPN.

“Those jackwagons with swords and Smokey Bear hats were talking about their 12th man stuff.  But when you wear the burnt orange and white, you only need eleven guys at a time.” 

An unprecedented three consecutive Heisman trophies would follow, as would UT’s most recent two national titles.  And Manziel earned a degree in Chemical Engineering in between spearheading Texas teams that went 41-2 with him as the starter. 

So what’s next for the greatest Longhorn player ever?

Manziel said he and his wife will relocate to Van Horn, in far West Texas, where they have purchased the famed El Capitan Hotel after deciding that Kerrville has “grown too much.”

“But right now,” Johnny roared, “me and the Minister of Culture, Mr. Elon Musk hisself, are gonna knock back a few Shiner Bocks before we join Guv’nah McConaughey in his suite for a little Orange and White football.”

  The end of the alternative history of Manziel as a Longhorn

                                TLSN     TLSN     TLSN     TLSN     TLSN

Another young Longhorn who was paying attention to his elders was guard Syd Keasler who recollected recently that the scuttlebutt before the game had it that some A&M players who had helped beat Texas the previous year had boasted that their class would never lose a game to UT. 

Keasler looked back to the tradition of the captains speaking up after practice the day before a game.  Bradley, he said, always went last.  “Bill was so competitive and had such a burning desire to win, that his emotions would overcome him and he couldn’t finish his speech to the team.” 

Darrell Cline

Grew up on Turkey day and the Aggie game. Our families would gather and eat and then us cousins would head to Irving High school practice field to have our annual game. No body wanted to be in the Aggie side. Lol.

Jenna McEachern added a few comments to Professor Carlson’s post about the Aggie Supper

From Bobby Lackey QB, 1957-59

“My sophomore year at Texas, Sunday night before the game on Thanksgiving, we all went to this Boy Scout house out in the country. It was the most tear-jerking thing I have ever seen in my life, when the senior football players talked about the game with the Aggies. That was such an emotional evening, if you couldn’t get ready to play football then, I don’t believe anything else could get you ready to play.”

We went over to College Station and played A&M on Thanksgiving Day, 1957. It was Darrell Royal’s first year, and Bear Bryant was A&M’s coach. They had been unbeaten util they lost to Rice the week before we played them…we beat them 9-7.

Blake Gideon, 2011

I think down the road I’ll appreciate it in a different sense. But you know, especially after the Aggie supper we had last night with all the former lettermen coming back and really telling us what they thought of this rivalry and what they thought of this place and sacrifice at this place, a few guys telling us what they thought of the Aggies specifically, then I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of what this rivalry is about. don’t want to let those guys down. There’s a lot of tradition that goes into this rivalry and this series, and we want to make sure that we end it the right way.

“As far back as any living player can remember, there’s been an Aggie Supper. It wasn’t always called that, and the origins are a little fuzzy, but the premise has been the same for more than 80 years. On one evening during the week leading up to the Texas A&M game, the team sequesters itself to talk about what it means and what it takes to beat the Aggies.

The tradition can be traced back to when Bully Gilstrap played for Texas in the early 1920s. When he came back to Texas as a coach, he was instrumental in keeping the tradition alive, telling one group of players, “It’s a tradition. You seniors need to go away by yourselves and figure out just how you’re gonna beat the Aggies.”

In the early days, players would go out to a Boy Scout hut in the country and the seniors would share with the underclassmen the tradition of whipping A&M. The supper has evolved over the years, and now the team gathers in the swanky Centennial Room and eats a catered meal. A few players are invited each year to share their memories of beating the Aggies.

In spite of the changes, it’s still the Aggie Supper, a players-only affair that connects the players to one another and to the history of the third-longest rivalry in all of college football.”

End of Jenna’s aggie Supper Memories

Professor Larry Carlson’s article continues here:

Super Bill, now a starting DB, and his teammates were beyond ready and eager when gametime approached.  It was the last home game for the seniors who at last were on the cusp of a Cotton Bowl. When Texas won the coin toss, Captain Bradley was asked by a referee which option the Horns wanted.  

“We don’t give a sh&t,” was his response. 

If the Aggies weren’t intimidated then, it wouldn’t take long for things to play out.   By the time the Aggie Band could lose another halftime, Texas was leading, 35-0 in the nationally televised post-lunch snack.  The UT starters were relegated to spectator status in the second half, as the Ags managed two garbage scores in the 35-14 mismatch.

Bradley had picked off four passes to set a UT record that might stand forever.  As a super safety in Philadelphia, the erstwhile Texas QB would become the NFL’s first player to lead the league in INTs  in back-to-back seasons and was an All-Pro choice three times.   

Younger Texas players, the Worster Bunch signing class of ’67, had earned their first win over the Aggies.

Good times had just begun.  Though these Longhorns would have much bigger fish to fry than cadets from College Station — think Arkansas, Notre Dame, UCLA, et al — Thanksgiving dinners would continue to be tasty treats.   In the next two seasons, the Aggies took woodshed whippings of 49-12 and 52-14 on the day of Thanks.  They never scored in the first half of the ’68, ’69 and ’70 games.

Talk to those Longhorn players today and you might not get many vivid memories from the one-sided contests with “ol’ Army.”

The blowouts can all run together.  But Hall of Honor inductee Mike Dean, the undersized 200-pound guard who gained fame for neutralizing Mike McCoy, Notre Dame’s 280-pound All-America DT in the ’70 Cotton Bowl, shared one recollection from the Thanksgiving files with TLSN.

“The only thing I remember,” Dr. Dean, a longtime Marble Falls orthodontist, said, “was the defensive lineman across from me kept calling my mother a wh%re.  Never had that happen, ever.”

Talk about a sore loser.  Stay classy, Aggies.

Links to Professor Carlson’s articles about the Aggies.

1974 AGGIE GAME BY LARRY CARLSON (squarespace.com)

1998 TEXAS VS. A & M GAME BY LARRY CARLSON (squarespace.com)

2012 GOOD BYE TO THE AGGIES (squarespace.com)

  Larry Carlson re-visits the 1968, 1969, and 1970 games.

                         THE  1968  GAME November 28, Austin:  # 6 TEXAS  35    TEXAS A&M  14

TURKEY:  Ag QB Edd Hargett, All-SWC a year earlier, had suffered along with his teammates in a 3-6 season as they ventured into Memorial Stadium.  On the bright side, he had remarkably thrown 171 consecutive passes without an interception.  The Longhorns abruptly ended the streak and would steal five Hargett throws.  

DRESSING:  Worster and Gilbert scored on short runs and Cotton Speyrer raced 23 yards on an 

end-around to give UT a 21-0 lead in the first period.  James Street got a second quarter TD on an option keeper and hit Speyrer with a touchdown pass to close out the Horns’ scoring before halftime.

GRAVY:  Scott Palmer recalls a great story from years later when he was a St. Louis Cardinal teammate of forme Aggie star Rolf Krueger….Palmer told TLSN that Krueger shared a nugget from the ’68 A&M locker room at halftime.  The story goes that Ag Coach Gene Stallings told his troops, down 35-Zip, “We are going to win this game.”

Aggie LB Bill Hobbs — soon to become a friend and Philadelphia Eagles teammate of Bradley — was unconvinced and piped up, “Hell, Coach, they are beating our ASS.”

JUST DESSERTS:  Bill Bradley, intercepted four times by A&M one year earlier, served up cold revenge with four picks of Hargett this time around.  Ronnie Ehrig, the senior DB from Gonzales, swiped one, too.

Burned by an 80-yd Hargett bomb that was the game winner in ’67, Ehrig was vindicated.

“I’ve been thinking about that since last year,” he told reporters.  “I’ve even got a picture of that play 

in my room.”  

ON TOP 40 RADIO: 

Hey, Jude by the Beatles

                                  Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf

                                  Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell

NEXT COURSE FOR TEXAS:  In their first Cotton Bowl Classic in five years, the Longhorns cruised to a 

28-0 halftime lead and stomped Tennessee, the UT sporting prison orange, 36-13.  The eighth-ranked Vols were totally outclassed on the 33-degree Dallas day.  Gilbert, Worster and Koy all scored and Street connected with Speyrer on bombs of 78 and 79 yards for long touchdowns.

The Longhorns had started the year 0-1-1 but now had nine straight victories and finished third in the nation.

THE 1969 GAME Nov. 27, College Station         

# 1   TEXAS  49    TEXAS A&M  12

 TURKEY:  Ohio State, top-ranked all season, had lost to Michigan, 24-12, while Texas had a mid-November open date.  It was “Goodbye, Columbus” for the Buckeyes, as UT vaulted into the number one spot for its rivalry game with the Aggies. 

DRESSING:  On a cool, drizzly day at Kyle Field, the Steers stampeded to six touchdowns on eight first half possessions for a 39-0 halftime lead.  Sophomore stalwart Jim Bertelsen gashed the Ags first on a 63-yard ramble.  Worster banged in for two TDs, Street ran one in and Bertelsen got another to account for the first five touchdowns. 

GRAVY:  Street attempted a season low five passes, connecting on two of them.  But on an end-around, Cotton Speyrer found TE Randy Peschel for a 37-yard trick play touchdown to close out the first half. 

JUST DESSERTS:  The Horns outgained the Ags on the ground 330-88 but the defense was just as showy.  All-America LB Glen Halsell was in on a dozen tackles and Texas hauled off four interceptions, two by 

Rick Nabors.  Now the Horns would have nine days before the regular season finale. 

ON TOP 40 RADIO: 

Na Na, Hey Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye by Steam

     And When I Die by Blood, Sweat & Tears

Eli’s Coming by Three Dog Night

NEXT COURSE FOR TEXAS:  The Horns usually finished the regular season by drubbing A&M, then got busy taking exams and preparing for a big bowl game.  Not in ’69, college football’s centennial year.

December 6 was circled for a date with Arkansas, set up by the crystal ball gurus at ABC-TV.

Number one Texas beat number two Arkansas, 15-14, in The Big Shootout, clinching UT’s second national championship.  But a 21-17 defeat of Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl sealed the champs’ perfect season on an even better note, winning one for safety Fred Steinmark, who had a leg amputated just days after the Arkansas game.  Freddie, on crutches, cheered the Horns on from the Cotton Bowl sidelines and was presented the game ball in a celebratory locker room with no dry eyes.

                        THE 1970  GAME November 26, Austin         

        #1 TEXAS 52   TEXAS  A&M  14

 TURKEY:  The Aggies’ senior players had — as freshmen in ’67 — gazed longingly from the bleachers as A&M earned an unlikely SWC championship with a 6-4 mark, going 6-1 in conference play and beating UT for the first time in eleven years.  But this crew managed only two conference wins in each of their first two varsity seasons.  Then in ’70, walking tall in their senior boots, they achieved Aggie perfection: winless in 

Southwest Conference play at 0-7.  The Fightin’ Farmers finished the season with nine consecutive losses.

DRESSING:  Texas steamrolled its way to a 28-0 halftime lead, and backups took over in the second half as the scoreboard blew up to 52-zip early in the fourth.  Second-team QB Donnie Wigginton ran for two touchdowns, and backup RB Paul Robichau also scored.  Steve Fleming, another second-team whiz who would likely have starred at six other SWC schools, led all rushers with 84 yards on eight carries. 

GRAVY:  On a warm but very windy day at Memorial Stadium, Texas rang up 603 yards in total O.

QB Eddie Phillips connected on just five passes, all to DB-turned-receiver Danny Lester, for 148 yards

and a pair of touchdowns.  Linebacker David Richardson charted ten total tackles.

JUST DESSERTS:  For the third straight year, the Longhorns demolished the Aggies in a game that was decided well before halftime.  On the menu for unbeaten Texas was some creamy smooth, burnt orange pumpkin pie.  For the lowly Ags, the pie flavor was humble, served up even colder in the conference cellar.

Pooooor Aggies.

 ON TOP 40 RADIO: 

The Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

                                  I’ll Be There by the Jackson Five

                                  All Right Now by Free

NEXT COURSE FOR TEXAS:  For the second straight year, Texas had nine days to get set for a huge season finale — some dubbed it Big Shootout II — against Arkansas.  On Dec. 5, the Longhorns played what this writer still considers their best, most complete game ever.  For both Texas and Arkansas, most of the key players who had made history in a de facto national championship game in Fayetteville, were back in business for the duel in Austin.  On a balmy, 74-degree day, Texas built a 14-0 lead by early in the second period.  Arkansas answered to cut the gap to 14-7, then drove to the UT one-yardline before the burnt orange defense bowed up with a textbook goalline stand.  The Horns drove 99 yards on the fourth-ranked Razorbacks and never looked back en route to a 42-7 mauling of an excellent team.

Jim Bertelsen piled up 189 yards rushing and scored three times.  Steve Worster, who some teammates believe should not have even played because of rib and hip injuries, put an exclamation mark on his final home game with 126 hard-earned yards and two more TDs.  The victory earned Texas the UPI (Coaches’ poll) national title.

Billy Schott’s oral history, some photos, and text are at https://www.texaslsn.org/billy-schott-oralhistory

It would be very easy to recall so many of the distinct memories I have associated with the intense rivalry involving the school in College Station for my 70 years on this planet, but I doubt they would have the same impact on the young folks that occupy this board as maybe a few of my contemporaries. Many of you have been kind enough to request my recollections of my last trip down “The Tunnel” at the Texas-OU game, and I appreciate the remembrances during that particular time of the season. Some folks have asked me to put my thoughts down about the apparent end of the game we have always anticipated as part of the Thanksgiving season, so these things come to mind…

The Last Supper – The Aggie Supper 

Although recently publicized because of this week’s final scheduled game against the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, one event held annually since the 1950s will fade away. Referred to as “The Aggie Supper”, this sacred, semi-secret gathering of each Longhorn football team, along with invited former players, has been held on Sunday evening preceding each UT-A&M game. No coaches were present, and it was always organized by the head trainers, beginning with Frank Medina, followed by Spanky Stephens, Tom McVan, and Kenny Boyd. This year (2011), for the first time in memory, invitations went out to every Longhorn Letterman to attend and visit with all current players, and to convey the extreme importance of this year’s mission. I vividly recall past Aggie Suppers in my playing days, listening to messages from the likes of Frank Denius, Wally Scott, Harley Sewell, James Street, Rooster Andrews, and a most memorable address from the legendary Bobby Layne. The intensity was evident, the language salty, and the hackles were raised by the end of each gathering.

On a chilly Sunday night before Thanksgiving, approximately 100 former players from the past six decades gathered along with the 2011 Longhorns at The University Club in the final installment of this long-standing tradition. We took the opportunity to meet and visit with numerous members of this year’s squad individually and in small groups, and have some “private moments” to express our disdain for…well, the common denominator seemed to be, “..those sorry bastards, etc. in College Station.” I think some of the freshmen were somewhat taken aback by the hatred and vitriol expressed by men old enough to be their grandfathers, but the points were driven home.

After the initial meet-and-greet, we were seated and then treated to remarks from my UT teammate and classmate, Doug English. “Big Slim” kept it fairly clean for as long as humanly possible and then had some choice remarks for the young guys to chew on. One thing Doug said evoked memories of 1972, when he and several other sophomores were thrust into their first career starts (we weren’t eligible as freshmen back then) against OU. Our defensive line coach, R.M. “Pat” Patterson, sidled up to Doug during pregame warmups, looked around the Cotton Bowl, and said, “This ain’t no place for a timid man…” and walked off. Doug said that those words always rang true throughout his career at UT and with the Detroit Lions, and that Kyle Field would not be a place for the timid come Thursday night.

After Doug’s talk, it got plum Western…Kenny Boyd introduced Aaron Humphrey, a favorite at previous Aggie Suppers for expressing his professed, sincere, and intense dislike for all things aggy in his own special manner. “Hump” pulled no punches and may have invented new word combinations that mainly rhymed with “truckers”. The young Horns definitely received the message with wide eyes and a few dropped jaws. Some of the guys’ mommas may not have approved of the views expressed to their little boys in a manner worse than the raunchiest rap song, but I think they got it.

After Hump finished his eloquent address to the troops, he dropped the wireless mike from shoulder level to the floor in the finest WWE style and sauntered back to his seat to thunderous applause. Message delivered.

Following the barbecue, there was more visiting with current and former players, and then it was time to let the young guys go get some rest. It was definitely an honor to be part of this gathering, and many grateful Lifetime Longhorns will long remember it.

Prior to this event, I had not planned to attend the game in person. On the drive home, I reflected on the discussion I was privileged to have after dinner with a group of current players at the table next to mine, including Case McCoy and Jordan Hicks. I told them that this game had been a part of my life, basically, since birth. I had attended every game since I was 3 years old, served as a ballboy for many years from elementary through high school, played in 3 games, and never lost to the Ags. I told them that the one thing that has meant the most to me about this year’s team is that they never quit playing hard in every game. My job during the home games has me on the sidelines next to the team area, and observing the palpable, 180-degree difference between this bunch and last year’s team has been a joy to behold (even though it hasn’t been perfect enough for many observers with a much keener eye than mine). The guys I spoke with seemed to appreciate the simple nod to their perseverance and tenacity; they had already heard and felt the thunder from the guest speakers. It was then that I knew I had to attend this game. After complimenting these kids on never giving up and playing hard on every snap, I couldn’t quit on them. After a few calls, I obtained the tickets and called my bride to tell her we were going to have our first Longhorn-Aggie game date together on Thursday night. She had watched me play in this game and many others, but she never thought we’d attend it as husband and wife, which made it even more special.

Thursday night, the emotions I have built up over so many years as a young boy watching my Longhorn heroes in this game like Walter Fondren, James Saxton, Bobby Gurwitz, Mike Cotten, Tommy Ford, Bill Bradley, and so many others, combined with my teammates, and the legacies and legends that followed, all came to the surface as I watched Justin Tucker line up for one of the most meaningful plays in Longhorn history.

Justin Tucker celebrates beating the Aggies as time expires.