The 12th Man
This is a statue of E. King Gill. The 12th man. It is located outside Kyle Field in College Station
This is Kyle Field "Home of the 12th Man" Notice how the students stand.
The 12th Man....
The 12th man is tradition at Texas A&M University dating back to January 1922. The "Fightin' Texas Aggies" were plaing Centre College. The Aggies had only limited reserves and a number of players out with injuries. A&M coach Dana X. Bible began looking for a body or two to be on the sidelines just in case. Coach Bible remembered a former walk-on football player turned gymnast named E. King Gill, who was helping identify players for reporters in the press box. He asked Gill to suit up and be available to play if the need should arise. Gill dressed out and stood on the sidelines ready to go at a moment's notice if his team needed him. Gill did not play in that game, which the Aggies won, but he was the only player left on the sidelines at the whistle. In the mid 1980's Aggie's coach Jackie Sherrill created "The 12th Man Kickoff Team" to honor the memory of E. King Gill. He formed a kickoff team comprised solely of regular students who were walk-ons with the team, not the highly recruited players as was the norm. The job of this team was to be a part of the fabeled "Wrecking Crew." When the ball was kicked they would tear down the field with the sole intent of hitting anything that moved. They knew no fear as they played only on adrenaline. Currently the Aggies honor the tradition at home games with a single walk on player. He is chosen by his coaches and teamates and given the number 12 jersey. He suits up for the game and plays on kickoff. He represents the entire student body's willingness to be there for it's team. Also at Aggie games the entire student body section stands for the whole game; also evidence of it's ready at a moment's notice for the team. It is a great tradition. And even further evidence of the greatness that is college football and especially TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY!!!
GIG 'EM AGGS!!
"The 12th Man"
by Lil Munnerlyn
Texas Aggies down in Aggieland,
We've got Aggie Spirit to a man.
"Stand united!" That's the Aggie theme,
We're the 12th Man on the team.
When we're down, the goin's rough and tough,
We just grin and yell: " We've got the stuff
To fight together for the Aggie dream."
We're the 12th man on that FIGHTIN' AGGIE TEAM!
That song is sung by students at a number of events. Most notably when the football team loses. This is done to show the student unwaivering love of it's team.
You don't find too many bandwagon college football fans. They are die hard win or lose. And that is what makes it great.
posted by Neal @ 6:15 PM
5 Comments:
This is a very informative post. I am glad that Texas A&M has all of their peculiar traditions and things that sometimes make me chuckle. I support the idea that things should never change and I believe that A&M should keep all of their traditions forever - no matter how politically incorrect or intricate they are. There is nothing I hate more than when a school like UNT or UH or the like have students and alumni that care nothing for their alma mater, have no tradition and simply give a rat's ass about the school, the teams, the songs, the tradition etc. It's pathetic to me. So, in this regard I support Texas A&M in retaining their traditions and weird things - because college football is chock full of weird things, and my school has our fair share of weird occurences and weird things as well.
So, I do think that Kyle field is a good place to watch a football game, and I hope that Texas A&M keeps their old traditions forever.
However, I still hate Texas A&M and everything that the school is about - I just support their right to keep all of their traditions intact.
BTW, at Tech the students stand the entire time as well - except during timeouts, when we mix drinks under our seats...
The last statement about college football is dead on. Pro sports are an occasionally entertaining thing to watch, but college sports are life.
It's a good thing your comment about traditions the same as mine. Because if you had said there was something wrong with them I would have been forced to bring up the tortillas????
Haha, you right.
What a great site, how do you build such a cool site, its excellent.
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