Squads left. Squads right.
I graduated in 1999. I went to Bonfire in 1998. Over 70,000 people were there and it was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, to this day. Videos are a poor substitute.
Click to viewI remember living on campus and my door getting pummeled on by the RAs in October of 1999, blaring music at level 11 at 4:30 in the morning and yelling "cut!" at the top of their lungs - because every good Aggie helped with Bonfire.
I remember getting a panicked phone call from family at 5am, ten years ago today. I remember walking outside my dorm on University Drive across from the Dixie Chicken - the busiest part of town - and hearing absolute silence... and sirens. I remember walking to it and just standing there not knowing what to do, watching everyone working together to unravel a one million pound Jenga puzzle and save as many of their friends as they could... walking a discreet distance before falling apart in each other's arms. It took as many as 30 men to remove one log. I never felt as tiny and helpless in my life as I did in that moment and a new perspective washed over me that day that's never left.
Within hours, every Aggie had heard about Tim Kerlee, who refused medical help because he could see other people trapped in the wreckage below him and died 42 hours later, the twelfth man, at a school replete with history about always standing ready to be that twelfth man and fill in for your team.
I remember that no one went to class for almost a week and in most cases they were completely cancelled until after holiday break because everyone was too devastated.
I remember The Candlelight Vigil held at Bonfire the night before the game. Over one hundred thousand people arrived in small groups, you could tell the people who'd been there all week immediately, no one speaking or even whispering, lighting a candle and walking onto the field. That candle didn't go out until you walked back off the field either. I remember people just standing there crying until they could make out a song wafting quietly through the crowd and joining in. There were no speeches or platitudes, because what could you say. I remember the same people drifting away silently until the field was once again empty.
I remember the Texas band playing Amazing Grace and Taps and raising the A&M flag at halftime.
I sat next to Matt Bumgardner in Spanish I and II my junior year. Among many other remarkable plays that year, he caught a Hail Mary in the end zone in the final moments of the game to turn the tide and pull out a win against Texas. And yes, he actually went to every Spanish class.
I had wanted to sign up that year for Build, but I was talked out of it because I had a full class load and other commitments that I would have had to drop. I still wonder what would have happened if I had. Even after what happened, I still say that not doing it anyway is the biggest regret of my life. Everyone should have a chance to experience it, because until they do, they won't understand it. Aggies didn't build Bonfire. Bonfire built us.