12th Man Magazine

Editor
Homer Jacobs

Contributing Writers
Rusty Burson
Jim Molony

Contributing Photographers
Kevin Bartram
Glen Johnson

Inside the Aggies | Catching Heat | Slocum in the 1970s

By Homer Jacobs

When R.C. Slocum first came to Texas A&M in 1972, the village of College Station was a Dairy Queen town, pure and simple. As he recalls in the first installment of a three-part series (pages 26-29), the place to be seen 25 years ago was at the A&W drive-in.

Now the Aggie head coach routinely begins his morning at a bagel shop. Indeed, times have changed around here.

From the days of Kimbrough and Crow to the Barnes and Noble times of today, College Station and Texas A&M have undergone a radical change since Slocum first stepped on the campus with his jet-black hair and Greg Brady-white coaching belt.

The university, in an academic sense, has seen its reputation grow from that of a "cow college" to that of "world class university." Texas Monthly recently put the Aggies on its cover, and it wasn't for a Bum Steer Award, rather for the declaration as the best public university in the state.

U.S. News and World Report then ranked A&M as the 19th-best public university in the country, ahead of any Southwest school, including the University of Texas.

And with the George Bush Library set to open in November where pasture and hogs once roamed, well, let's just say ol' Sully would be proud.

As for the A&M football program, it has been a remarkable ride over the last 25 years, as well.

Prior to 1972, the Aggies had won just 31 games in the decade of the 1960s. From 1956 through 1974, A&M's record against Texas was 2-17.

When Slocum and Emory Bellard arrived for the 1972 season, A&M had deplorable facilities, no real recruiting base and was going through the growing pains of the transition from an all-male agricultural and engineering school to a coed, multi-dimensional university of the 1970s.

But Bellard's hiring and his approach to football began to take shape, and with it, the future of the A&M football program was molded.

Bellard was an assistant at the University of Texas before coming over to A&M, and his arrival was welcomed even if he had been a Darrell Royal protégé. Aggies, after all, were just grateful this coach with the reputation as a gentleman and a Wishbone genius had chosen their school to continue his career.

"A whole lot of what we were here in Emory's program was an offshoot of what they had done at Texas," Slocum said. "They had done it well at Texas, had won national championships and been extremely successful. The way we did things and approached things was very similar to Texas.

"There may have been a little bit of (resentment), but by and large, people were honored. I think everybody was just excited that he would leave Texas to come here."

What Bellard did to jump-start the Aggie football program was not rocket science. The A&M coaches just out-worked everyone else in recruiting, covering the state to land such players as Bubba Bean and Ed Simonini.

Over the next six seasons, the Aggies would win 10 games in 1975 and again '76. The dominance by the Longhorns disappeared, with the Aggies winning back -to-back games in '75-'76 against their rival for the first time since 1909-1910. Four years later, A&M would pull off the feat again, beating the Horns in 1979-80.

Since the 20-10 victory over UT in 1975 that skyrocketed the Aggies to No. 2 in the polls and a 10-0 record, A&M is 14-8 against Texas. A streak of 10 victories in 11 years highlights the 22-year span.

Many Texas A&M observers, especially the younger ones, claim the Jackie Sherrill era really put the Aggies on the football map. Cosmetically, yes. The Aggies' boom coincided with ESPN's surge as a broadcast player, and Sherrill's national image - good or bad - kept Aggie football in the limelight.

But it was Bellard who laid the foundation, or at least dug the sleeping giant out of its fossilized state.

As Slocum points out, it was during the Bellard era that the commitment from the A&M administration really improved, as plans for the third decks, an athletic dorm and training table were among the ideas that came to fruition.

While the growth of the athletic department and university has been amazing over the last 25 years, there has been a downside to such growth.

Something has to be said for the cozy confines of Kyle Field when every ticket was sold and it was an honor just to say you were able to snag a ticket in the two-deck stadium.

I remember the lovely second row against Baylor in 1978. You could almost reach out and touch Baylor's Walter Abercrombie as he raced past me on a kickoff return for a touchdown in a 24-6 Aggie loss. But I was there, baby. I was there.

And student interest seems down at games today, although Aggies lead the nation in student season ticket sales. Just a glimpse at the partially-filled third deck last fall in the Kansas State game can attest to some of the apathy.

While the 1970s was the decade of tear-away jerseys, Curtis Dickey on the option and bone-crushing defenses, A&M's football program surged under Sherrill.

The Aggies won 29 games from 1985-87, three SWC championships and set record crowds along the way. The sardined crowd of 78,573 for the Texas game in 1987 remains Kyle Field's largest audience.

The 1980s also saw a black quarterback lead the way in Kevin Murray, women marching in the Aggie Band and scholarship walk-ons covering kickoffs.

The decade also gave way to problems with the NCAA, forcing Sherrill out as head coach. The probation troubles would resurface in Slocum's era as head coach in the 1990s, but A&M has grown from its mistakes in that field, too.

ESPN "Sportscenter" anchor Bob Ley once sarcastically told the world the Aggies had a finger on the speed dial to the NCAA offices because of all the probation periods the Aggies have encountered.

Now the NCAA has its finger on the re-dial to A&M compliance director Tedi Ellison's office. As the compliance director of what the NCAA considers a model program right now, Ellison is now a member of the newly-formed compliance and ethics council.

The 1990s not only ushered in the Slocum regime, but the school and community began to bust at the seams. A&M is now the third-largest university in the country with an enrollment that has topped 43,000 students.

The Bryan-College Station area has ballooned to over 110,000 residents with businesses, hotels and restaurants popping up faster than it takes to travel down a clogged Texas Avenue.

The football program saw its most dominant run under Slocum when the Aggies won 60 games from 1990-95. During that span, a team that once couldn't put together a winning streak of two had run off a 29-game unbeaten streak in the Southwest Conference. No team had ever accomplished such a feat in the 81-year existence of the old SWC.

And so the Aggies stumbled through a 6-6 season in 1996, their worst season since 1983.

By the amount of banter back and forth among fans concerning last year's A&M football shortcomings, it's proof memories definitely are short.

But before panic sets in this season when the Aggies lose a game, just stop and look around - at the stadium that is swaying, at the men and women who are yelling, and at the level of football that is really being played.

And when the Aggies play Texas for the South Division championship and look toward another bowl trip, remember how far this program and this place has come.

Yes, the trains still roll through town on game day, but the difference is, nowadays, they don't stop. The track in Aggieland has become a fast one, indeed.

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