Former Texas A&M outside linebacker Aaron Wallace knows it’s coming. After all, it has come up in practically every conversation he’s had with Aggies since that memorable moment in Kyle Field.

No matter where a conversation starts or where it seems headed, A&M fans usually bring Wallace back to Oct. 14, 1989. That’s the day the Houston Cougars, led by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware, came to College Station with a No. 8 national ranking and the country’s top offense.

The Cougars entered that game averaging 60 points per contest. They left Aggieland bruised, bloodied and beaten.

The unranked Aggies intercepted three Ware passes and sacked him six times in a 17-13 win. And the image that summed up the entire day appeared in newspapers the next day and in Sports Illustrated later that week.

It was of Wallace, following a sack, holding Ware’s helmet up like a trophy, and it sent the crowd of 66,423 inside Kyle Field into a frenzy.

In the big picture, it represented just one of Wallace’s record-setting 42 sacks in his A&M career, but it was also the image Aggies have held onto ever since.

"Aggies don’t forget," Wallace said of the triumphant moment. "That was obviously a moment that made a lasting impression."

Aaron Wallace made the No. 23 jersey famous at A&M, as Keith Mitchell and Jason Glenn wore it as part of the linebacker tradition.

Wallace, 34, is now intent on giving Aggies another lasting impression of him. He realizes it won’t send a maroon-clad crowd into euphoria. But to him, holding up his Aggie diploma this summer will be every bit as meaningful as that defining day some 13 years ago.

"It is going to be very special," Wallace said of his August graduation day. "I have had a chance to do pretty much everything I’ve wanted to do in my life. God has really blessed me that way. When I was young, I wanted to play college football. When I was at A&M, my main focus was getting to the NFL.

"I was able to accomplish those things. But I never totally lost sight of the fact that I also always wanted to get my college degree. I got a little sidetracked there for a while, but I’m going to get it. And it is going to make me proud."

At first, Wallace acknowledges the idea of going back to school made him a little nervous. He didn’t know how he would feel sitting in a classroom with students who were mere toddlers when he first arrived at A&M in the mid-1980s.

He didn’t know how they would accept him. He didn’t know how comfortable he would be returning to the classroom setting and so forth.

But he did know he wanted that diploma. And he especially wanted his Aggie ring.

"After a couple of years (in the NFL), I first started thinking about coming back and finishing school," said Wallace, who will earn a degree in agricultural development. "But I was living in California, playing with the Raiders, and I just never took the initiative. In fact, I would think of every excuse not to come back.

"But then after I retired (in 1998), I started to get the itch to get back into football in some capacity. I wanted to either coach in high school or college. I started checking into it and they told me I have to have a degree. So, I started checking into it and talking about it.

"Some people were like, ‘Man, you don’t need to do that.’ But my sister, Mitzi, went to school here and went on to Pepperdine for law school. She thought I should come back, and my family in general was real supportive. So, I just made the decision to do it. I will be sitting in class sometimes and talking with a guy who is 18 or 19 and wonder, ‘What am I doing?’ It’s kind of uncomfortable, but I’ve got my mind set on what I want to do, and if that’s what it takes, I am going to do it."

Nobody who ever watched him play doubts that. As teammates, opponents and fans would attest, Wallace has always been virtually impossible to stop once he had his mind made up.

From 1986-89, Wallace compiled 42 sacks, shattering the career record of 37 established by Jacob Green from 1977-79. No one has come even remotely close to matching Wallace’s sack total since he departed.

Wallace also hold A&M’s career record for quarterback pressures and is tied with Green and Dat Nguyen for the most fumbles ever caused in a season (six).

While it probably wouldn’t be accurate to say Wallace was the father of the Wrecking Crew, he did raise it and nurtured it to a new level. He and fellow Blitz Brother John Roper combined for a phenomenal 78 sacks in the mid and late-1980s.

"Roper and I weren’t that tight or anything like that, but we really competed against each other," Wallace said. "After a game, we would always check to see who had more sacks. We pushed each other pretty hard. I guess it was The Sporting News that came out with the ‘Blitz Brother’ tag. It may seem a little cheesy now, but at the time it was fun.

"I have a lot of great memories of my playing days here at A&M. There were just a lot of fun times. And I think we really set the tone for great defensive play back in those days. It’s great to see the Wrecking Crew still going strong."

Wallace also established his own tradition of sorts during his A&M playing days. No. 23 may have seemed like an unusual number for an outside linebacker when Wallace first donned it, but since then, it has become a number synonymous with great rush linebackers at A&M.

Keith Mitchell earned All-America honors in the mid-1990s wearing No. 23, and Jason Glenn lived up to the number’s legacy by earning All-Big 12 honors in 2000, the same year he won the Aggie Heart Award.

"That’s a good feeling," Wallace said of the No. 23 reputation. "I really don’t know who wore No. 23 before me, but there have been some good ones since then. And what’s funny about that is that when I was at A&M, my uncle was always telling me about this kid in Garland.

"My uncle was telling me that this kid always told him that he wanted to be No. 23 and wanted to be the next Aaron Wallace. Well, I didn’t think much of it at the time, but my uncle brought me an Aggie hat for me to sign, and I guess he gave it to him. That kid turned out to be Keith Mitchell."

Wallace continued to win fans and turn heads at the next level. A second-round draft pick of the Raiders in 1990, Wallace wasted no time in making an immediate impact in the NFL. He recorded nine sacks his first season, making the NFL’s All-Rookie team.

He started for four seasons and helped to lead the Raiders to four straight playoff appearances. Later in his career, he played primarily in pass situations and on special teams before retiring in ’98.

It was at that time that Wallace began seriously thinking about returning to school. And not just because of his own interest in coaching. He had two other sources of motivation.

His son, Aaron Jr., is now 9, and his daughter, Alyse, is 5. He doesn’t have custody of either of his kids, and coming back to school has made it even more difficult for him to see them on a regular basis.

But Wallace wants to serve as an example to his kids, and he says that he can’t preach the importance of higher education if he doesn’t have a degree.

"Part of my coming back is definitely because I want my son and daughter to see that I got it," said Wallace, who still looks fit enough to suit up and play. "When I was younger, I did a lot of things I wasn’t proud of and if I have a chance to change things, correct thing or set an example for somebody else, then I think it will be to my benefit, as well as my kids.

"In some ways, I feel like coming back to A&M is part of my opportunity to get things right. It’s taken some sacrifices, but I know it’s the right thing to do for a lot of different reasons. When Coach (R.C.) Slocum recruited me way back when, all he could talk about was getting that Aggie ring. I ended up with three Cotton Bowl rings instead of an Aggie ring the first time around. And now I’m here to finish what I started."

Few Aggies have ever been able to finish things off like Aaron Wallace. Just ask Andre Ware or the many other quarterbacks Wallace finished off years ago.