| |
DANA
X. BIBLE
AND THE TWELFTH MANby
Archie P. McDonald | |
College
Station and Austin are not located in East Texas, but enough Aggies and Longhorns
live here to make a story about the life and contributions to Texas football by
Dana Xenophon Bible appropriate here.
Bible was born in Jefferson City,
Tennessee, in 1891. He attended Carson-Newman College in Tennessee and coached
football at Brandon Prep School in Shelbyville and then at Mississippi College
before moving to Texas A&M as an assistant coach. Bible became head coach at A&M
in 1917.
Bible is most remembered for an incident in 1922 when his Aggies
played the Praying Colonels of Center College in the Dixie Classic, the season
finale before the founding of the Cotton Bowl. The Aggies established a lead in
the game but lost three players to injuries doing so, reducing their roster to
only fifteen players.
Fearing additional injuries, Bible asked A&M student
E. King Gill, a reserve halfback who was working in the press box, to put on a
uniform and be ready to play if needed. Gill never got into the game, but the
Tradition of the Twelfth Man was born. For over eight decades, A&M students stand
throughout games, ready to go on the field if needed to defend the honor of their
school.
Bible left A&M in 1929 to coach the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers,
but in 1936 returned to Texas but not to Texas A&M. Instead he coached the Aggie’s
principal rivals, the University of Texas Longhorns. His teams won Southwest Conference
championships in 1944 and 1945.
Bible’s methods revolutionized the college
football game. He introduced modern methods of recruitment, including the use
of alumni, and tuition and other financial aid for athletes. He retired from coaching
in 1946 but continued as athletic director at the University of Texas for another
decade.
Bible died in 1980, but his contributions to collegiate athletics
lives on, especially in the Twelfth Man tradition at Texas A&M. Now we need to
learn the identity of the Lothario who established the practice of Aggie’s kissing
wives and girl friends each time their team scores a touchdown. |
© Archie P. McDonald
All
Things Historical
>
November
20, 2005 column
A syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
This column is provided as a public service by the East Texas Historical Association.
Archie P. McDonald is director of the Association and author of more than 20 books
on Texas.
See College
Station, Texas | | |
