Softly Call The Muster

I almost didn't go to the Aggie Muster this year -- I just couldn't work up any enthusiasm for it -- don't really know why, although now I believe that I didn't think the speaker, Jackie Sherrill, was going to have anything to say that I needed to hear.  Up until the day of the event, I was determined to not attend.

But, I did go, and I'm very glad for it.

Muster is, of course, one of the most revered traditions of Texas A & M.   The most significant part of it, to me, is the Roll Call for the Absent.  The "absent" being current or former students who have died, usually within the past year.  It is quite moving when the lights dim and the names and graduation years are called out.  After each name is called, someone -- a friend or relative -- answers "Here!" and moves forward to light a candle in remembrance of that person.  Silver Taps is then played followed by a reading of The Last Corps Trip.  The link is to a post on a blog which tells about the bonfire collapse in 1999.  Included in the post are descriptions of heroic action by one Aggie who died and another who survived.  Also included is a wonderful letter written by the then UT Student Body Vice President and finally the poem.

But, before we got to the real reason we were all at Muster, we were treated to a very entertaining talk by Jackie Sherrill, head coach of the Aggies from 1982 to 1988.  Clearly a man who likes to do things his own way, he even asked a co-contributor to his book, No Experience Required, to thread his way through the packed hall and tell one of his own stories.  According to Coach Sherrill, it "wasn't the story he thought it was going to be."

Although not a man to string pretty words together in beautiful sentences, Jackie Sherrill, brought smiles to all in attendance as he shared how, as he worked on the bonfire and saw the great camaraderie of the students, he came up with the concept of the 12th Man.  He also spoke of wanting the Aggie band to practice on their own field because their precision was making holes in his turf.  He walked over to tell the director that, but after watching for some little while turned and started walking away.  When his associate asked him if he wasn't going to tell the director to move, he replied that "when we're as good as they are, I'll tell him."

But, during his talk he referred several times to the real reason we were all there and ended his talk with something wonderful.  He spoke, in turn, as if he were Earl Rudder (1910-1970) and Jack Pardee (1936-2013) as well as about four other Aggies, ending each vignette with, "but, I am here, at American Legion Post 226, in East Bernard, for Roll Call.  It was very moving; he was visibly emotional and had to pause several times to compose himself before continuing. 

It brought to mind the words of Randy Matson, the keynote speaker at the campus Muster in 2000, who said, "we're here (tonight) to pledge that none of you will be forgotten as long as there are two Aggies left in the world."

I'm so glad I was at American Legion Post 226 in East Bernard to observe Roll Call last night.