Victory After Tragedy Attributed to ‘Spirit of 12’

The crowd of 86,128 was announced as the largest ever to witness a football game in the state of Texas but, sadly, Kyle Field was still 12 short of capacity.

Twelve who stood on a pile of timber Nov. 18, building a bonfire that would never burn, preparing for a football game they would never see played.

Twelve who believed in tradition and ritual and honor, who died believing that igniting a bonfire would somehow ignite comrades in their “burning desire” to defeat a rival.

You might call it coincidence that Texas A&M; got the lucky bounces Friday in a 20-16 victory over its archrival, the University of Texas.

But many in the crowd wondered, was it more than coincidence that 12 current or former Aggies were killed in that collapsing bonfire tower? The most significant number in Aggie lore, 12 signifies the “12th man,” a walk-on from the student body who runs downfield on kickoffs.

The tears shed on the field, and in the locker room afterward, suggested to many that another force was at work.

“I know,” said Brian Gamble, who recovered the game-clinching fumble, “that God and those 12 Aggies were looking down on us today.”

This was not an arbitrary outcome, according to defensive back Jason Webster.

“It was like we were predestined,” he said.

This was not a football game, offensive guard Chris Valletta said--it was a mission. With a marking pen, Valletta had scrawled the names of the 12 victims on the cutoff shirt he wore under his pads. At game’s end, Valletta’s sweat had smudged the names, but not their memories.

How often did he think of the 12?

“Before, during, right now,” he said. “We wanted to keep them close to us to remember. This is a football game. What happened at bonfire was reality, tragic, a disaster. I think we succeeded in honoring them. Only Aggies can really understand what the spirit is all about.”

The rest of the nation had to read it in the faces, see it in the stands, watch it on the field and sense it.

After the final gun had sounded, fans and players swayed to the cacophony of the “Aggie War Hymn.” Eyes were moist, hugs were exchanged, in the air was a strange mix of sorrow and exhilaration.

“This was an absolute perfect end to a whole process that began with the bonfire,” John Singleton, a Texas A&M; senior and member of the school’s Corps of Cadets, said at midfield. “What I’ve seen in the last two weeks made me proud of both schools.”

It is certain that in the 106th football meeting of Texas and Texas A&M;, a rivalry often charged with hatred was forever changed.

On Monday, Texas canceled its annual pep rally and held a memorial service in Austin to honor the fallen Aggies.

Thursday, the night the bonfire was supposed to have been torched, members of both university communities gathered, locked hands and formed a circle around the accident site. More than 80,000 candles were trucked in and lit.

Afterward, thousands of students and alumni made the half-mile walk to Kyle Stadium.

Before Friday’s game, the crowd observed a moment of silence and watched a “missing man” fly-by by the Air Force Reserve’s 457th Fighter Squadron.

At halftime, in a moving tribute, on rival soil, the Texas band honored the dead by playing “Amazing Grace” and “Taps.”

An old, bitter rivalry had been muted and tempered.

“To see the University of Texas band forgo playing their fight song and play ‘Amazing Grace” and ‘Taps,’ that was special,” Singleton said.

Halftime ended dramatically when the Texas A&M; band, the crowd stone silent, aligned in a T formation and marched off the field.

“It’s certainly not going to end the grieving,” Singleton said. “But it brought some sort of closure.”

Randy McCown, the senior Texas A&M; quarterback who threw the game-winning, 14-yard touchdown pass to Matt Bumgardner with 5 minutes, 2 seconds left, choked back tears in the postgame interview.

Tailback Ja’Mar Toombs, who rushed for 131 yards and scored two touchdowns, said he wasn’t running alone.

“All of our minds were on them,” he said. “Those 12 people gave their lives to help us win a game. We knew we had to show our gratitude. We knew we had to win the game.”

The game was over, but the grieving wasn’t.

Afterward, hundreds of fans made the solemn pilgrimage to the site of the accident. The scene was funereal. Aggie fans bedecked head to toe in maroon wept openly as they stood at the Polo fields where the bonfire had been constructed. Hundreds of logs remain in place, the area cordoned by an orange security gate strewn with mementos.

Pictures of the 12 who died--Miranda Adams, Christopher Breen, Michael Ebanks, Jeremy Frampton, Jamie Hand, Chris Heard, Timothy Kerlee, Lucas Kimmel, Bryan McClain, Chad Powell, Jerry Self, Nathan West--adorned a nearby monument to the school’s past presidents.

Several of the 27 injured in the log collapse attended the game. Two are still in the hospital.

The field was awash in wilted roses, rain-stained letters. Members of the Corps of Cadets left boots and helmets. There was a bottle of champagne, a “12th-Man” towel, and the sheet music to “God Be With You.”

The Corps of Cadets is the oldest and largest student organization at the university and the largest uniformed body of students outside the military academies.

Charles Bruncen, a 1976 Texas A&M; graduate, stood staring at the empty field where 12 Aggies died and couldn’t believe how the world could turn upside down in a week.

Until Friday, he was a certified Texas hater.

“I’ve been beaten up a number of times in Austin,”’ he said.

During Friday’s game, however, he found himself locking arms with Longhorns.

“They were even doing the ‘Aggie War Hymn’ with us,” he said. “We were hanging real tight. We respected each other.”

Bruncen was asked about the 12, how strange it was that 12 Aggies had died in the bonfire tragedy.

There is broad signage at Kyle Field that spells it all out: “Welcome to Aggieland. Home of the 12th Man.”

The legend of the 12th man was born in the 1922 Dixie Classic in Dallas. When the Texas A&M; squad was decimated by injuries, E. King Gill, a member of the basketball team, rushed down from the press box and donned the uniform of an injured player. Gill was never needed, but his willingness to help the Aggies spawned a legend.

Bruncen said he felt a presence at Kyle Field on Friday. Something different.

“I did,” he said.

The spirit of 12.

When he was in college, Bruncen used to help in the construction of the bonfire, sometimes serving as a night guard to protect the log pile from Texas fans who had been known to sneak over from Austin and set it ablaze.

Twelve. Bruncen couldn’t shake the number from his head.

“I was sitting on the couch the other day,” he said. “The 12th individual had just passed away and my wife goes, ‘The 12th man.’

“And it just hit me. I started crying right then.”

He wasn’t alone.

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AGGIES WIN

In an emotion-charged game, Texas A&M; overcame a 16-6 deficit to upset Texas, 20-16. D7