Anniversary of Texas A&M; Bonfire Collapse Marked

More than 25,000 people weathered driving rain Saturday to observe the one-year anniversary of the collapse of a log stack that killed 12 Texas A&M; students.

“It was a healthy night for our university,” student Ricky Wood said. “For some, it brought closure.”

Students and others huddled under umbrellas on the campus’ muddy polo fields for a candlelight memorial ceremony at 2:42 a.m., the exact place and time A&M;’s 59-foot-high log stack collapsed Nov. 18, 1999.

The log stack, weighing more than two jumbo jets, toppled while it was being assembled for the annual bonfire and pep rally on the eve of its football game against the University of Texas. In addition to those killed, 27 were injured.

Family members of each student who died in the accident sat together under umbrellas in rows of seats in a 150-foot-diameter circle. Behind each set of seats stood a 5- to 6-foot-tall wooden pillar bearing each victim’s name and the year they were to graduate.

“I think people got what they needed out of the ceremony. It was very poignant,” student Laura Coward said. “To me it was amazing to see so many people stand in the pouring rain to honor those who were killed.”

Saturday afternoon, College Station officials dedicated a plaque and 12 antique-style lampposts inscribed with the names of the victims at a city park near the university. The ceremony was moved indoors because of the rain.

“It was an opportunity for the community to share its grief,” Texas A&M; President Ray Bowen said.

Bowen announced in June that the traditional bonfire would continue, but not before 2002 and only with greater school supervision and a professionally engineered design.

In May, a university commission blamed the collapse on flawed construction techniques and the lack of adequate supervision of students assembling the stack.