Charean Williams highlights the history packed into 125 years of Aggie Football.
Lane Stephenson estimates he has attended almost 400 Aggie games since arriving at Texas A&M as an assistant director of public information in the fall of 1966. Stephenson, 84, has not seen it all, but he has seen a lot.
Stephenson has seen nine Aggie head coaches pace the sideline. He has seen Johnny Manziel win the Heisman Trophy. He has seen Kyle Field go from a seating capacity of 41,500 to its current capacity of 102,733. He has seen upset wins and heartbreaking losses.
Johnny Manziel became the first-ever freshman to win the Heisman Trophy in 2012.
"I can't come up with a home game I've missed since 1966, but I would stop short in saying I've attended all of them," Stephenson said. "I've gone to a number of road games over the years, too."
Stephenson retired from the university's division of marketing and communications in 2017 after 50 years of employment at A&M, but as the school's unofficial historian, he still has a spot in the Kyle Field press box. That's where he will sit for his 54th football season as the Aggies celebrate their 125th season of football.
Yet, Stephenson hasn't seen even half of the Aggies' 1,258 games. Or even half of the thousands of letterwinners to have played at A&M.
A lot of history is packed into 125 years.
"It amazes me that I made it to 72 [years old], but 125? It's just hard to conceive of that kind of a number," said Edd Hargett, an Aggies' quarterback from 1966-68 whose 5,379 career passing yards ranks eighth in school history. "When you're a kid, you think you're going to live forever and be there forever, and it's over in two, three, four years, whatever case it might be. It's still very exciting to have played a very small part in it."
Things have changed since A&M's first year of football in 1894.
"We have come a long way, and I do think our best days are ahead of us," said R.C. Slocum, the winningest coach in school history with 123 victories. "I think we're consistent now with the conference, the facilities, the support, the coaching, everything. We've got all our ducks in a row."
All the Aggie players from 1939 have died, but their legacy lives on as the school's only Associated Press national championship team in football.
The 1939 National Championship Team
The Aggies, though, have had enough elite coaches, elite players, memorable victories, conference titles, bowl wins and national award winners to have a spot among college football's renowned programs.
A&M is 732-478-48 in its history, with 18 conference titles and 41 bowl games. Six coaches, including Dana X. Bible, Paul Bear Bryant, Gene Stallings and Slocum, are in the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame. John David Crow and Johnny Manziel brought Heisman Trophies to Aggieland, and Manziel (Manning, Davey O'Brien), Braden Mann (Ray Guy), Luke Joeckel (Outland), Dat Nguyen (Lombardi), Von Miller (Butkus), Randy Bullock (Lou Groza) and Trevor Knight (Wuerffel) have delivered national awards.
The Aggies have produced 53 first-team All-Americans, nine Academic All-Americans and a No. 1 overall NFL draft choice in Myles Garrett.
Myles Garrett became A&M's first No. 1 overall pick when the Browns selected him in the 2017 NFL Draft.
"Our lot in history has been cast," said Wendell Housley, whose 20-yard touchdown run iced a 20-16 victory over Alabama in the 1968 Cotton Bowl. "We've proven we belong. We've had a bunch of talent come through there over the years. And it's not over. In due time. . . ."
A&M has made headlines over the years from the 1998 upset of No. 2 Nebraska to the Bonfire Game to the Red, White and Blue Game to the Big 12 Championship Game win over No. 1 Kansas State to the 2002 upset of No. 1 Oklahoma to Johnny Football to the NCAA-record, seven-overtime victory over LSU last season. The Aggies have sent shockwaves through college football by hiring Jackie Sherrill, hiring Jimbo Fisher, moving to the Southeastern Conference and redeveloping Kyle Field.
The move to the SEC in 2012 was a game-changer.
"I think going to the SEC was a bold move and a great move for us," Slocum said. "I think it pointed out what our ambitions are and that is to be as good as anybody. We were not afraid to step into the most competitive conference in the country. We said, 'Hey, that's where we want to be.' I think it's really something to celebrate."
The Aggies left the Big 12 Conference, Manziel won the Heisman Trophy, and in 2013, the A&M Board of Regents approved a $485 million plan to redevelop Kyle Field. One of the largest college football stadium redevelopments in history was completed for the 2015 season, giving Kyle Field a seating capacity of 102,577.
"Changing the stadium without a doubt changed the complexion of A&M," said Jackie Sherrill, who went 52-28-1 in his seven seasons as the Aggies' head coach. "There's no question it's a showplace, and anybody that visits the stadium at this time, with the number of people, they leave with a big, big impression. No other school has the support that A&M gets from its students and former students."
It is different than it used to be.
During the 1968 season, Sports Illustrated wrote a story about A&M. School president Earl Rudder posed for a photo at Tom's barbeque, and Stallings was pictured in his office with a large sign hung on the paneled wall behind him reading: Make Something Happen. A popular Aggie joke at the time among fans of other schools derided Kyle Field as a place "that can't grow grass or get the scoreboard to work."
Housley describes Kyle Field as a "cow pasture" during his three seasons from 1966-68.
Still, the Aggies had plenty of good times before Kyle Field became the showplace it is, before the Bright Football Complex was built and before the move to the SEC. Everyone agrees, though, that with all of that and more, the next 125 years promises to be even better.
While celebrating the past, Aggies are looking forward to the future even more.
