Former Laredoan John A. Adams Jr., a writer of history now residing in College Station, prepares for the release of two books. — Sul Ross at Texas A&M, the story of the fabled Texas Ranger Lawrence Sullivan Ross for whom Sul Ross State University was named; and the other, Standing Ready: The Golden Age of Texas Aggie Football and the Beginning of the 12th Man Tradition.
The release date for Sul Ross at Texas A&M is November 21, and December 15 for Standing Ready.
Ross, a general in the Confederate army and the 19th governor of Texas, is also remembered in history as being part of the capture of Cynthia Ann Parker — who was taken from her family by the Comanches at the age of nine.
For former and current students of Texas A&M University, Ross is remembered as “Sully”— an affectionate nickname referring to the oldest campus statue, which is the repository of wished-upon pennies left for good luck prior to taking final exams.
In Sul Ross at Texas A&M, Adams, a chronicler of Texas A&M University history, presents an in-depth examination of Ross’ life as a college president
Adams writes that by the late 1880s, the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas was on the brink of collapse. Student discontent, administrative mismanagement, and faculty factionalism threatened the continued existence of the fledgling school. The college’s board of directors were desperate and offered the presidency to Ross.
Adams details the steps Ross took to bring order out of chaos, expanding and modernizing the college and leading the school’s finances out of the red. Many Aggie traditions first took shape during Ross’s tenure: the class ring, the band, and even the school’s first intercollegiate football game against the University of Texas. Ross’s years at the helm were transformative.
Fans of A&M and Texas history will be enthralled by this captivating account of Sul Ross’s time as president of A&M.
In Standing Ready: The Golden Age of Texas Aggie Football and the Beginning of the 12th Man Tradition, Adams presents the definitive account of the genesis of the tradition.
The 1922 Dixie Classic, a post-season football matchup between the Aggies of the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College and the Praying Colonels of Kentucky’s Centre College, was remarkable in several respects. For the Aggie faithful, it is well known as the game where the revered 12th Man tradition originated, as E. King Gill was summoned from the stands to don the uniform of an injured team member and to serve as the Aggies’ sole substitute player, ensuring that the game could continue.
What may be less well remembered, however, is that the game also featured a contest between two championship coaches with strong ties to Texas A&M: D. X. Bible, who mentored the Aggies from 1916 to 1928, and whose 1917 and 1919 teams were not only undefeated but did not surrender a single point to opponents—a feat unduplicated to this day in college football — and Centre College’s “Uncle Charlie” Moran, who coached at A&M from 1909 to 1914, compiling a 38–8–4 record.
At Centre, Moran had built a team of national reputation, cemented by the Colonels’ 6–0 upset of powerhouse Harvard in 1921 en route to the squad’s second consecutive undefeated season.
Historian Adams has mined the archives at both Texas A&M and Centre College and has also obtained interviews with key participants, including athletes, coaches, and game promoters. He presents vivid detail of the run up to and progress of the historic game — the Texas recruiting connection that enabled Moran to obtain dominant athletes for his Centre College program, the pre-game conversation between Bible and E. King Gill that helped place Gill in uniform on the sidelines, the wedding celebration involving the Centre College team at the historic Adolphus Hotel in Dallas the night before the game, the diagram of the play the Aggies used to score the game-winning touchdown, and much more.
Sports fans and historians, especially those interested in the early days of American football, will savor the rich, previously unknown anecdotes surrounding this storied contest between two iconic coaches and their resolute squads.
Both volumes by Adams can be ordered from Texas A&M Press at 1-800-826-8911 or at www.tamupress.com.
(John A. Adams Jr. [Class of ’73] is the author and co-author of numerous books, including Keepers of the Spirit: The Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University, 1876–2001, Texas Aggies Go to War, Murder and Intrigue on the Mexican Border, The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, Over There in the Air: The Fightin’ Texas Aggies in World War I, 1917-1918, Mexican Banking and Investment in Transition, and Conflict and Commerce on the Rio Grande: Laredo, 1775–1955.)
