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Gradual_Stroke 
Texas A&M Fan
Frick You, I'm from Texas.
Member since Oct 2012
1864 posts
 Online
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/6/12 at 11:27 pm to AggieJohn06)
:(
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Gradual_Stroke
Texas A&M Fan
Frick You, I'm from Texas.
Member since Oct 2012
1864 posts
Online
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/6/12 at 11:28 pm to AggieJohn06)
quote:
Timothy Doran Kerlee, Jr ‘03
His story is pretty amazing.
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AggieAD
Texas A&M Fan
Los Angeles
Member since Sep 2012
34 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/6/12 at 11:36 pm to Txsbigeasy1)
I was living on campus when it fell too. I was in A-Co in Dorm 11 and the Dead Pot pulled the outfit out of the dorm to do a head count to make sure none of us were working on the stack. We were scheduled to work a 6pm-6am stack shift but our Dead Pot, Butt Pot and Outhouse Crew members had exams that morning so we switched shifts with K-2. K-2 had a freshman killed in the fall and two days before I was working on the 2nd tier wiring in logs.
We all thought bonfire would return to the polo fields in 2003 when we were zips so one of the Outhouse Crew positions was passed down to me. 13 years later and it is still off campus.
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BosAg04
Texas A&M Fan
Boston
Member since Nov 2012
2 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/6/12 at 11:43 pm to AggieAD)
I have a recording of it that I will upload here in a few days. Will rebump this thread when I get it done.
I was in highschool still was my last year before I went to A&M. I had to drop my dad off at the park and ride if I wanted his truck to drive to school. I still remember he was about to get out when I heard the alert come across the radio. He missed 5-6 buses just listening to the report.
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aggressor
Texas A&M Fan
Austin, TX
Member since Sep 2011
1750 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/6/12 at 11:53 pm to CGSC Lobotomy)
quote:
quote:
where on campus was it held?
Duncan Field 1909-1992
Polo Field 1993-1999
Bonfire was actually on what is now Simpson Drill Field until the '50s. It was still at Duncan my first couple years in school and then it moved to the Polo Field.
It's truly impossible to describe just how special Bonfire was to someone who wasn't able to experience it. It wasn't really about the burning, it was about this incredible project that everyone contributed to to build culminating in the burning. The size and scope of the project was mind boggling. Every tree (about 10k) was cut down by an axe, dragged to trucks to load, unloaded at site, and then carefully placed on the stack. Corps guys, Frat guys, GDI's all contributed. Girls came out and worked on it or made hot cocoa for all the guys working on it. There was something truly special about being out at Stack at 1AM on a Wednesday night carrying a giant log with a mix of guys you knew and others you didn't but you were all Aggies.
The burning itself was hard to describe. 60 or 70k people slowly coming out in the cold to do a Yell Practice and see the coaches and team come out and speak. Then seeing the Redpots march in with the torches and lighting it all up. Suddenly a cold November night where you were wearing 3 layers to stay warm and you are slowly pealing them off as you start sweating from the heat of the fire even though it is a couple hundred feet away. You just felt this sense of pride of being an Aggie and a connection to all the other Ags for generations past who had done the same and were there as well.
Oh, and you also got shitfaced and if you couldn't get laid with your girl you had no game whatsoever. 
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WestCoastAg
Texas A&M Fan
Member since Oct 2012
5334 posts
Online
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 12:01 am to aggressor)
sounds incredible. i was only 6 when it fell so obviously i missed out on previous fires but i remember that my family had the bonfire game on video tape. and for as much as we dislike the longhorns, and vice versa, their memorial at half time will always be one of the most touching things that i have ever seen
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gnirwin11
Texas A&M Fan
ATX
Member since Dec 2011
242 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 12:58 am to AggieJohn06)
Here
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TrueTexan
Texas A&M Fan
Texas
Member since Oct 2012
192 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 2:10 am to gnirwin11)
I still can't believe it after all these years.... And I'm still mad we lost it.
But really how the heck could we have had no plans in place? Its beyond stupid to think there was also no professional supervision, to much drinking, and to much hazing.
Also the long history of kids getting hurt in serious ways and at least one person getting killed.
It should have been reformed and safe guards but in place years before 1999.
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agswin
Texas A&M Fan
The Republic of Texas
Member since Aug 2011
373 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 5:41 am to bdv1974)
I must be allergic to posts about Bonfire.
My eyes always begin to water when I am reminded of that day.
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aggiegreg93
Texas A&M Fan
Austin, Tx
Member since Jul 2012
388 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 5:51 am to agswin)
Very unfortunate!
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CGSC Lobotomy
Texas A&M Fan
Fort Bragg, NC
Member since Sep 2011
7605 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 6:03 am to agswin)
quote:
My eyes always begin to water when I am reminded of that day.
You'll get that way all over again in 11 days.
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TbirdSpur2010 
Missouri Fan
Texan Embassy @ Warrensburg, MO
Member since Dec 2010
14309 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 8:05 am to agswin)
quote:
My eyes always begin to water when I am reminded of that day.
First time I ever saw my Dad cry was Nov 18, 1999.
Even though I'm class of 2010, my dad was class of '83 and is originally from Bryan, so every Thanksgiving our tradition was to go back to Aggieland for a family reunion, the football game, and Bonfire. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting on my uncle's shoulders while the crowd sawed varsity's horns off after the Bonfire was lit. I can still smell that crisp autumn air, feel the heat from the blaze on my face, hear the War Hymn echo.......something like that never leaves you--I feel so privileged to have seen it with my own eyes.
The Bonfire football game was a whole different level of emotion. Everyone in that stadium--Longhorns included--was hurting that day, and to this day I maintain that that particular halftime show was the only one the Aggie Band ever lost. As much grief as Ags and Horns give each other, they were pure class that day. Don't think I've ever witnessed a more emotional scene than when A&M recovered a fumble to seal the win.
Shit, now my office is all dusty again 
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CGSC Lobotomy
Texas A&M Fan
Fort Bragg, NC
Member since Sep 2011
7605 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 8:57 am to TbirdSpur2010)
quote:
and to this day I maintain that that particular halftime show was the only one the Aggie Band ever lost
You shut your whore mouth. Nothing will ever top the "silent T" as my class marched off of Kyle Field for the last time (we didn't run).
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TbirdSpur2010
Missouri Fan
Texan Embassy @ Warrensburg, MO
Member since Dec 2010
14309 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 9:25 am to CGSC Lobotomy)
 
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SL Tiger 
LSU Fan
Houston
Member since May 2007
667 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 11:01 am to bdv1974)
Sad story. I will say this, until I took the time to read more about this incident, I never realized how different aTm is as a school. Not different in a bad way...just different. The process for building the bonfire was pretty cool and I could definately see myself being a part of that. Was there a limit on how high the stack could be? I could (and did) think of a number of ways that the base could be re-inforced but ultimately the height would be the most significant safety factor. I just can't imagine what 10k trees would look like in a stack. I wish I could have seen it.
I'm also wondering what would have happened to the tradition after aTm entered the SEC. Which team's flag would have replaced UT's on the top of that stack? Did you guys have one this year and for which game?
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DWag215
Texas A&M Fan
Houston, TX
Member since Aug 2011
4181 posts
Online
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 11:06 am to SL Tiger)
quote:
Was there a limit on how high the stack could be?
I know they limited it to around 60ish ft. at some point. But in 1969, it was a 109 ft. tall.
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DWag215
Texas A&M Fan
Houston, TX
Member since Aug 2011
4181 posts
Online
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 11:08 am to SL Tiger)
quote:
I'm also wondering what would have happened to the tradition after aTm entered the SEC. Which team's flag would have replaced UT's on the top of that stack? Did you guys have one this year and for whic
Bonfire was always before Texas, so last week in November. So we haven't had one yet. But good question, maybe LSU will be the new team we recognize.
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SL Tiger
LSU Fan
Houston
Member since May 2007
667 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 11:16 am to SL Tiger)
BTW...I can think of a specific (crimson red) flag that would look really good on top. In remembrance of the 12 that lost their lives for such an awsome tradition, I'd be willing to donate the flag on an annual basis.
to those 12...may you never be forgotten!
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SL Tiger
LSU Fan
Houston
Member since May 2007
667 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 11:18 am to DWag215)
quote:
LSU will be the new team we recognize.
That would be an honor!
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CGSC Lobotomy
Texas A&M Fan
Fort Bragg, NC
Member since Sep 2011
7605 posts
| re: Aggie bonfire documentary.... just watched it.. (Posted on 11/7/12 at 11:29 am to SL Tiger)
quote:
Was there a limit on how high the stack could be?
After the World Record was set in 1969, the stack height was limited to 65 feet including the outhouse.
Also, there was one other time that Bonfire was built but never burned. When Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, the Aggies dismantled the bonfire log by log and donated it as a tribute.
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