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THE BATTALION
August 8, 1968 College Station, Texas
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Stallings Bring Ags
To Top Of Heap
In Three Years
In the short span of three
seasons, Gene Stallings elevated
the Texas Aggies from the base
ment to the penthouse in col
legiate football circles.
Stalling’s slogan of “Make
Something Happen’’ become a
reality 'in 1967 as he guided Tex
as A&M to the Southwest Con
ference championship and a cli
matic 20-16 victory over Alabama
in the Cotton Bowl classic.
If the rapid success of Stal
lings seems unbelievable then you
don’t know the man.
“Make Something Happen, is
the slogan he brought back to his
alma mater when he returned as
head football coach on Dec. 7,
1964. It was aimed at his foot
ball players but it was to be a
guideline that he and his staff
s also would follow.
Devoted and dedicated to Texas
A&M and its athletic program,
Stallings believes in and practices
the theory that hard work, atten
tion to details and thoroughness
are the foundations upon which
success is built.
He, his staff and his players
followed this pattern through a
3-7 season in 1965 and a 4-5-1
mark in 1966, and, in that second
campaign they were in the con
ference title race right up through
the final week of action.
After a dismal start in ’67 when
they lost their first four—three
of them by 1, 3 and 4 points—
then things started happening and
they haven’t lost since. They
raced to six straight SWC wins
to win the undisputed conference
title and then nailed ’Bama in the
Cotton Bowl. They go ino the
1968 season with a seven-game
winning streak, second in the na
tion only to Oklahoma’s eight.
Stallings grew up in Paris Tex.,
wanting to become a coach. He
learned the game under two great
teachers, Raymond Berry Sr., at
Paris High and Paul W. Bryant
at Texas A&M. Their pictures
adorn a wall in his office today.
Stallings, who was 33 last
March 2, was born in Paris, Tex.,
in 1935. A natural leader and all-
around athlete, he captained foot
ball, basketball and golf teams
at Paris High and was tri-captain
of Texas A&M’s undefeated foot
ball team in 1956 on which he
played end.
Following his final varsity
game for the Aggies, he was
married to the former Ruth Ann
Jack of Paris. They have four
children: daughter Anna Lee 10,
Laura Nell 9 and Jacklyn 4, and
one son, John Mark 6.
He coached the A&M freshmen
in the fall of 1957 and then moved
with Bryant to Alabama where
he spent the next seven seasons.
He was assistant head coach to
Bryant when A&M hired him
after the 1964 season.
It was quite evident that he had
learned his gridiron lesson well
because when he was hired by
A&M, Bryant, a man not noted
for thoughtless praise, said: “He’s
the top young college coaching
prospect in America.” After Stal
lings’ Aggies beat Bryant’s Crim
son Tide in the Cotton Bowl, Bry
ant added a simple footnote, “I
told you so.”
With the retirement of Barlow
(Bones) Irvin this past winter,
Stallings was named A&M’s Ath
letic Director, giving him a dual
role to perform.
The Aggie athletic boss lists
three reasons why “it is easy for
me to try to sell a boy on attend
ing Texas A&M . . . First, it is a
school that offers an excellent
education and has great tradition
. . . second, it is a place where one
will learn what pride and loyalty
really means . . . and, third, it is a
place where a young man can play
on a good football team.”
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