irsi
Texas A&M
The Battalion Sports
April 23, 1982 Page 15
Tless’ for the alumni
High school coach trading whistle for cleats in alumni game
se hitches h
errimad,
:l, Calif,
cesatupt
le each yeai,!
vdesdaleslJ
e on the John Wagner
Their brict;
built in
er
familv’s
Battalion Staff
ry Pless coaches football
track at Alief Elsik High
ool> something he’s done for
cleaning p a si six years,
ming and Asia coach, he’s teaching
als, McGee ring young athletes the finer
colts to we its of playing on a defensive
i pull therpK And when he isn’t
brewery ,;hing, he’s teaching aspiring
ngdrivers the Finer points of
er’s education.
le huge il i u tMay 1, Pless will trade the
be ssmbol^Jjia blue and white of
Busch I) |,> s R ams for the maroon and
id never* te 0 f t be Texas Aggies,
at that cli )| ess 28, is a former student
when Mcfcpjias A&M. And not only
s at thebreiM. | ie ' s a former 1 exas
s who f 00t ball player. Pless will
glysaidh Lmlto Aggieland May 1 with
ition, saiillt 170 coaches, players, offi-
workingjti y e n leaders and trainers
ic time t he f irs t Texas A&M alumni
ie against the Aggie varsity
ad.
dess came to Texas A&M to
' football under Gene Stall-
i in 1971, and played his last
| years under Emory Bel-
I After graduating in May
5, he went to Alvin High
B, where he coached for
year. From Alvin, it was on
Isik, and he’s been there ever
0
:s
Pless says he’s excited about
ies
each cal
ts away
ruvian inMl
ngtheraiayiJ
t is when iil
as the ml
1 there are:
nd in the 4
id 97 pertsi
:ies change .1
1 times oftk^H
afJj host
imateuin|Vy X X X,
f 19 treesoi®-
Panama dii®.
id more reft! by Denise S. Sechelski
aZOn. ?; Battalion Staff
The weather forecast for
dium sized aco on Friday and Saturday is
es in Paffiffil, but coach Tom Chancl-
5 species fsaid he thinks the forecast for
includkETexas A&M baseball team is
Jrazilsho* ore hopeful.
jsoftreeli The Aggies begin a three-
i eSi ;me series Saturday with the
lylor Bears that will determine
a consrr nether or not Texas A&M
13 percenilts the Southwest Conference
onacerliurnament.
The otheifA tournament berth is at
i that one
y resting ll
ssing
,e was sprat
the chance to participate in the
alumni game.
“I was really honored when I
was selected to play,” he said.
...“Aggie spirit was the
main reason I went to
Texas A&M. The tradi
tions, the spirit, the fans
— that was all important
to me. It seemed to me
that when I visited the
campus, there was a uni
ty there that other
schools just didn’t
have.” — Gary Pless,
former Texas A&M
football player.
“Being a coach, I had kind of lost
contact with the University. I
hadn’t been back to many foot
ball games, because we work on
weekends.
“I’m looking foward to seeing
a lot of the players that I went to
school with, and seeing some of
my old coaches,” Pless said. “It’s
also an excellent opportunity to
meet some of the players and
coaches they are honoring at the
game.”
Pless learned of the plans for
the alumni game while attend
ing a football clinic in Houston.
Aggie coach Paul Register and
Bellard were there also, and Re
gister asked Pless if was in
terested in putting on his cleats
one more time.
“I didn’t know anything ab
out the alumni game at all, and
when he asked me to play, I
thought he was joking,” Pless
said. “Then I realized he was se
rious, and I said yes.”
A week later, Pless received a
letter listing those players who
had accepted the invitation to
play. The list included own
name.
Getting ready to play football
again isn’t easy, Pless said. He
has been lifting weights and run
ning, but he isn’t sure he’ll sur
vive the game.
“All the other coaches at Elsik
are coming up to see the game,”
Pless said, “And I’ll probably
need them to carry me back
home when it’s over.”
Pless says that attending
Texas A&M was an easy decision
for him.
“Aggie spirit was the main
Gary Pless
reason I went to Texas A&M,”
he said. “The traditions, the
spirit, the fans — that was all
important to me. It seemed to
me that when I visited the cam
pus, there was a unity there that
other schools just didn’t have.”
And Pless tries to instill those
qualities in his players today.
Teaching the virtues of hard
work and perserverance is easier
when one is an Aggie, Pless said.
“When you are associated
with a place that only accepts
success, you are more believ
able,” he said.
Pless said his fondest memory
of Texas A&M was the camar
aderie between the members of
his class that stayed together
through four years of football.
Pless and his freshman class
were recruited by Stallings, and
Bellard took over in December
of the same year.
“I’m not sure how many of us
started, I think about 45, but
there were only about 17 that
stuck it out,” he said. “The close
ness that we got by staying in
football is something I’ll always
remember.”
Although Pless has never met
Aggie head coach Jackie Sher
rill, he said the hiring of Sherrill
touched a nerve with him.
“I’m glad that we went out
and got a quality man,” he said.
“I guess I’m biased because I’m a
coach, however, because I
thought it was a very unprofes
sional way of firing Coach Tom
Wilson.
“If the Aggies w'in this year,
the people that did the hiring
and firing are going to say they
did the right thing. 1 think the
Aggies will be successful this
year regardless of who is
coaching.”
Not to take anything away
from Sherrill, however, he said.
“I don’t know Coach Sherrill,
but I know he is very prof ession
al. Anybody who’s been
groomed by Bear Bryant has got
to be good.”
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EDWARDS
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must win 2 of 3
SWC tournament
YIYARIN KEEPS
YOU GOING
stake,” Chandler said. “We’re
aware of that. If we win, we’ll be
in it. We’ll be trying to play well
so we can get it here.”
The Aggies must win two of
three games from the Bears to
finish among the top four teams
in the conference and be eligible
to play in the post-season tour
nament. Texas, Houston, and
Arkansas are in the top three
positions and are assured places
in the SWC tournament.
If the Aggies make the tour
nament, it will be held on Pat
Olsen Field at Texas A&M. If
the Aggies lose more than one
against the Bears, the tourna
ment goes to Arkansas.
Chandler says the team will
try to put thoughts of Olsen
Field and conference tourna
ments out of mind when it
travels to Waco Saturday.
“Baylor has a good team, but
our team is ready to play,”
Chandler said. “We’re coming
off a good series with Texas
Tech. We played really well
against them, and we’re just
hoping we can continue to play
good ball.”
The Aggies’ SWC record on
the year is 8-9, and the Bears
have a 7-8 record going into the
series. Baylor is tied for fifth
place in the conference stand
ings with Texas Tech.
The series opener with the
Bears was scheduled for Friday,
but the game was canceled be
cause of rainy weather.
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