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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1988)
Page 4 The Battalion Monday, November 21,1988 Spirited Ags build bonfire, keep tradition One of the best known of all Ag gie traditions, bonfire began in the early 1900s as nothing more than a pile of junk burned by excited stu dents in anticipation of Varsity foot ball games. During November and December, when the games usually were played, a Fire was welcomed for the warmth it added to the chilly night. Building and burning a bonfire before the University of Texas foot ball game on Thanksgiving grad ually became a custom, and by the 1920s it was a tradition, a former commandant and coach at Texas A&M wrote in a letter to the Univer sity archives. Frank Anderson, who saw his first bonfire in the fall of 1920, said the fire consisted of community trash, tree limbs, boxes, lumber scraps and other debris. The outhouse that sits atop bon fire found its beginning in this era. One of the cadets’ favorite materials for building bonfires was untended, unwatched and hopefully, unoccu pied outhouses, Anderson wrote. Speeches and yells accompanied the lighting of the bonfire, but the fire usually was burned out by the time the speeches ended. Apparently no one considered the early bonfires very memorable, since the first picture of a bonfire didn’t appear until 1928 in the Longhorn, the A&M yearbook. By 1935, bonfire was an estab lished tradition, marked by the en thusiasm of the cadets who gathered junk to build it. The cadets’ resourcefulness began to bring complaints from the com munity. On the morning after the 1935 bonfire, a very irate farmer vis ited Anderson’s office and said the cadets had carried off his log barn. Because of the problems in 1935, the building of bonfire was put un der the commandant’s control 1936. Cadets chopped down a grove of dead cottonwood trees near what is now Easterwood Airport. Texas A&M College provided the axes, saws and trucks. The 1936 bonfire was the first all log one. This year’s bonfire will be made possible by the combined effort of Cadets and non-regs, on- and off- campus students, and independents and Greeks. Students have been at work for more than a month in or der to build the bonfire that rep resents their “burning desire to beat the hell out of t.u.” The first cut began on Oct. 2 at a cutsite between Carlos and Nava- sota, and 24-hour push at stack be gan on Nov. 11. Bonfire will be lit Tuesday night at 8:09 p.m., and a yell practice will follow. Photos by Mike C. Mulvey A redpot hoists up a chainsaw before sunset to top the trees around the first bonfire stack. Your Foot Do When it comes to big bills! Sprains and broken bones don’t hav^ to-post you an arm or a leg 10% discount to students, faculty & staff Care Plus offers affordable medical care 7 days a week,with a professional service and convenience you look for! CarePluSv>*ft 1712 Southwest Parkway College Station. Texas 77840 (409)696-0683 Open until 8 p.m. 7 days a week Anderson Bus ATTENTION RECYCLERS Earn Extra Cash Texacan Recycling, Inc. now paying .42 per lb. for aluminum CANS Where: Safeway Parking Lot corner of Hwy. 21 & Texas Ave. When: M,T,Th, F 9:00-11:30 12:30-4:00 Saturday 9:00-2:00 All prices are subject to change without prior notice - iVWv -