[Thursday Cl, ci LO LU u O — LU z o IS) .— ^ ~o i G 03 * o >-* 03 cn y tap .■d c «o CG ' CO CD C 03 s-§ E-g H STt; -s Ec^fc; _ „ 2 ^ o 03 t£'£ -g CD g c as ss C-^'S 03 Sic c ^^-03>Q3-^CC 2 S c ^ *2 ^ ^ s-* co ^ g?'^| ^32^>^-S3s=£ All 1894-1944 Quarterback: Joel Hunt Running Backs: Dick Todd, John Kimbrough, Jim Thomason Ends: TR “Puny” Wilson, Herbie Smith Offensive Line: Joe Routt, Joe Boyd, Joe Utay, Charles Henke, A.C. “Loggy” Sprott Defensive Line: Marshall Robnett, Jim Sterling, Tbmmie Vaughn, Caesar Hohn Linebacker: Bill Sibley Defensive Backs: Fred Coston, Bill Conaster, TF “Puny” Wilson, John Kimbrough Punter: Harold “Rip” Collins Kicker: Dick Todd All 1945-1994 Quarterback: Kevin Murray Running Backs: Bob Smith, John David Crow, Darren Lewis Receivers: Bobby Joe Conrad, Bob Long Offensive Lineman: Jack Little, Dennis Goehring, Maurice Moorman, Richmond Webb, Charlie Krueger Tight End: Rod Bemstine Defensive Lineman: Sam Adams, Ray Childress, Jacob Green, Sammy OBrient Linebackers: Bill Hobbs, Ed Simonini, Aaron Wallace, John Roper, Johnny Holland Defensive Backs: Yale Lary, Pat Thomas, Kevin Smith, Dave Elmendorf, Lester Hayes Punter: Steve O’Neal Returner: Carl Roaches Kicker: Tony Franklin Returner: Leeland McElroy Honorable Mention: Bucky Richardson, Edd Hargett, Curtis Dickey, Bubba Bean, George Woodard, Mark Dennard, Robert Jackson, Marcus Buckley, Quentin Coryatt, Aaron Glenn, Patrick Bates, Tbmmy Maxwell Junction: Gatew 1954 quarterback Elwood Kettler dives for a touchdown against Rice giving him the Soutl with a lone win over Georgian Two years later the Aggies won the 1956 SWC Championshi Bryant makes rag-tag bunch into winners By David Winder The Battalion Legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant won six national championships and 15 conference titles during his career. When Bryant died in 1982 of heart fail ure though, the only piece of jewelry he was wearing was a commemorative ring given to him by his 1-9 Texas A&M team of 1954. “I don’t remember what the ring said,” said Darrell Brown, a guard on the 1954 team. “But he once told somebody that he wouldn’t trade that ring for the world because it was given to him by his Junc tion boys.” Junction training camp, the place where Bryant took a rag-tag bunch of boys, out into the middle of nowhere, during a blazing summer and made them into winners. It was a place where Bryant could get his players to live and breath his brand of football. Assistant coach Willie Zapalac came up with the idea of having the camp at the A&M Adjunct in Junction after Bryant told him he wanted a secluded place to practice away from College Sta tion. The Adjunct had no football facili ties, it was being used in a summer training program for Texas A&M physics and geology majors. “At our first meeting, we were told to take our clothes to Walton Hall after they gave us our room assignments,” said Bill Cranberry, who played nu merous positions. “They told us not to unpack, just grab some clothes for sev eral days because we weren’t going no place special.” After grabbing their clothes,75 to 80 players loaded on to two buses for the two week training camp. “When we got on the buses, one of the assistant coaches fanned out some tick ets and told us to come and see him if we ever wanted to go back to College Sta tion,” Cranberry said. “We didn’t know what to think then.” On the way, some of the players found out that they were going to Junction. Dennis Goehring, who had been there the year before taking summer school, told all his friends on the team about what he remembered. “Dennis described it like (it) was some kind of paradise,” Brown said. “We all forgot about the drought though, that place was dry and hot.” Guard Marvin Tate remembers he and some other players thinking that Junction would be a place free from the Texas heat. “We thought it was going to be this cool place with streams and that we would have these cool practices,” Tate said. “Little did we know that they would have the worst drought in 25 years.” After getting off the bus players went to their sleeping quarters, which were army barracks called Quonset huts. They slept 12 to a room in bunk beds without air conditioning under roofs made of tin. The only relief from the heat came from any cool air blowing through the screened windows. “That night he (Bryant) told us we were going to practice as soon as the sun came up,” Brown said. “The trainers woke us up at 5:30, and we got dressed into our uniforms. There was Coach Bryant out there standing on the prac tice field waiting for the sun to come up. “We just waited in our cabins until Bryant blew the whistle. He had miscal culated what time the sun was supposed to come up.” When the sun finally did come up, it was constant football. “We would wake up pretty early in the morning, put on our uniforms and drink some orange juice or grape juice,” Tate said. “Most of us would throw it up in the first hour of practice. “The practices were strenuous and tough because Coach Bryant was a real disciplinarian. After breakfast, we would have meetings then go to lunch and have another practice session which was pret ty intensive.” Sometimes the team would go and practice at Junction High School, but wa they spent most of their time on a primi- sid tive field newly cleared of brush and gm mesquite trees. i “I remember there wasn’t a whole lot eve of grass there, it was mostly sand and hee goatheads (grass burrs),” said Gene Stallings, an offensive end on the 1954 team. “The fields weren’t very good and neither were the practice facilities, as Coach Bryant was led to be lieve.” The fields also caused great frustra tion when scrimmaging, Cranberry said. guj “I remember it being hot but not kne that humid, it was just real rocky and to ( dusty,” Cranberry said. “But the thing 1 "We would wake up | morning, put on our i drink some orange jui Most of us would thr( first hour of practice. — Marvin Tate, Bryan