50 Fun Facts About Texas A&M

In which Texas city is Texas A&M's main campus?

Brazos County donated more than 2,400 acres near Bryan for the campus in the 1870s. Since 2021 the university has enrolled the largest student body in the United States.

What is the official school greeting at Texas A&M?

It is one of many unwritten rules of Aggie conduct that also govern behavior at sporting events and even word choice in conversation.

What kind of animal is Reveille, the official mascot?

The first Reveille was a mixed-breed stray hit by band members' car in 1931. Reveille III was the first purebred Rough Collie, and every mascot since has been one.

What rank does Reveille hold in the Corps of Cadets?

She is the only cadet with five silver diamonds. Cadets raised $100 during World War II to make the original Reveille a general as part of a K-9 Corps fundraiser.

Where are the deceased Reveilles buried?

They face the south end zone so they can 'see' the scoreboard. When an expansion blocked the view, a small Reveille Scoreboard was installed outside the stadium.

What is the seating capacity of Kyle Field?

That makes it the largest stadium in the SEC and in Texas. A 2014 game against Ole Miss drew 110,633, and George Strait played to more than 110,000 there in 2024.

Kyle Field is named after Edwin Jackson Kyle, a professor of what?

Kyle, an 1899 graduate, was named president of the General Athletics Association in 1904 and fenced off part of the campus for a playing field.

The 12th Man tradition began in 1922 when student E. King Gill suited up at which game?

Gill had left football to play basketball and was spotting players for a Waco newspaper. He never entered the game but was the last man standing on the sideline in the 22-14 win over Centre College.

How do Aggie students honor the 12th Man during football games?

On the field the tradition is represented by a walk-on player who wears number 12 and covers kickoffs.

The 'Gig 'em' thumbs-up began at a 1930 Midnight Yell Practice before a game against which opponent?

Regent Pinky Downs asked what the Aggies would do to those Horned Frogs and answered himself with 'Gig 'em,' a frog-hunting term, and a thumbs-up that became the Southwest Conference's first hand sign.

How many student Yell Leaders does Texas A&M have instead of a cheerleading squad?

They run yell practice before games, and the Midnight Yell the night before home games fills Kyle Field.

On what date is Aggie Muster held every year?

It is the anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto. Every ceremony features the Roll Call for the Absent, where a friend answers 'Here' for each name.

The most famous Aggie Muster was held in 1942 on which besieged island?

Corregidor was the last American stronghold in the Philippines and under constant Japanese bombardment when the Aggies there gathered.

Which ceremony honors students who died while enrolled, held on the first Tuesday of the month when needed?

After a three-volley salute from the Ross Volunteer Firing Squad, six buglers play from the dome of the Academic Building.

How many students died when Aggie Bonfire collapsed during construction in 1999?

Twenty-seven others were injured. The Bonfire Memorial was dedicated on campus on November 18, 2004, five years to the day after the collapse.

What world-record height did the six-tiered Aggie Bonfire once reach?

It began as a burning trash pile in 1909 to stir up spirit and was traditionally lit around Thanksgiving before the Texas game.

In what year did the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas open for classes?

Only six students showed up on the first scheduled day, October 2, so classes began two days later with six faculty and forty cadets. It was the state's first public college.

Which ex-Texas governor and Confederate general saved the college from closure in the 1890s?

Enrollment doubled under 'Sul' Ross, who installed running water and permanent dorms. Students still leave a penny on his statue for luck, an homage to his line 'a penny for your thoughts.'

Which president, a D-Day Ranger commander, desegregated the college and admitted women in the 1960s?

Rudder, class of 1932, took office in 1959. Rudder Tower on campus is named for him.

In what year did the Texas Legislature rename the college Texas A&M University?

The letters A&M were kept as a tribute to the old name rather than standing for anything. The school had become the system flagship in 1948.

Before 'Aggies' became official in 1949, what were Texas A&M students officially nicknamed?

'Aggies' was a common nickname at agriculture-focused schools and won out during the 1920s.

Texas A&M is one of how many senior military colleges in the United States?

Its Corps of Cadets is the largest of them, and members are known as the Keepers of the Spirit.

How many Texas A&M alumni received the Medal of Honor for actions in World War II?

By 1918, 49 percent of all Aggies were in military service, a higher share than any other American college, and the entire senior class enlisted in September of that year.

Which U.S. president's library and museum sits on the Texas A&M campus?

It was dedicated on November 6, 1997, alongside the Bush School of Government and Public Service. Barbara Bush and the president are buried on the grounds.

Which conference did Texas A&M leave to join the SEC on July 1, 2012?

The Aggies were a charter member of the Southwest Conference until it dissolved in 1996. The move to the SEC ended the annual Thanksgiving game with Texas until Texas followed in 2024.

Which season did Texas A&M football win the AP national championship with an 11-0 record?

That team beat Tulane in the Sugar Bowl. Dana X. Bible's 1919 squad, which outscored opponents 275-0, was retroactively named champion by other selectors.

Which Aggie halfback won the Heisman Trophy in 1957?

Bear Bryant said that if Crow did not win it 'they ought to stop giving it.' Crow later returned as athletic director.

Johnny Manziel became the first player to win the Heisman Trophy as what?

After a redshirt year he set FBS and SEC records in 2012 and beat Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl. He was also the first freshman to win the Manning and Davey O'Brien awards.

What was Texas A&M's record in 1954, the season of Bear Bryant's brutal 'Junction Boys' camp?

Many players quit rather than endure the heat. One survivor, Gene Stallings, became A&M's head coach at 29 and later beat Bryant's Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.

What nickname is given to Texas A&M's defenses, which led the nation in total defense in 1991?

Under R. C. Slocum, the winningest coach in program history at 123-47-2, the unit led the Southwest Conference in four statistical categories from 1991 to 1993.

Who is the winningest head coach in Texas A&M football history?

He was promoted from defensive coordinator and went 123-47-2 over 14 seasons. Sumlin, hired in 2011, was the program's first Black head coach.

Which coach did Texas A&M hire away from Florida State in December 2017?

Fisher had won the 2013 national title in Tallahassee. His former defensive coordinator Mike Elko replaced him in November 2023.

In which year did the Texas A&M women's basketball team win the NCAA national championship?

Gary Blair's team beat Baylor to reach its first Final Four and then won the title. Blair coached at A&M for 19 of his 37 seasons.

The Aggie baseball team was runner-up in the 2024 College World Series to which team?

It went to a deciding third game. A&M has reached Omaha eight times, first in 1951.

With more than 400 members, what distinction does the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band hold?

It began in 1894 when cobbler Joseph Holick started playing Reveille and Taps for cadets and formed a 13-member band.

In what year was the Aggie Ring formally adopted?

Its design has barely changed since. Students receive theirs on Aggie Ring Day, and the unofficial, discouraged 'ring dunk' involves fishing it out of a pitcher of beer.

During the week of the Texas game, seniors traditionally wander campus in a procession known as what?

It symbolizes the end of the seniors' usefulness to the 12th Man, which is why seniors in their last semester are called 'dead elephants.'

Which class is the first allowed to say 'Whoop!' in Aggie yells?

Juniors 'shoot the ground' once for each A in 'A! A! A! Whoop!' while seniors, called Zips for the braid on their caps, yell a single A and point to the sky.

In 2003 Texas A&M opened an engineering branch campus in which country?

Texas A&M University at Qatar opened in 2003 in Education City in Al Rayyan through the Qatar Foundation; in 2024 the university announced it would close the campus by 2028. A marine-research campus operates in Galveston.

How did a Texas A&M student radio club make broadcasting history at Kyle Field in 1921?

The club, W5AC, still operates on campus today.

Which Aggie head coach was the first African American to lead the football program?

He was hired from Houston in December 2011, months before the SEC move, and coached Johnny Manziel's Heisman season.

When Texas A&M first admitted women in 1964, the Corps placed them in a unit called what?

Until then membership in the all-male Cadet Corps was mandatory. Mary Evelyn Crawford Locke had received the first diploma awarded to a woman back in 1925 but was barred from the ceremony.

Under which 1862 federal law was the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas founded?

It opened as the first public higher-education institution in Texas on 4 October 1876.

What distinction has Texas A&M's student body held since 2021?

Texas residents make up about 86% of students; the College of Engineering is the largest college with nearly 30% of enrolment.

Roughly how many Texas A&M alumni served as officers in World War II?

That was more than any other school, and more than West Point and the Naval Academy combined.

In 2013 researchers named which geographic feature after Texas A&M?

Tamu Massif, an underwater shield volcano in the Pacific, honours the university's research contributions.

In which city is the Texas A&M School of Law located?

It was formerly Texas Wesleyan University School of Law; the School of Dentistry is in Dallas and EnMed in Houston's Texas Medical Center.

Which coach left LSU to lead Texas A&M in 1919, compiling a 72-19-9 record in ten seasons?

Homer Norton later coached the 11-0 national champions of 1939, who beat Tulane in the Sugar Bowl.

How many combined points were scored in Texas A&M's seven-overtime win over LSU in 2018?

The 74-72 result set the FBS record for most points in a game and most by a losing team.

Which school did Mike Elko leave to become Texas A&M's head coach in November 2023?

Elko had earlier been Jimbo Fisher's defensive coordinator at A&M; in his second season the Aggies made their first College Football Playoff.