July 22, 2016 (Friday)
A funny thing happened at the Texas delegation breakfast during the Republican National Convention. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was one of the speakers, and he was trying to illustrate how supporters of the original 17 candidates for president could now unite behind one candidate now representing the party. He used sports as the background for his lesson, saying to the Texans something to the effect that Aggies and Longhorns may fiercely compete during the season but if the Longhorns represent the conference at a bowl game, the Aggies cheer for them, to which the Texas delegates responded, “No, no, no!!!”
Dallas is the scene of an annual game between Texas and A&M. When I was pastor there during the early 1960s, all eyes turned toward the Cotton Bowl where the game was then played, and toward downtown Dallas the night before where Aggies and Longhorns took over the city traffic, filling the streets with pedestrian supporters of the two teams. The rivalry still exists.
Aggie jokes notwithstanding, the school and its alumni exercise great influence. Same is true for the University of Texas. Both are great schools, but when it comes down to football, they will always be competitors.
The schools’ main campuses are in Austin and College Station, but both have additional campuses in other Texas cities. Our own city of Corpus Christi is now the home of Texas A&M Corpus Christi. The institution started out as a Baptist school, University of Corpus Christi, but in the 1970s became Texas A&I at Corpus Christi, and now A&M. The campus and student body continue to grow and become better known. This is a huge step forward for South Texas.
When it was a Baptist school, UCC produced many wonderful leaders and workers for Baptists in Texas. It awarded doctorates to two Rockport pastors, W. D. Broadway and C. Wilson Brumley. Dr. Broadway was recognized by the present university as a distinquished alumnus for his outstanding work throughout his life in churches, associations and church-related foundations. Dr. Brumley was well-known after his Rockport pastorate as an administrator at the Home Mission Board, executive secretary of the Colorado Baptist Convention and Director of Missions of the huge Union Baptist Association of Houston.
Baptists continue to have a presence adjacent to the A&M campus with courses offering credit toward degrees at Logsdon Theological Seminary at Hardin-Simmons University, providing educational opportunities for those preparing for Christian ministries.
School spirit is something that follows you through life. At my alma mater, Baylor University, a Baptist pastor gave the invocation at a football game and instead of saying, “Amen,” shouted “Sic ’em Bears!”