Twelfth Man

…And the Twelfth Man so in hearing,
let out a mighty yell,
that echoed clear to Heaven,
And shook the gates of Hell.
"And what group is this upon the side,"
Saint peter asked his aide,
"That swelled as if to burst with pride,
When we our judgment made?"

Why sir that is the Cadet Corps,
That's known both far and wide,
For backing up their Aggie Team,
Whether they won or lost or tied…

On The Brink of Forfeit
The tradition of the Twelfth Man began on January 1, 1922 in Dallas with the game against Center College in the Dixie Classic, a forerunner to the present day Cotton Bowl. Center College was favored to win, but the game was incredibly close with injuries on both sides. Towards the end of the game, the Aggies had only 11 players left standing and all of them were on the field. One more injury and the Aggies would have to forfeit the game.

E. King Gill
Coach D.X. Bible looked up in the stands and found E. King Gill, a former football player and current basketball player, and asked him to come down and suit up. When interviewed later Gill remarked: "I wish I could say I went in and scored the winning touch down but I didn't, all I did was stand by ready to go in case my team needed me."

Ready and Willing
Although he didn't play in that game, he was ready and able to go in and give it his best. This readiness to support the team inspired the rest of the Aggies, and to this day, every member of the student body stands through the entire game to tell the team, "We're here if you need us."

Part of the Team
Today, and every day since 1922, the term Twelfth Man has referred to every Aggie in the stands. The Twelfth Man is arguably the loudest and most spirited crowd in College Football. Win, lose, or tie the Twelfth Man is there, part of the team, and like any other team member, the Twelfth Man has to practice too. That's why, the night before a home game, the Aggies gather in Kyle Field at midnight for Yell practice.

When the game is an away game, Yell practice is held at an appointed spot, still at midnight, in the city where the game is to be held. And like other team members, the Twelfth Man has it's own team of coaches, so every year, five Aggies, three of them seniors, and two juniors, are elected to serve as Yell Leaders. The tradition of Midnight Yell is a favorite among Aggies, especially the midnight Yell held before the biggest game of the year, A&M vs. t.u. This Midnight yell is also known as Aggie Bonfire.

Everybody Scores (WHOOP!)
Being a part of the team isn't always hard work and practice, though. One of the benefits is that when the Aggies score you score, and in accordance with this tradition, the Twelfth Man always kisses their dates whenever the team scores. Old Ags have spoken of times when things were so bad, they had to kiss on first downs, and even then, these were few and far between. But those days are gone forever as the Aggie Football team, with the spirit of the Twelfth Man behind it, is consistently ranked in the top 25 nationally.

Throwing in the Towel? Not Exactly...
Another Twelfth Man tradition is the Twelfth Man towel. During one of the big games an opponent who had been running all over A&M was tackled for a big loss that ended up winning the game for the Aggies. When the Aggie tackled him he picked up the opponent's sweat towel and waved it as he ran around in celebration. The crowd went crazy and started waving their own towels. The next time the team played, the Twelfth Man had their towels ready as if to say: "Hey! Remember this? We're going to do it again." Twelfth Man towels have been waving ever since.

Player Number 12
Yet another tradition of the Twelfth Man is the Twelfth man kick off team. A member of the student body is chosen from the hundreds that apply to play on the defense when the Aggies kick the ball. Always wearing the number 12 on his jersey, the twelfth man plays in the original spirit of E. King Gill.

Never Been Licked
The Twelfth Man is also a student organization at A&M, but it is the unbelievable spirit for their team that has made the Twelfth Man nationally famous, and which has also caused such frustration in our opponents. Since the game is always a team effort and we always walk away having a good time and trying our best, it is said, "the Aggies never lose". In fact, you will never hear a true Aggie say his team was defeated, we might have been out scored, or we might have run out of time, but we never lose.

This attitude breaks the spirit of our opponents. When their team is down, they are out of the stadium by half time. But not the Aggies. They stay around after the game, glued to their seats and sing the Aggie songs they know so well. "We are the Aggies, the Aggies are we…", "Hullabaloo Caneck Caneck…", "Texas Aggies down in Aggieland…".

To our opponents we seem to be celebrating, singing and yelling as if we had won. They don't understand that we act that way because we HAVE won. Aggie spirit was passed down through another generation. And the Aggie's have a team that's "Never Been Licked".