I was a senior in Squadron Seven in 1973 and we were assigned the job as OD's at the Rice Football game in Houston. It was a Corps Trip also. The halftime show by the MOB has been discussed in other thread but I can tell you when they lined up in Nazi Helmets and goosestepped out of the end zone, We knew we may have trouble. They started their show and the Ags got more pissed every time they did a song. Marvin Zindler did twirl with them and after all he had just shut down the Chicken Ranch in La Grange so he was not very popular with a lot of Ags. The Ags in the stands were ready to charge the field and kick some ass. At one point I looked up and saw about two hundred fish starting to charge the field. I actually drew my saber and yelled at them to stop and stay in the stands. They did. I would never have used my saber but they were fish and weren't to sure I was crazy enough to do so. At that point I ran to our yell leaders and told them to get our band which was back in the stands, to play the National Anthem or something to calm down the Ags. They cranked up with the Aggie War Hymn while the MOB was still on the field. By this time the Mob knew it was in their best interest to stop and they did so. I only know of one person that got by us and got on the field and that was a former student who ran out there and decked a trombone player. I think the cops took him off from there. After the game they hauled the Rice band out in a truck as they feared for their safety which was a joke.
So we went back to school to finish building the bonfire as tu was our next game. The night before bonfire, I told my old lady, (roommate) that it was our last bonfire and we needed to go out and work all night. So he and I went out and started piss anting small logs up to the stack. Then about 1:30 or 2 am, we ran into a couple of friends who suggested we go to the Kettle cafe and get a bowl of chili. While we were there, my buddy who was a trainer on the football team made the comment that it sure would have been cool if we could have gotten the Rice Victory Tree for the bonfire. I looked up at my other friend and we started to grin and asked where this tree was? He didn't know but he knew there was a picture and a map of it in the Rice Football Program. None of us had one so we went to the football dorm and started waking up players trying to find one which we did. At that point we went back to the stack and found two guys with pick ups willing to go and eight of us loaded up chain saws, axes, and a hand held crosscut saw in the trucks and headed for Houston. The tree was not on the Rice campus. It was at a camp in the then small town of Friendswood called Camp Manison. We got to the camp right at day break and started looking for the tree. We thought we found one that looked like it but were not sure so I got in one truck and we went and looked elsewhere but saw two little girls getting on the school bus. I ran up to the bus and beat on the door and they driver opened it. (Imagine that today?? No way!) I told her that I wanted to ask the girls that just got on the bus a question. I asked her if she knew where the Rice tree was and she told me. It was the one we thought it was so off we went. The tree was too big to bring back in pick ups so we cut off a large limb and threw it into the truck. Then we debated whether to cut down the tree. I finally said "I didn't drive down here to just trim a tree. Cut that sucker." We knew chainsaws were too loud so we used the old fashioned two man crosscut saw. When we started that saw never stopped. We would relieve each other as needed. When the tree began to fall, it was elbows and *******s. None of us saw it hit but it was a loud crash. We were in the trucks and out of there.
We got back to the campus and each of us cut a slice of the limb off for a souvenir, which I still have today. We painted RICE on the limb and it went on the bonfire. I remember that elephant walk was approaching the stack through the quad and I ran up to my buddies yelling we got the SOB!!! That limb burned on the bonfire that night. The next morning my phone rang and all they said was page one, Houston Post. I got up and got the paper and saw the headlines "Aggies axe Owl Tree" with a picture of the fallen tree and the little girl that told us where to find the tree was sitting on the stump.
How we got away with going to a private camp and cutting down a tree in broad daylight will always amaze me but we did. The next week I went to my mail box and there was a letter there from the President of Texas A&M. I was afraid to open it as I knew I was getting kicked out of school. But I finally did open it and it was a letter thanking us for the magnificent job we did as OD's at the Rice Football Game. There were eight of us that went on that gutsy and stupid trip that night but damn it was fun. By the way, my nickname that has been with me since fourth grade is Skins and anyone that knew me in 1973 probably knows this story. The class of 74. The best damn class ever.
So we went back to school to finish building the bonfire as tu was our next game. The night before bonfire, I told my old lady, (roommate) that it was our last bonfire and we needed to go out and work all night. So he and I went out and started piss anting small logs up to the stack. Then about 1:30 or 2 am, we ran into a couple of friends who suggested we go to the Kettle cafe and get a bowl of chili. While we were there, my buddy who was a trainer on the football team made the comment that it sure would have been cool if we could have gotten the Rice Victory Tree for the bonfire. I looked up at my other friend and we started to grin and asked where this tree was? He didn't know but he knew there was a picture and a map of it in the Rice Football Program. None of us had one so we went to the football dorm and started waking up players trying to find one which we did. At that point we went back to the stack and found two guys with pick ups willing to go and eight of us loaded up chain saws, axes, and a hand held crosscut saw in the trucks and headed for Houston. The tree was not on the Rice campus. It was at a camp in the then small town of Friendswood called Camp Manison. We got to the camp right at day break and started looking for the tree. We thought we found one that looked like it but were not sure so I got in one truck and we went and looked elsewhere but saw two little girls getting on the school bus. I ran up to the bus and beat on the door and they driver opened it. (Imagine that today?? No way!) I told her that I wanted to ask the girls that just got on the bus a question. I asked her if she knew where the Rice tree was and she told me. It was the one we thought it was so off we went. The tree was too big to bring back in pick ups so we cut off a large limb and threw it into the truck. Then we debated whether to cut down the tree. I finally said "I didn't drive down here to just trim a tree. Cut that sucker." We knew chainsaws were too loud so we used the old fashioned two man crosscut saw. When we started that saw never stopped. We would relieve each other as needed. When the tree began to fall, it was elbows and *******s. None of us saw it hit but it was a loud crash. We were in the trucks and out of there.
We got back to the campus and each of us cut a slice of the limb off for a souvenir, which I still have today. We painted RICE on the limb and it went on the bonfire. I remember that elephant walk was approaching the stack through the quad and I ran up to my buddies yelling we got the SOB!!! That limb burned on the bonfire that night. The next morning my phone rang and all they said was page one, Houston Post. I got up and got the paper and saw the headlines "Aggies axe Owl Tree" with a picture of the fallen tree and the little girl that told us where to find the tree was sitting on the stump.
How we got away with going to a private camp and cutting down a tree in broad daylight will always amaze me but we did. The next week I went to my mail box and there was a letter there from the President of Texas A&M. I was afraid to open it as I knew I was getting kicked out of school. But I finally did open it and it was a letter thanking us for the magnificent job we did as OD's at the Rice Football Game. There were eight of us that went on that gutsy and stupid trip that night but damn it was fun. By the way, my nickname that has been with me since fourth grade is Skins and anyone that knew me in 1973 probably knows this story. The class of 74. The best damn class ever.