It was one of the most famous moments in Texas A&M football history.
Warren Barhorst, a member of the 1988 12th Man Kickoff Team, which then was composed entirely of walk-ons, went barreling down the field in the '88 Cotton Bowl with his 12th Man teammates.
Returning the kick was Tim Brown, the electric Heisman Trophy-winner from Dallas.
As the Aggies tackled Brown in this epic showdown between the most elite of superstars and the most anonymous one, Barhorst ripped free from Brown's pants, his trademark towel.
As Barhorst ran off the field, spinning the towel overhead (which, of course, the 12th Man still does), a perturbed Brown chased down Barhorst and tackled him. Brown received a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for the play and the Aggies went on to win the game.
Tim Brown will be in-studio Friday morning at 8 a.m. for our SportsRadio 610 show.
So, too, will Barhorst.
It will be the first time the two players have met since the famous (infamous?) towel incident 20-years ago.
It should be fun ... you can tune in at 610 AM or stream at www.SportsRadio610.com
Just wanted to give an FYI,
John.

Is Warren going to return the towel?

Doesn't he have it framed in his office or something?

Great moment in Aggie Football history.

Remember when we used to cause the "Heisman Hex"? Bo, Tim Brown, Ty Detmer.

For the last 12 years, we have done nothing but give Heisman candidates as many highlights as they need. See Williams, Ricky; Fitzgerald, Larry (although he didn't win); White, Jason; Bradford, Sam; McCoy, Colt;

This has got to be one of the least-talked about traditions at Kyle. Maybe 1% of the student body knows the story, I bet.

I thought this story came against some random Notre Dame player. Maybe my memory is wrong. Or maybe wikipedia lied to me, long ago.

Regardless, not many towel-wavers anymore..

[This message has been edited by rhutton125 (edited 12/3/2009 2:06p).]

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Is Warren going to return the towel?

Doesn't he have it framed in his office or something?

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Brown was successful in getting the towel back from Warren after he chased him down.

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Regardless, not many towel-wavers anymore..

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This incident didn't start the tradition of waving towels. It started at the 1985 Thanksgiving game against tu, 2+ years prior.

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This incident didn't start the tradition of waving towels.

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+1

Actually the tradition started in '85 earlier in the season than the tu game, but it didn't get really popular until that game.

The tradition actually started 2 years earlier, in 1985.

Vandermeer sucks... Get a new co-host.

"Evil will always win because good is dumb."

[This message has been edited by AggieBob03 (edited 12/3/2009 2:51p).]

From what I remember from a 12MKOT doc on FSN, he stole the towel because he wanted to get a piece of the Heisman winner to bring back to a fellow KOT'er that was sick/injured and couldn't play in the game

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Remember when we used to cause the "Heisman Hex"? Bo, Tim Brown, Ty Detmer.

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Did you know that from January 1986 thru December 1990 A&M played 5 Heisman Trophy Winners?

1986 - Bo Jackson Win
1988 - Tim Brown Win
1988 - Barry Sanders outscored
1989 - Andre Ware Win
1990 - Ty Detmer Win

I was babysitting Warren's new kid during that game.

I was at that game. Thing I remember most was a news crew interviewing Barhoust during the after game celebration. A very serious reporter said "what did Tim Brown say after you took his towel?"

In country boy drawl Barhoust replied: "Give me back my towel!!"

I laughed till it hurt.

Barry Sanders was not a Hiesman trophy winner when we played him in 88.

Now since I was in stillwater in 88 I know first hand that we sure has heck helped his cause....

Tim Brown had a good reason for "defending" his towel. I'm sure that side of the story will come out during the interview. Nonetheless, he's still an a$$hat.

Don't know if it's been mentioned on here, but did anyone notice in this year's Baylor game that JJ took the towel off of a Baylor defender? I didn't notice it at the game, but saw it while watching the No Huddle replay on FSN.

With about 3 or 4 minutes left in the 2nd quarter , Jerrod had a run around the right side (toward the scoreboard), and in the process of getting tackled, his towl came off. He got up and tried to wipe his hands, but he had no towel. He looked down, and it looked like Baylor's #6 was laying on his towel, so he grabbed it. But it was actually #6's towel, and he ripped it off his belt. #6 got up and started jawing at Jerrod on their way back to their huddles.

Still one of the all time great modern era Aggie wins. I was in the upper deck, press box side that cold day. It was warm and toastie for the Maroon and White by the end of the game!!!!

Brown and ND were all pissed that they were not going to a higher bowl and the hype that week was that A&M and Dallas wre being graced by their presence.

I was at the game and I remember the play. We all thought that Warren had said something to Brown that instigated a fight. Holtz was livid and pulled Brown for the rest of the game. A&M already had it in the bag at that point.

I taped the game on t.v.

It was sickening the way Mussburger and CBS in their pregame were trying to come up with a angle for the game. ALL Notre Dame greatness and the Heisman winner, coming home to Dallas. I beleve the words he used were, "Last game of college, I am home, and I am ready to explode." Well he sure did that.

Hardly a breath of A&M mentioned in the pregame.

By the end of the game Mussberger with his now pulled Heisman goat, was reaching for things to try to say about Brown and his story line.

I solidifed by distain for Mussburger and Notre Dame that day.

Turns out, the "Towel" that Brown carried had been specially made by a family member and contained his number, ND colors, and some accolades. In retrospect, I do not fault Brown one bit for chasing Warren down and getting the towel back; in fact Brown could have made it uglier than it was but the teams came in and pulled things apart.

I remember, Jackie reacted by reinstalling the full first team defense back in, where we could have been on cruise control for the rest of the game, and they laid wood seriously to ND for the rest of the game.

Great game.

what better bowl game were they hoping for?

I'll have to go back and google it but they had either lost some late game in the season to some big name and got removed from, I think, Rose Bowl consideration. It may have been the Orange Bowl.

Speaking of Orange Bowl, I think that was the year, 1987, Texas came to Kyle Field and the winner of the game would win the SWC and go to the Cotton Bowl while the loser would go to the Orange Bowl.

Texas kicked a field goal to draw first blood, and the t-sip fans started throwing Oranges at us from the stands.

Of course, we kicked a$$ as freshman Bucky Richardson replaced injured Craig Stump and scored on a QB keeper to win the game at Kyle.

In those days you just knew that Kyle Field magic would prevail and the Defense ALWAYS put you in a position to win the game.

The Defense in those days never broke, they did not bend, they simply were destruction personified.

[This message has been edited by Six String (edited 12/4/2009 9:47a).]

it would not have been the Rose Bowl.

the orange bowl wasn't really bigger than the cotton.

Notre Dame was 8-3 going into the Cotton Bowl. We were 9-2 haveing only to have lost to LSU and Texas Tech, (Lubbock).

The Orange Bowl decided the national champion that year... Miami v. OU, so I disagree with the assertion that it was not a big bowl.

I was wrong about the Cotton Bowl and the SWC.

Texas was not that good that year and was already out of the SWC champion hunt.

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Barry Sanders was not a Hiesman trophy winner when we played him in 88.

Now since I was in stillwater in 88 I know first hand that we sure has heck helped his cause....

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Neither was Andre Ware, and we didn't help his cause.

i meant in general terms the orange was not better than the cotton.

notre dame has no chance at going to the orange bowl, so they wouldn't have been upset about not being picked.