COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Nearly two months after a report from The Texas Tribune indicated that talks of bringing back the Aggie Bonfire tradition were gaining traction, it now seems that the university has decided to keep the official tradition retired for the upcoming season.
The event hasn’t happened over the last 25 years. At the 1999 bonfire, a structural collapse tragically claimed the lives of 12 Texas A&M students, leading the tradition to be indefinitely suspended by the school.
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Last November, Texas A&M President Mark Welsh created a committee to explore the institution’s options to commemorate the return of the Lone Star Showdown, as the University of Texas will join the SEC and reignite the football rivalry for the first time since 2011. The bonfire is a tradition within those discussions, and the rivalry committee was expected to meet with President Welsh with its recommendations in May.
In a letter posted to the A&M website Tuesday, University President Mark Welsh III gave an update on the schools’ plans for the Lone Star Showdown, including their decision regarding the bonfire.
He said the committee’s proposed idea for a professionally constructed bonfire was not popular among the voices he heard from throughout the student body and alumni base.
“While the input varied, the majority of those who reached out were not in favor of reinstituting Bonfire,” the letter read. “Among those who supported bringing Bonfire back, most highlighted the bonding experience and leadership and organizational skills learned by student body participants during the cut and build phases of Bonfire. Therefore, if students weren’t organizing, leading and building the Bonfire, then they didn’t think we should bring it back.”
In place of the bonfire, President Welsh said the school has proposed several other celebratory events to commemorate the renewed rivalry, including a golf tournament and a “rivalry run” to carry the game ball from Austin to College Station ahead of the game. He added that the proposed run would act as a fundraiser for veteran resource groups affiliated with both universities.
Although the bonfire will remain retired, Welsh clarified that the Bonfire Remembrance event that takes place on the anniversary of the collapse will still happen, as it does every year.
“As we look forward to football season and welcoming t.u. [the University of Texas] to the SEC this fall, we will continue to celebrate the many traditions that unite Aggies and add some new activities to help reignite a rivalry that has shaped our university in so many ways,” Welsh’s letter read.
- MORE ON THE BONFIRE COLLAPSE: 20 years later: Remembering Texas A&M bonfire collapse