I arrived at Texas A&M in the fall of 1963. I was 17 years old and the only one in my high school class in Kingsville that year to attend Texas A&M.
At the time, Aggie jokes were common in Texas, and none of them were flattering. A friend of mine told me that some Aggie jokes were the same as Polack jokes up north, which derided those from Poland. However, some were too specific to Texas A&M to be shared by those from Poland.
Aggies at that time came primarily from small towns, farms, and ranches. Most of the Aggies in my class had little money, so we differed from “teasips” in the elite fraternities at the University of Texas, which we affectionately referred to as “TU”. However, we expected nothing from others, and we were used to hard work, and I know for many of my college colleagues that paid off well in life.
Ol’ Sarge, a depiction created by Pete Tumlinson from the Texas A&M class of 1942, was a common image around campus. Ol’ Sarge was a no-nonsense type of guy that looked like he could win a military conflict all by himself and urged for the opportunity.
However, the image of Ol’ Sarge was not the one used in Aggie jokes. Joke drawings pertained to an ignorant weakling in uniform, for instance like the one below.
The Aggie in the Veterinary Medicine drawing below is patterned somewhat after the tougher Ol’ Sarge, yet the implication is clearly derogatory.
Booklets of Aggie jokes were popular, like the one seen below.
In 1963, Texas A&M was an all-male school, with a few minor exceptions for wives of faculty and one or two other small categories. Despite the gender imbalance on campus, the guys thought they deserved their fair share of amour. Consequently, whenever Aggies could get away from campus they were pretty much interested in securing the graces of the opposite sex. Aggies lacked courting time and, consequently, some were perceived as lacking social skills. These factors led to some humorous characterizations of Aggies in the joke books. Consider the cover of the book below.
When I discovered this book on eBay it was selling for $600, consistent with the fact that Aggies have always been a good investment.
All seemed in good stride, and I never personally witnessed an Aggie get mad at the jokes. In fact, Aggie joke books were for sale near campus into the 1970s, but they eventually become scarce.
When I enrolled, the Corps of Cadets was compulsory for two years. At the end of that time if you did not sign a contract to be an officer in one of the branches of the military, you had to get out of the Corps and became “non-reg”. In 1963, President Earl Rudder announced that women were now welcome to enroll at Texas A&M, and in my sophomore year the Corps of cadets became non-compulsory for entering freshmen.
When women began enrolling at Texas A&M in great numbers, Aggie jokes became rarer. My perception was that fathers of new women Aggies were not receptive to those in other universities making fun of their daughters. Moreover, some dads and moms who had graduated from the TU had daughters who wanted to go to Texas A&M, so “teasips” seemed less inclined to berate or make fun of Aggies.
Texas chivalry appeared in good form when large numbers of women became Aggies.
“You had better not joke about Aggies, my daughter is one.”
What was less known during the early 1960’s period was that Aggies had their own jokes, and they were often told by yell leaders at midnight yell practice.
At midnight yell practice in the then much smaller Kyle Field, the yell leaders would stand right in front of the Corps, some with dates, gathered in one small area of the stands. The yell leaders used megaphones to talk to the crowd. Here is one of the jokes that I remember hearing in the fall of 1963.
An Aggie and a teasip decide to have a contest to see which guy can perform sexually the most times in a row. So they go to a motel with rooms next to each other, sufficiently staffed with willing females.
Ready -set – go, and each enters his assigned room.
After a short while the teasip comes out, grabs a piece of chalk, puts a vertical line on the wall next to his door to mark his success, and runs back into his room. A little later he slowly walks out, partially out of breath, grabs the chalk, makes another vertical mark on the wall and then heads back in. Time passes and the teasip now staggers out, grabs the chalk, puts another mark on the wall, then collapses.
After some time passes, the door finally opens to the Aggie’s room, and the Aggie crawls out, looking barely alive and totally exhausted. He takes a look at the teasip lying there and then at the chalk marks on the wall. He cries out in disappointment and agony,
“Damn! A hundred and eleven. Beat me by one!”
And all the Aggies in the stands of Kyle Field give a big wildcat yell of approval likely heard as far away as Dallas.
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