November 22, 1999
Texas A&M students seek God amid tragedy
Prayer comforted students at heavily Christian Texas A&M University after last week's tragedy.
...Twelve students at the university were crushed to death early in the morning of Nov. 18 when a 40-foot pyramid of logs being prepared for an Aggie bonfire collapsed. Intricately organized by students, engineering professors, and nonstudent adults, it was to have been doused with jet fuel and lit on Thanksgiving Day, the eve of the Aggies football game against its arch-rival, the University of Texas. The bonfire was canceled out of respect for those who died. Setting the rivalry aside, UT canceled its Hex Rally.
...More than 60 students were on top of the logs trying to build the stack at 2:30 a.m. when it suddenly gave way. University officials had no explanation for the collapse. As many as 5,000 students gathered at the pile of logs at the polo fields within half an hour of the accident, reports said.
...Later in the day, more than 1,000 students met at Rudder Fountain, where they sat down, held hands, and prayed for the victims and their families. Others prayed at the bonfire site.
...During the precarious job of trying to rescue survivors, students gathered in prayer chains near the collapsed log pile.
...A&M is "a special family," not only in Texas but around the world because of the large number of internationals attending the school, said Donna Johnston, an administrator in the Office of Government Professional Development Programs at the school. Christians know that "many hundreds are praying for us," she said. Students at the former all-male military academy are known to say, "There's no such thing as a former Aggie." A&M is in College Station, 90 miles northwest of Houston.
...But Johnston said she is concerned because of the rash of tragedies this fall. On Sept. 18, five people were killed in the crash of a plane used by an A&M-connected skydiving club. On Oct. 10, six students walking to a fraternity party not far from campus were killed by a pickup truck whose driver had fallen asleep. Four of the victims were from Baylor University, one from Texas A&M, and one from Southwest Texas State.
..."It almost seems as if we've been stricken with bad luck," Matt Mrla, a junior, told The Dallas Morning News.
...Members of the Texas A&M community need the prayers of Christians "in a desperate way," Johnston said. After the collapse, she watched and prayed from a window in her office building as rescuers searched for victims. "It is like a giant game of pickup sticks - if they remove the wrong log first, the rest may fall, killing those still buried as well as the rescue workers."
...The day of the collapse was marked by grieving. Students donned maroon-and-white ribbons to remember the victims, hugged, dealt with their anger, and lined up by the hundreds to donate blood for the more than two dozen injured.
...An estimated 14,000 people, including former President George Bush, whose presidential library is at A&M, crowded into Reed Arena for an emotional memorial service that night. Speakers said their words could not express the magnitude of the tragedy. Those who died are "in a better place," William Hurd, student body president, said.
...As the service ended, students spontaneously put their arms on the shoulders of the person next to them "forming a great circle around the area," Eric Opiela of the University of Texas, who attended the service, said. "The mass stood there in pin-drop silence for close to five minutes. Then from somewhere someone began to hum quietly the hymn Amazing Grace. Within seconds the whole arena was singing. I tried. I choked. I cried."
...Texas A&M is a conservative school "and has many Christians in the student body and faculty," a student named Donna said. "But many of the students need Jesus Christ as their savior. Pray that through this tragedy many will come to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ."
...Most on campus said the bonfire, a tradition dating to 1909, must continue next year. A principle of A&M sports is that the student body, fans, and supporters are the "12th man" aiding the team. Even the dog mascots have their own cemetery.
..."We tease about it being sort of a cult," said Donna Broach, whose 20-year-old son Josh was standing on a crane when the logs toppled. "But traditions here - well they're just huge."
...The tragedy "puts into perspective college football in general," Charlie Miller, managing editor of Athlon Sports magazine, said. "Every Saturday, we see college students distraught because their teams lose. An event like this renders the game meaningless."
...Churches have arranged counseling sessions and prayer meetings, and were kept busy taking calls from anxious students. "This is going to take some healing," said Andrew Doyle of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in College Station, one of the first clergymen to arrive at the accident scene. "We have to pray, and not just pray alone. We have to pray together."
RELATED LINKS:
http://bonfire.tamu.edu/
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