Coach Bear Bryant and the Junction Boys

Duane's take

The official marker's the word on this one, and here's how I tell it. Now, before Paul 'Bear' Bryant ever became the winningest coach in college football history, before the six national championships, before Alabama even knew his name, he showed up in College Station in 1954 as Texas A&M's new head football coach, fresh off stints at Maryland and Kentucky. And the first thing he decided he needed to do was find out exactly what he had.

So he went looking for somewhere far from the main campus, somewhere a man couldn't hide who he really was. He found it in Junction. Texas A&M had an adjunct out there, 411 acres that citizens of Kimble County had purchased back in 1951.

It sat near the South Llano River. Normally well-watered country. Normally.

September 1st, 1954, nearly a hundred players loaded up two buses for a 250-mile drive west. They didn't quite know what was coming. Now here's the thing about Junction that particular summer, the region was locked in a long-term drought.

Wasn't much grass to speak of. Just hard ground, high heat, and what one player described as prickly sandspurs waiting for you every time you hit the dirt. And with Bear Bryant running the practices, long ones, in that heat, on that rough ground, men started doing the math.

By night, players slipped out. Quietly. One by one.

Ten days that roster went in one direction only, and it wasn't up. When it was time to board the buses back to College Station, only 35 men were left standing. They'd filled two buses coming out.

One bus carried them home. That fall, the team won a single game. The only losing record in Bryant's entire 38-year career.

You might think that's where the story bottoms out. But here's what those 35 men were, they were a foundation. Two years later, the 1956 team went undefeated.

Won the Southwest Conference. Put seven players on the all-conference roster. Finished fifth in the nation.

Many of the men who survived that ten days in Junction went on to build something real for themselves, including two who went on to long coaching careers in college football and the National Football League. Bryant himself eventually left Texas A&M for Alabama, where he won six national championships and retired in 1982 as college football's winningest coach. But in 1979, Bear Bryant and the Junction Boys came back.

Reunited right here, at the very place that had forged them, a place that had by then become legendary in Texas and American sports history. Funny how the hardest ground sometimes turns out to be holy ground.

What the marker says

Paul “Bear” Bryant, former coach at Maryland and Kentucky, became head football coach at Texas A&M in 1954. To evaluate his new players, Bryant sought a preseason camp far from the main campus. The Texas A&M adjunct opened in Junction in 1951, on 411 acres purchased by citizens of Kimble County. It was here that a grueling ten-day training camp thinned the roster while laying a foundation for future champions. Nearly 100 players filled two buses for the 250-mile drive to Junction on Sep. 1. Although the site was normally well-watered near the South Llano River, the region was in the grip of a long-term drought in 1954. There was hardly any grass, and one player recalled “any time you got knocked down you had to avoid the prickly sandspurs.” With high heat, rough ground and long practices, players slipped out by night. By the end of the camp, only 35 men remained to board buses returning to College Station. That fall, the team won a single game, the only losing record in Bryant’s 38-year career. Two years later, the 1956 team went undefeated, won the Southwest Conference, boasted seven all-conference players, and finished ranked fifth in the nation. Many of the camp survivors were successful in their chosen careers, including two with long coaching careers in college and the National Football League. Bryant left Texas A&M for Alabama, winning six national championships and retiring as college football’s winningest coach in 1982. Bryant and the Junction Boys met here again in 1979, reunited at a place which became legendary in Texas and American sports history. (2014)