Return to Junction: Smokey and the Bear and Other Aggie Football Stories

In 1954, a wide-eyed youngster named Gareld Rollins arrived on the campus of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas as a freshman, slated to work as a student manager for the football team. The head coach, who had just arrived at A&M the previous February, was Paul “Bear” Bryant, who was already in the process of becoming a sports legend. Bryant had brought with him Charles “Smokey” Harper as head athletic trainer, who not only taped ankles and administered first aid to injured pl...