It seems that in the Fall of 1989 the "Red Pots" in charge of building the Bonfire were still a little pissed from the year before when the BQ Class of '91 Outhouse Crew exposed a flaming "BQ" in the side of the outhouse which was quite visible to everyone on the north side of the stack... (reference pictures in Outhouse photo album)
To retaliate against the '91 Outhouse Crew, the "Red Pots" thought they would be smart and lead the entire 1990 Senior Class across the Band Drill Field during Elephant Walk...
At chow that night in Duncan Dining Hall, I had just sat down when I was summons by Drum Major Troy Yoakum and the rest of the 1990 Band leadership, to be in Drum Major Mike Sammis' room, #216 of Dorm 11, in 5 minutes..!
As I arrived, I was informed that I was recruited to be in charge of devising a master plan of revenge on the "Red Pots" for what they had done... This was due to the fact that most of them had heard of the pranks my father, who is a BQ Class of '63, had done while he was at A&M, and that I would have a good mind as to how to carry-out such a mission... This is how that plan played out...
The Yell Leaders, Red Pots, and the Drum Majors, all with lit torches, followed by the Band, march around the stack 3 times. On the last pass, the Drum Majors, normally lead the Band down an alley which leads to the stage... On this night, the Drum Majors started into the alley, then counter-marched back through the Band to the safety perimeter. At this point, I stood on the perimeter facing the stack with Drum Major Troy Yoakum, to my right along with the two other Drum Majors, Mike Sammis and Steve Hare... We waited for the "Red Pots", who were quite intoxicated, to finish rounding the back side of the stack... As they approached I looked at Troy who was just staring hypnotically at the stack and said, "Troy..!!! Throw it, Troy, throw it..!!! At that moment, as you will see in the video, Troy lets loose of the torch and hurls it through the air, striking the top of the first stack, falling back and igniting the sheet stretched across the base of the stack... This action was immediately followed by Mike and Steve's torches...
At the sight of "their" Bonfire going up in flames, the "Red Pots" stood there in utter dismay as they watched the flames climb the stack... Pandemonium broke out within their ranks as they didn't know whether to throw their torches or charge the back of the Band in retaliation...
By this time, the Bass section "black belts" who were not carrying horns, as well as the Drum Majors, and the Bugle Rank members, are all poised, ready and waiting to protect the rear of the Band from the inevitable attack of the "Red Pots"...
As the mild brawl began, I watched as a number of "Red Pots" surrounded and attack Band Commander Alan Blackmon '90, only to be surrounded themselves by a larger out-numbering group of Bass fish '93 and sophomores, who quickly extracted Alan and beat the "Pots" into submission...
LESSON: Stay the HELL off our grass..!!! And, don't mess with Bass freshmen..!!! They take no prisoners..!
THEME SONG: The "Red Pot Theme Song" for the remainder of the year was Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire"...
Which of course, could be heard blaring on a regular basis in mine and Richard Wariner's room, #215 (AKA "Rockin' Richard's CLUB 215") in Dorm 11...
JUST A THOUGHT: I never quite understood why individuals as well as outfits within the Corps would want to screw with the Band... Every single time, they were always overwhelmingly out-numbered... Plus, it's really not very smart to take on an organization of over 300 people, especially when they are carrying a large number of brass weapons... But it seemed that occassionally one of the morons from the opposing team (t-sips and LSU Tigers), who was usually quite intoxicated, would surface, attempt an infiltration of the Band, and then painfully suffer the consequences...
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Elephant Walk 1988by shickdog763 views
bwahahah... ive heard about this
jwc7215 3 months ago