History

Aggies gathered together on June 26, 1883 to live over again their college days, the victories and defeats won and lost upon the drill field and classroom. Eventually the annual gathering evolved into a celebration of Texas Independence on San Jacinto Day – April 21st. Over time the tradition has changed, but its very essence has remained “If there is an A&M man in one hundred miles of you, you are expected to get together, eat a little, and live over the days you spent at the A&M College of Texas.” Muster is celebrated in more than four hundred places worldwide, with the largest ceremony on the Texas A&M campus in College Station. Aggie Muster as we know it today is credited to E. E. McQuillen ’20, who served as the Executive Secretary of The Association of Former Students. It is fitting that he was honored to serve as the first Campus Muster speaker.

The committee was recognized as a student organization in 1950. Like the tradition itself, the committee has transcended the eras and events throughout its history and remained true to the timeless ideals of Muster. The Muster Committee is responsible for organizing and planning every aspect of the tradition, from speaker to barbeque, awareness to the Roll Call – this committee continues the livelihood of this great tradition year after year. The committee falls under the discretion of the Student Government Association. The 2008 Muster Committee is composed of twenty two committee members, six sub-chairs, and one chair. Their tasks vary among the five subcommittees: Awareness, Programs, Roll Call and Families, Speaker Selection, and Special Operations.

Muster is a time to look to the past, present, and future…not only to grieve but to reflect and to celebrate the lives that connect us to one another. A gesture so simple in nature yet so lasting in spirit, Muster is the lasting impression every Aggie leaves with us; it reminds us of the greatness that lies within these walls, of the loyalty we possess, of the connection that binds us, and of the idea that every Aggie has a place of importance – whether they are present in flesh or spirit.

Campus Muster Quotes

2008 "Muster is the most solemn and sacred of all Aggie traditions, but it is a time of joy and happy remembrance. Those who have gone before us are those whose lives have touched ours. May we do the same for those who come after us. May we expect no less of ourselves."
-Dr. E. Dean Gage '65

2007 "Today we call for a deeper remembrance than the mere physical presence of Aggies who have passed this way. Today, we rededicate ourselves to the higher meanings of the endeavor which now we must carry on because we have been granted a little more time, a few more miles, a few more years to work with." -Henry Cisneros '68

2006 "No occasion can be more sacred than one where we honor those who have honored us... The other significance of the Aggie Muster is to remind us of our duty as Aggies to the past, present, and future. We are the beneficiaries of the tireless and unselfish sacrifices of those we honor today, but we are also the recipients of responsibilities which, to faithfully discharge, will require the best that you and I possess." -James W. Aston '33

2005 "The Muster ceremony symbolizes the essence of the Aggie Spirit: commitment to our nation, state, school, but most of all, to one another, to mankind. It is a commitment to service. Muster is a celebration of life, of love, a ritual that affirms to us and demonstrates to all there is no end to Texas A&M's maroon line." -Jack M. Rains '60

2004 "For no matter how many years may pass, what physical changes come, no matter how the generations rise and fall away, A&M - that is to say the essential spirit of A&M - will never pass away." -James K. Pipkin '29

2003 "No occasion can be more sacred than one where we honor those who have honored us...The other significance of the Aggie Muster is to remind us of our duty as Aggies to the past, present, and future. We are the beneficiaries of the tireless and unselfish sacrifices of those we honor today." -James W. Aston '33

2002 "Muster will never change. It will survive, unscathed by time, because it is tradition enriched with the devotion of one Aggie to the other. The reverence, the silence, it's all a part of the notion that Aggies never leave their roots, nor are they forgotten by their own."
-Pat Pearson '83

2001 "We do this because we share a great tradition, greater than the single memories of any of us. And though the years pass, faces change, visible appearances alter, the spiritual core of that tradition remains unaltered and undiminished." -James K. Pipkin '29

2000 "I feel a sense of reverence as I look over the campus and feel the presence of those who walked this hallowed ground. How great the sacrifices. How glorious the deeds. How magnificent the dreams." -Reagan Brown '43

1999 "Honor in remembrance, loyalty through observance, hope from the Spirit's existence."
-Anonymous

1998 "Neither time nor events will dim their memory which lives in our hearts."
-Dr. John Ashton '06

1995 "Let us hold our lives up to the light of those who walked before us, remembering the footprints they left behind and preserving the pathways they created." -Jack Fritts '53

Campus Muster Speakers

2007	Brooke Leslie Rollins '94
2006	Bill E. Carter ’69
2005	Clayton W. Williams ’54
2004	Jon L. Hagler ’58
2003	Edwin H. Cooper ’53
2002	Gov. James R. “Rick” Perry ’72
2001	Dr. Joe West ’54
2000	Randy Matson ’67
1999	Mike Baggett 68’
1998	Eugene Clifton Stallings, Jr. ’57
1997	H.B. Zachry, Jr. ’54
1996	Dr. E. Dean Gage ’65
1995	Lee Phillips ’53
1994	Andres Tijerina ’67
1993	Jack G. Fritts ’53
1992	Frank W. Cox III ’65
1991	Adm. Jerome L. Johnson ’56
1990	M.L. “Red” Cashion ’53
1989	Chet Edwards ’74
1988	Gerald R. Griffin ’56
1987	Robert L. Walker ’58
1986	A.W. “Head” Davis ’45
1985	Lt. Gen. Ormond R. Simpson ’36
1984	Jack M. Rains ’60
1983	Haskell M. Monroe
1982	William B. Heye, Sr. ’60
1981	Frederick D. McClure ’75
1980	Henry G. Cisneros ’68
1979	Lee H. Smith ’57
1978	Col. Tom Dooley ’35
1977	Maj. James E. Ray ’63
1976	Charles G. Scruggs ’47
1975	Reagan V. Brown ’43
1974	Sheldon J. Best ’63
1973	Capt. James E. Ray ’63
1972	Larry Kirk ’66
1971	Jack K. Williams
1970	Yale B. Griffis ’30
1969	Mayo J. Thompson ’41
1968	Maj. Gen. Wood B. Kyle ’36
1967	Maj. Gen. Raymond L. Murray ’35
1966	Penrose B. Metcalfe ’16
1965	C. Darrow Hooper ’53
1964	E. King Gill ’24
1963	L.F. Peterson ’36
1962	Eli L. Whiteley ’41
1961	James W. Aston ’33
1960	Lt. Gen. A.D. Bruce ’16
1959	Olin E. “Tiger” Teague ’32
1958	Gen. Bernard A Schriever ’31
1957	No Campus Muster due to Easter recess
1956	Maj. Gen. James Earl Rudder ’32
1955	Gen. Otto P. Weyland ’28
1954	Gov. Allen Shivers of Texas
1953	Gov. Dan Thornton of Colorado
1952	Searcy Bracewell ’38
1951	James H. Pipkin ’29
1950	Gen. Louis Henturvey ’29
1949	James W. Aston ’33
1948	A.E. “Red” Hinman ’25
1947	Lt. Col. Lewis B. Chevaillier ’39
1946	General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe
1945	Lt. Clifton H Chamberlain ’40
1944	E.E. McQuillen ’20