Aggie Coaches for Charity


Cessna: Bellard ready to meet old friends

By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Columnist
It's been three decades since Emory Bellard coached at Texas A&M, but his memories of roaming the sidelines at Kyle Field remain fresh and special.
Bellard was 48-27 from 1972-78 as head football coach with the Aggies, including a trio of Top 15 finishes in the final national poll. He'll get to reminisce about his magical time at A&M on Saturday night at the Aggie Coaches for Charity celebration at the Westin Galleria in Houston.
"I'm going to have the opportunity to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time, good Aggies who I worked with during my time at A&M," Bellard said. "I'm truly looking forward to that part of it."
A&M's six living former head football coaches will join current head coach Dennis Franchione in hopes of raising $400,000 for charitable causes.

"We're gonna be able to do a lot of good things," said Bellard, whose charity is Care-A-Van, a part of the Seton Fund project for Central Texas. Each of the coaches will receive at least $25,000 for their charity."This sends a great message about the A&M community," said Kevin Kaplan, executive director of Coach Fran Charities and Coaching Charities, Inc. "They are giving people, and they are willing to gather to help others."
Along with the benefits raise, the night's fellowship will be priceless. The coaches will speak in chronological order of their time at A&M, starting with the 79-year-old Jim Myers (1958-61) followed by 72-year-old Gene Stallings (1965-71) and 79-year-old Bellard."A bunch of good Aggies are missing," Bellard said. "We lit a candle for some of them at Muster this year. We're getting to that point, but there's still a lot out there from the time I was there."The younger guys - Tom Wilson (1978-82), Jackie Sherrill (1983-88) and R.C. Slocum(1989-2002) -will follow, bridging
another generation. A&M may be the first school to get that many former head coaches together for one event."All those coaches touched a lot

AGGIE COACHES FOR CHARITY

WHAT: Benefit event featuring former A&M football coaches Jim Myers, Gene Stallings, Emory Bellard, Tom Wilson, Jackie Sherrill and R.C. Slocum and current coach Dennis Franchione

When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: Westin Galleria, Houston Tickets: $500
of different people during those years, people who they become very close to," Bellard said. "Getting us all together is a good thing." The plan is to make it an annual event.
"My hope is everyone has a great time and enjoys the nostalgia," Kaplan said. "It's just going to be a great picture to see the seven coaches of 50-plus years of Aggie football. That's just a neat thing and rather unique." The most difficult assignment will be keeping each coach to his allotted 5 to 7 minutes on the microphone. Maybe each could add a few minutes if the crowd would donate more money?

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Bellard got involved in Care-A-Van when he was living in Marble Falls.
The organization has a mobile health van, which was purchased for $200,000. The mobile clinic visits schools throughout the Hill Country, providing health care to needy youth.
"This has been a wonderful effort," said Bellard, who started a golf tournament at Delaware Springs in Burnet three years ago along with former Texas Tech head coach Spike Dykes to aid the cause.
They raised $80,000 the first year, $160,000 the second year and $216,000 last year when 560 attended Friday night's tailgate party followed by 240 playing golf Saturday.
Slocum and former Texas head coach David McWilliams also participated last year.
The 4th Annual Emory Bellard-Spike Dykes Kids Care-A-Van Golf Classic Weekend will be Aug. 3-4.

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Sherrill and Slocum picked charities to benefit Aggies.
Sherrill started The 12th Man Kickoff Team Foundation, which will endow scholarships for descendants of walkon players from his teams. Sherrill started the famous 12th Man Kickoff Team and even helped build bonfires.
Slocum picked the A&M Eternal Aggie Band Endowment. After sharing Saturday's spotlight with the nation's best band for three decades, that seems a fitting charity for Slocum.
Stallings' charity is Rise Foundation, a group he's been with since 1990 that benefits children with physical disabilities. Stallings' son, Johnny, was born with Down syndrome in 1962. The Rise Foundation created the Stallings Center in 1994 at the University of Alabama, where he coached from 1990-96.
Myers has been involved with the Greater Dallas Fellowship of Christian Athletes for more than three decades. He ran former Dallas Cowboy head coach Tom Landry's FCA golf tournament for more than two decades.
Wilson's charity is the Humane Society of Navarro County.
Franchione picked Gridiron Heroes, which helps players and cheerleaders who sustain a catastrophic spinal cord injury. Franchione was one of the nation's first coaches to lend his name to the group.

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A few participating sponsorships for Saturday's event remain at $5,000, which includes a table of 10. Individual tickets are $500 and can be bought at the event, which will start at 6 p.m. with a cocktail party. For more information or to make a donation to one of the coaches' charities, visit AggieCoaches.com online.

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Silent auction items include a football from A&M's game-winning drive against Texas last year and an 8-week-old purebred American collie, who is the spitting image of Reveille.

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Past and future Aggie football legends who will serve as honorary chairmen include Martellus Bennett, Ray Childress, John David Crow, Mark Dodge, Aaron Glenn, Michael Goodson, Jacob Green, Johnny Holland, Jorvorskie Lane, Stephen McGee, Dat Nguyen, Jack Pardee and Bucky Richardson

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Kudos to Franchione and Kaplan for organizing an event that will be copied around the nation - and should become a rich Aggie tradition.
"The idea was to create an atmosphere that binds the past to the present for the future of the Texas A&M football program," Franchione said. "It promises to be a memorable night for Aggie supporters, and all for nonprofit causes that help people in need."
Kaplan, who also handles the charity of Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis, organized the ND Coaches Kickoff for Charities Dinner last summer at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City featuring Ara Parseghian, Lou Holtz and Weiss. More than 700 attended, raising more than $1 million.
Kaplan and Hawaii head football coach June Jones are organizing the Warrior Quarterbacks for Charity, which will feature 15 former Rainbow signal-callers and current quarterback Colt Brennan on Aug. 20.


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