Joe Routt — more than just a road name

There is a street on campus that runs from Wellborn Road, past Kyle Field and all the way to the Quad. It’s Joe Routt Boulevard. Known as “The toughest man in Texas”, Routt was a two-time All-American at offensive guard for Texas A&M in 1936 and 1937.

He’s also the only Aggie football player to be killed in action.

Routt arrived in Aggieland in 1934 and immediately started…boxing. He didn’t play football his freshman year. He also didn’t lose a fight.

He joined the football team in 1935 and was an immediate starter on both sides of the ball. By 1936, he was a team captain and was the first consensus All-American in Aggie football history. He repeated the feat a second time in 1937, setting the standard in a category few others have met (there’s debate over exactly how many others there are, but John Kimbrough, Myles Garrett, Pat Thomas and Kenyon Green are universally accepted as having earned the distinction.)

In his spare time, he became the 1937 Southwest Conference heavyweight champion — still having not lost a fight.

Routt was drafted 16th overall in the 1937 NFL Draft, but refused to sign with the Cleveland Rams. His reason: he didn’t want to go north. Upon graduation, Routt was inducted into the U.S. Army Reserve but was not called up to active duty. For several years, he worked various odd jobs from raising horses to be a sales representative for a cement company.

On March 1, 1941, he married Marilyn Maddox, nine years his junior. On Dec. 7, 1941, he was squirrel hunting all day and did not learn about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor until that evening.

Routt was immediately called up and began training for war. He was promoted to captain and commander of Company A, 405th Regiment, 102nd Infantry Division. The 102nd arrived in Europe in September of 1944 but didn’t see action until November. As winter progressed, the 405th remained in contact with the Wehrmacht from Nov. 28 until Dec. 10.

On that day, Routt’s company was ambushed by the Germans and cut off. Routt reorganized his men and, in typical fashion, rushed right ahead and broke the encirclement. With the battle all but won, Routt was cut down by a German machine gun and died on the field. He was 30.

He still never lost a fight.

Routt received the Bronze Star for his actions, but his fellow Aggies mourned his loss when his death became public knowledge. A&M Dean of Agriculture E.J. Kyle sobbed when he heard the news of the loss of the “Big, old, country boy”.

“Joe was as modest and likeable a man as I ever have known. When I bought a copy of the midnight Post on Wednesday and read that Joe Routt had been killed in action, I went to my room and cried like a baby,” Kyle said. “The knowledge that so many other fine American young men were being killed, and will be killed, figured in my grief.”

Routt’s body did not return home until 1949, when he was buried in Prairie Lea Cemetery in Brenham. Appropriately enough, he was interred on April 21, 1949 — Muster day.

Joe Routt was an All-American and an American hero. Death comes for us all, but you know Joe Routt gave it one hell of a fight.

Today’s the day where we honor those who gave the last full measure of devotion to their country and ponder their sacrifice. Joe Routt is the only Aggie football player to be killed in action, but he showed his men, the Germans and the world what it is to have the “real old fight”.

Don’t give ’em a reason

After getting quickly knocked out of the SEC Tournament via a 7-0 trouncing from Auburn, Texas A&M’s baseball team probably knew they were out of the running for a top-eight seed. But the thought was that they’d be ranked 10th for the NCAA Tournament.

The NCAA selection committee ranked them 12th.

A team that won 39 games, went 18-11 in the SEC and won series over three different regional hosts pulls USC in one of the most competitive regional matchups out there.

But is anyone really surprised? Given an opportunity, the NCAA has made a habit of screwing over Texas A&M. They’ve done it repeatedly in the NCAA Basketball Tournament and now they’ve done it here.

But here’s the other part that needs to mentioned — A&M gave them the opportunity.

The Aggies lost three straight series openers, and got bombed in two of them. They were run-ruled in their Friday night game against Ole Miss and lost Thursday night to Mississippi State 18-11. Then Auburn embarrassed them in a 7-0 loss in Hoover.

Opportunity? Taken.

Let’s be serious here. The Aggie baseball team is in serious trouble because of their lack of pitching. As in, they have none without Aiden Sims except for Clayton Freshcorn. I already said the Auburn loss was embarrassing, but the pitching staff right now is an embarrassment, period.

They should annihilate Lamar, a team they beat by 20 earlier this season. And USC has a losing record on the road, while A&M is 27-6 at Olsen. The Aggies beat Texas State when they visited in March. That’s all good.

But tournaments test your pitching depth, of which A&M has about none. They’re going to have to get some good performances from someone unexpected or have one of their inconsistent starters get it together. Otherwise, they may not get out of the regional. And going to North Carolina with the idea of bashing them into submission because that’s the only route? Not appealing.