Aggie Bonfire leadership

The Aggie Bonfire leadership is composed of Texas A&M University students who are in charge of the construction of Aggie Bonfire, known as Bonfire. This large bonfire burned on the Texas A&M University campus annually from 1909 until 1999. Since 2003, an unofficial version, known as Student Bonfire, has been burned off campus. The Aggie Bonfire leadership is responsible for safely managing the large number of student participants. Leaders are generally identified by the color of their "pots" (hard hats).

History

Since 1909, students at Texas A&M University had built an annual bonfire on campus. Freshmen were expected to build the early Bonfires to help prove their worth.^[1] For almost two decades, the students constructed Bonfire from debris and wood acquired through various, sometimes illicit, means, including appropriating lumber intended for a dormitory in 1912.^[2] In 1935, a farmer reported that students carried off his entire barn as fuel for Bonfire. To prevent future incidents, the university made Aggie Bonfire a school-sanctioned event. The following year, for the first time, the school provided axes, saws, and trucks for the students and pointed them toward a grove of dead trees on the edge of town.^[3]

The early Bonfires were constructed under the leadership of the Corps of Cadets. All students were members of the Corps, which had its own leadership structure. When membership in the Corps became voluntary in 1965, this leadership structure was no longer viable; Corps leaders had no authority over the civilian students. A separate Bonfire leadership structure was instituted. The new leaders were designated with colored hard hats, or pots, with the overall leaders known as redpots.^[1]

Leaders were chosen by their predecessors. Initiation rites for the upper echelon of leaders were often brutal, at times including beatings with ax handles or bar fights. Sportswriter Scott Eden commented that "these tests of toughness were meant to steel new Redpots for the job ahead."^[4] Knowledge was passed down from one leader to another verbally, with little to no official written documentation.^[4]

Each generation of Redpots strived to outdo the generation before. The structure became more elaborate, and in 1969, the stack of logs set the world record for the height of a bonfire at 109 ft 10 in (33 m) tall.^[3] Out of concern for the safety of participants and the community, the university limited the size to 55 feet (17 m) tall and 45 feet (14 m) in diameter.^[2] Despite the new height restrictions, in the 1970s, the Guinness Book of Records listed Aggie Bonfire as the largest Bonfire in the world.^[3]

While the Bonfires of the 1960s were constructed in five to ten days, working primarily in daylight, by the late 1970s, changes in the school led to a more elaborate and lengthy construction schedule.^[1] Construction began in late October with "Cut", obtaining wood by cutting down trees with axes, which took several weekends.^[1][5] After Cut, students brought the logs to campus during "Load", a process by which the logs were loaded by hand onto flatbed trucks and brought to campus.^[5] In early November, crews began "Stack", a three-week period in which the logs were wired together and Bonfire took shape.^[5]

Although between two and five thousand students participated in the construction of Bonfire each year, most worked only part-time, and many worked only one or two shifts.^[1] Student workers were organized by dormitories or Corps units, with a separate off-campus student team. Many former students participated with teams they belonged to as students. Each team had assigned shifts, although individuals were not limited to working only the assigned shifts.^[5]

Following the collapse of the 1999 Bonfire, which killed 12 current and former students, Texas A&M officials cancelled the annual event. In 2003, several current and former students founded Student Bonfire, a nonprofit organization which hosts an annual Bonfire, unaffiliated with the university, off-campus. The Bonfire leadership structure has remained in place, although in 2014 only 10 of the 26 dorms were represented by Bonfire crews.^[4]

Leadership roles

Redpots

Redpots are the leaders of Bonfire. Prior to 1999, there were 9 senior redpots and 9 junior redpots each year. These nine seniors and nine juniors were in charge of Bonfire as a whole, from the design of the structure to ensuring that all participants were following safety precautions while overseeing both Cut and Stack. There was no official written documentation for Bonfire, and all applicable information was passed orally from one year's redpots to the next. Senior redpots were responsible for training the junior redpots in the proper process and procedures for building the next year's Bonfire.^[6][7] As of 2016, there are only 4 senior and 3 junior redpots. These redpots must follow the safety and construction procedures outlined in the Student Bonfire bylaws.^[4]

At the end of their junior year, junior redpots are promoted to senior redpots, and choose their successors. Redpots decorate their helmets with a list of their predecessors.^[4] The most famous redpot is likely former Texas governor Rick Perry, from the class of 1972.^[4]

The head redpot, essentially the CEO of Bonfire, is known as Head Stack. The other current redpots are known as Truck Pot, responsible for the hauling of the logs, and Head Civilian, who is the chief lumberjack.^[4] Redpots are denoted by the red color of their helmets as well as the ceremonial ax handles that they carry.^[4]

Brownpot

Brownpots are in charge of machinery at Cut and Stack.^[8] They are most often seen operating chainsaws at Cut and Stack sites. There were 6 brownpots prior to 1999.^[5] Brownpots are the only people at cut with permission to use machinery. After trees are felled by hand, brownpots strip the branches and cut the logs into the appropriate lengths.^[4]

Buttpot

Buttpots are all members of the corps of cadets and are all juniors (the name "buttpot" referring to "sergebutt", the moniker for all juniors in the corps) each corps outfit would have one junior designated as Buttpot for the outfit and would be in charge of all crew chiefs and fish for their unit, as well as serving as the spokesperson for the outfit. The nonreg equivalent would be a yellow pot. Buttpots could be identified by a Maroon pot with their outfit name on the front and "Buttpot" clearly written on the back.

Yellowpot

Yellowpots are the liaison to higher on-site leadership for crews. Each dorm with enough volunteers will have a yellowpot designated who serves as spokesman for that dorm, as well as manager to the crew chiefs of his dorm.^[6] One leadership position, Load Pot, technically falls within the hierarchy as a Yellowpot, but does not represent any specific dorm. The Load Pot is typically a junior who is charged with the responsibility of supervising Load directly with a Brownpot and a Redpot. The Load Pot is the head authority of Load site, however if he is not on a truck he has no power within student bonfire.

Crew chief

Crew chiefs are in charge of each dorm's crew while at Cut and Stack, serving as both instructors and supervisors. With larger dorms, there will be multiple crew chiefs to ensure that there is adequate supervision of the larger crews.^[6]

Greenpot

Greenpots are in charge of administrative and financial aspects. These students are responsible for things such as checking people in at the beginning of the day, collecting organization dues, selling merchandise, and managing paperwork. While no position is technically restricted to certain genders, Greenpots are the only leadership position that has been historically held by females. This position was created in 2003.

Outhouse Crew/Orangepots

The Outhouse Crew is in charge of building the orange outhouse that sits on top of the bonfire stack. The Outhouse Crew is made up of 6 sophomore cadets from The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band. A crewmember is chosen from each of the four band outfits and a head crewmember and grode crewmember are also chosen. The outhouse is built in a secret location before being unveiled in front of the Dixie Chicken on Northgate. From there the outhouse is taken to the bonfire stack where a Redpot rides it to the top as it is lifted by crane.^[9]

Pinkpots

Female workers who supervised the volunteers who provided "moral support", concessions (sandwiches), and other assistance to workers.^[10]This position did not continue with Student Bonfire.

Transition of roles

The leadership roles themselves change each year as they are given, or "passed down", to younger students.^[8] The process for determining who gets the responsibility of these roles changes from pot to pot, but ultimately, the candidates are voted on according to who best represents the desired qualities. In the cases of crew chiefs and Yellowpots, the vote is decided within the dorm by the leaders for that year, and candidates are usually chosen from the freshman of that dorm. For the higher positions, such as the Redpots, the candidates are chosen from the pool of Crew Chiefs, Yellows, and any member of the applicable year. The Greenpots are the only non-dorm-specific pots that do not use crew chiefs or Yellowpots as candidates.

References