[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 10635]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 JOHN DAVID CROW--AGGIE HEISMAN WINNER

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 25, 2015

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, rough tough, real stuff, Texas A&M. 
The mantra of John David Crow. The man known by all three of his names, 
with a distinctive gaze and commanding presence is the first Aggie 
Heisman Winner who left the piney Louisiana Woods to play football at 
Texas A&M University--and the rest is history.
  Crow has been tough since birth. Born into the Great Depression in 
Marion, Louisiana on July 8, 1935, a midwife struggled to remove the 
umbilical cord wrapped tightly around his neck, which resulted in nerve 
damage--preventing him from ever being able to shut his left eye.
  After almost dying from pneumonia at the age of two, Crow grew into 
his larger-than-life stature. At 6'2", 215 pounds he was made to be a 
football player.
  Crow arrived in College Station, Texas in 1954 to play under football 
legend Paul ``Bear'' Bryant, who he had never even heard of. The newly 
married freshman watched two buses take the football team to training 
camp in Junction and only one bus return--half empty. But he wasn't 
scared. Crow suited up to play anyways.
  A new husband and father, Crow helped lead the Aggies to a conference 
championship and bowl game after coming off a 1-9 season.
  In three seasons, he gained 1,455 yards rushing on 296 attempts, with 
22 touchdowns. His stats may not have put him at the top of the 
leaderboard, but coach Bear Bryant came up with more appropriate and 
realistic statistics to showcase Crow, which he called ``Players Run 
Over.''
  When Crow was told he was a Heisman candidate, he confessed that he 
had never heard of the award. Bryant rallied behind the football player 
saying, ``If he doesn't win the Heisman, they ought to stop giving 
it.'' The saying stuck. In 1957, in almost a landslide vote, John David 
Crow won the Heisman Trophy. The first Aggie to win and the only 
Heisman Trophy winner to ever play for Bryant.
  Crow went on to be a running back in the NFL for the Cardinals in 
Chicago and St. Louis as well as the San Francisco 49ers. After 
retiring in 1968, he joined Bryant on the field again as an assistant 
coach at the University of Alabama. He went back to the NFL as an 
assistant coach with Cleveland and San Diego. In 1983, he returned back 
to his maroon alma mater as the assistant athletic director under 
Jackie Sherrill.
  Crow was a husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. For as 
much success as Crow knew, he has also knew deep sorrow. His son, John 
David Jr., born while his father was playing at Texas A&M and also 
played under Bear Bryant, was killed in 1994.
  John David Crow passed away on June 18th, joining his son.
  The statue of Crow outside the Bright Athletic Complex at Texas A&M 
University accurately portrays the man whose name is synonymous with 
Aggie Football. It depicts the strapping Louisiana paper mill teenager 
who showed up in Texas unintimidated, unafraid, and more than ready to 
bring pride to a small Texas town.
  They just don't make them like John David Crow anymore--rough tough, 
real stuff, Texas A&M. ``Gig 'Em Aggies''
  And that's just the way it is.

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