Every Spring there is a dance for all the members of the band.  It is
called BQ Ball.  I believe it all started back in the mid 80's when a
distinguished Aggie Alumni by the name of Mr. Olsen (yes, the same guy
that the baseball field is named for) who lived in College Station was
outside on his porch listening to the Aggie Band practice one afternoon,
and despite having been a CT himself, was incredibly motivated.  He
decided to monetarily aid the band by sponsoring a new cord to be worn by
band members on their uniforms.  These cords are not cheap, and so he
presented his gift idea to the band.  They said thanks, but that a cord
was too much.  They didn't want for his generosity to go for a decoration
earned merely by being a member of the band.  Instead, they proposed a
counter idea that he endow a living gift.  One that would be a tribute and
tradition in the band for years to come.  So Mr. Olsen established a fund
to finance the first BQ Ball.  Since then, every year, the band gathers,
normally in the Bryan Convention Center to have a delightful evening of
festivity to eat, drink, and be merry.

A particularly interesting BQ Ball in my memory was the one held my
freshman year.  It was a fest as always, and I always enjoyed the
occasion.  The events that stick in my mind happened later.  It was about
2AM that night.  We had partaken of many of life's most wondrous
experiences.  We had danced, and consumed fine wine.  All and all, a
lovely evening.  And fish Hay was back in the Dorm asleep.  Unbeknownst to
fish Hay, fish Feuerbacher was returning, and was accompanied by Mr.
Crouch, B-Company CO.  Zac Crouch was from Alamogordo, NM, which is where
fish Hay's parents were at.  He was getting fish Feuerbacher to pull off
his boots, since they are difficult to remove by oneself.  Hence, seniors
get freshman to pull them off.  A little aside here.  Jeff Donell used to
curl his toes to make it more difficult to remove them.  Don't think I
have forgotten about that.  Anyway, Mr. Crouch was getting his boots
pulled off, and while seated he was mere inches away from the sleeping
form of fish Hay.  He couldn't resist flicking fish hay's ear to annoy him
(what could fish Hay do, after all).  Well fish Hay was annoyed by this
flicking, at crossed into that realm between sleep and awake when your not
really coherent, but you are asleep either.  He swatted a hand at the
annoying flicking to ward it off, but Mr. Crouch persisted.  In all
fairness fish Hay thought his roommate was annoying him, so he said to stop
it.  Yet Mr. Crouch kept on.  At this point, fish Hay got mad, and without
opening his eyes, lashed out with a violent swing of his right fist.  Now,
I didn't hit Mr. Crouch, and it is a damn good thing I didn't.  I missed
by a couple inches.  But he was surprised, and almost fell out of the
chair in shock.  Along with swinging at him, I stated in no uncertain
terms that I wanted the damn flicking to stop immediately.  Then, still
borderline asleep, fish Hay rolled over and sought to rest.  It is at that
point that Mr. Crouch first spoke.  "Do you know who this is?" he asked.
Fish Hay opened his eyes and was facing away toward the wall at the time.
Your buddies never ask, "Do you know who this is?"  Only upperclassmen do
that.  That meant one thing. Trouble.  So I hesitantly answered,
"No....(long five second pause)..., Sir".  I tacked the sir on the end
because the realization was hitting me that I had swung at an
upperclassmen.  He said, "It's Mr. Crouch".  Ouch.  I felt that in my gut.
I was in trouble.  You screw up, you pay up.  What would the penalty
be.  Mr. Crouch was livid.  He ranted for five minutes about how he was
going to punish not just me, but my whole class.  The next day was
Saturday, normally a day of respite.  But he demanded that we be lined up
in physical training gear on the wall at 0500 hours.  Oh god.  I was in
turmoil.  My buddies were gonna kill me.  Having to get up and do PT for
fish Hay's mistakes at 0500 the day after BQ Ball was not going to endear
me to any of them much.  I was racked with guilt, and couldn't sleep.  For
30 minutes my stomach was twisting in knots with worry.  And then Mr.
Crouch called on the phone.  "Psyche!" he said, "I was just kidding about
the morning PT.  You're forgiven.  I was just messing with your mind Hay.
Sleep well."  And that was that.  So ended a fascinating evening of BQ Ball
enjoyment mixed with the adversity of being a freshman.