Here in the land of Aggie news, we are aware of what we call “the maroon bubble.” That is, some news is really familiar to those of us living/working around campus, but we realize not all Aggies may actually hear about it if they live outside the bubble.

So here are three Aggies whom, if you haven’t heard their stories already, I think you would enjoy being on a first-name basis with.

Col. Tom C. ‘Ike’ Morris ’33

Ike is the oldest living Aggie we know of. He is also completely awesome. He served on the student committee that set the standards for Aggie Rings (i.e. why they have been identical since 1933 and you must prove senior classification in good standing, etc., to order one). He’s a recipient of the French Legion of Honor for his WWII service, which included D-Day plus 1 on Omaha Beach and the Battle of the Bulge. You know what he did last year? He set up an Aggie Ring Scholarship. So now every year, there’s a student who has their Aggie Ring paid for by him. He lives in San Antonio, he turned 107 in August 2017, and you can find him on Facebook. He remembers Reveille I; he waited tables in Duncan with Gen. Earl Rudder; and he once hitched a ride with E. King Gill (story). Here he is at the 2013 San Antonio A&M Club Muster being presented with the new Aggie Ring he’d ordered (his second replacement):

Von Miller ’11

Von plays for the Denver Broncos now, and was the MVP of the 2016 Super Bowl. More importantly to most of us, he’s a terrific Aggie and a super neat person. He tends to end interviews with “Thanks and gig ’em,” he uses his fame and success to support causes like Von’s Vision (free eye exams and glasses for Denver kids) and Hurricane Harvey relief, and he’s charming and hilarious. Do yourself a true favor and read his funny story from the Players’ Tribune, “Nerd.” Please also enjoy his Madden NFL 17 commercial. At A&M, he majored in poultry science and became so interested in the topic he continues to raise chickens (video). He was on “Dancing With The Stars,” but I honestly prefer the fantastic photo of him, above, at an A&M basketball game; he is not mocking the dance team, but dancing *with* them, perfectly. Here he is being inducted last Friday into A&M’s Sports Hall of fame:

Roy May ’15

Roy is a former yell leader, but not a typical one: As a junior and senior yell leader, he was also a veteran in his 30s. He chose to come to A&M and be a part of the Corps of Cadets after 12 years of service in the Army that included being among the elite who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Roy was sent to the Pentagon on 9/11 for rescue and recovery efforts. He’s still serving in the Army today; he and his family have stayed in College Station, where his most recent venture has been developing his business, Good Bull BBQ, from a food-truck operation to a new bricks-and-mortar location on Southgate that just celebrated its first full week of feeding Aggies. Here he is last year helping illustrate how yell leaders’ styles have changed over the decades (I’m always asked why he’s barefoot in part of the video. The answer is related to how physical the motions of today’s yell leaders are; he was wearing slip-on shoes that were “not ideal on that surface,” so he kicked them off!)