GHW Bush makes appearance at Texas A&M Tourney

[mbuff]

Sunday Nov 6th, 2005 ~ 10:30am
Penberthy Field #1

Former President George H.W. Bush made an appearance at the Texas A&M Tournament, stopped and shook hands with lacrosse players from Coppell Men's and San Antonio Men's in the middle of the game.

Bush was out walking his dog [looked like Millie] along the west side of field #1 and was accompanied by two Secret Service agents. I was watching the game from the stands and could see three heads moving down in the draw below the field but was really watching the unsettled play in the midfield at the time.

The action was across the field near the west sideline and right after someone gained possession and started toward the box, another player yelled TIMEOUT!!!. The ref did not blow the whistle because the ball was not in the box and I'm not sure that the player who called the TO was on the team that had possession. The next thing you hear is "IT'S THE F'ing PRESIDENT" and the guy starts pointing his stick at the three people walking. The ref looks over and blows the whistle.

Players on the field all start moving to the west sideline (opposite the benches and table) as the three people come up the hill and onto the same level as the field. That's when I can see that it is the President, his dog, and the SS guys. Meanwhile, the central clock is still running....

After shaking hands and some banter, the game resumed and Bush walked south and I guess he went by the other fields. There were not that many folks out for the first Sunday games and I didn't see any huge throngs so I guess his dog walking was not delayed too long.

It was pretty cool to go to a lacrosse game and have a President break out.

[tamu33]

Bush senior has made his rounds of the lacrosse field for a while now. I remember my first encounter was during the spring of 2000. He stopped by on his way back from a jog and watched our practice from afar. When he finally continued on he passed very close to the practice field while heading back to his apartment at the GB library. Since then players for A&M have been known to jog over and greet the former President while he walks bye (sometimes with his dog). Also for a few select players (Political Science majors) myself included (i think Jason Dunn too) Bush has sat through a class with us. The man is very sharp, he remembered some of our names when he returned to our class later in the semester.

[jessexy]

he's worked out at the REc Center for several years when he is in town. he would always wave when he came in and i was working. he even chetted a few times. cool dude.