What I Learned in Aggieland

Roger Creager ’93, Texas country singer-songwriter

In fall 1998, students shuffled onto the Aggie Spirit bus, where an enthusiastic 27-year-old student greeted them from behind the wheel. The driver liked his job. It paid well, the hours were flexible and the campus bus drivers comprised a unique community, not unlike the Corps of Cadets, which he had cherished participating in years before. Occasionally, it even helped promote his music. The local country station, 98.3 KORA, ran ads for his debut album and weekly bar gigs saying, “Get your tickets for Roger Creager at Hurricane Harry's!” On cue, the driver turned to his captive audience and yelled, “Hey, that's me! Y'all come see me tonight!”

Creager ’93 first came to Texas A&M as a freshman in 1989, joining the Corps and quickly embracing the university's famed “other education”—at the detriment of its regular education. “I didn't really apply myself then,” he admitted. Creager drifted in and out of scholastic probation, but he doesn't look back on that time and see wasted years. “The Corps gave me a sense of pride and self-respect that followed me the rest of my life.”

Ultimately, Creager’s grade struggles forced him to finish his business degree at Sam Houston State University. After a few years at an unfulfilling office job, he hit the reset button and returned to Aggieland. This time, he was hyper-focused on fulfilling two lifelong dreams: getting a Texas A&M degree and playing music for a living. Studying agricultural development by day and working on his first album, “Having Fun All Wrong,” by night, Creager successfully released his record in August 1998 and graduated that December.

The album proved a hit, and Creager has been on tour ever since. An adventurist at heart, he treasures the opportunities music has given him to fish, ski, fly, and hike his way around the world. He's even participated in the annual running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, on multiple occasions. Though he has plenty of advice to offer Aggies pursuing their passion, he has none for potential bull runners. “There are a few things in the world I'm just naturally good at,” he remarked, “and getting out of the way of a dang bull is one of them.”

Martha Madison ’99, soap opera star

The life of the average soap opera character is notoriously grueling, traumatic, and utterly absurd. Martha Madison ’99 knows this more than most. Her character, Belle Black Brady, on NBC’s landmark soap opera “Days of our Lives” has gone through the wringer since Madison started playing her in 2004. “Belle has been married three times and divorced twice,” Madison explained. “Her daughter has been committed to a mental institution, both of her parents have died and come back to life, and she recently got possessed by the Devil!” Thankfully, Madison has lived a quiet life in comparison, though not without its challenges.

Growing up performing musical theatre in Houston, Madison saw herself as more of a dancer than an actor or singer and sought to hone her talents as a dance major at Texas Tech University. After a semester in Lubbock, though, she transferred to Texas A&M to study psychology closer to home. Shortly after, she found a spot on the Aggie Dance Team and eventually became captain during her senior year. “I loved it,” Madison said. “It was like a cross between a sorority and a full-time job.” After graduation, Madison accepted an offer to a prestigious musical theatre program in New York City, but an ankle injury cut her dance dreams short a year in.

Determined to pivot quickly, she found a television agent and moved to Los Angeles, where she soon found her role on “Days,” a historically long-running show that held a personal connection. “I used to watch it with my sisters during the summers and got hooked,” she said. Though the storylines can be winkingly far-fetched, the work schedule is no joke. Whereas most prime time shows shoot a single episode over a week, Madison and crew often shoot eight episodes in the same time frame. “It takes discipline and team spirit, both of which I practiced at Texas A&M,” she stated. Now, no matter where her story goes, she knows she can hit her mark at a moment’s notice.

Charean Williams ’86, veteran NFL sportswriter

Charean Williams ’86 was walking with her parents into her junior high in Beaumont, Texas, when she came across two boys in a heated argument. “One turned to me and said, ‘Hey, Charean, what number does Lee Roy Jordan on the Cowboys wear?’” Williams remembered: “I looked at him like he was stupid and said, ‘55!’ That boy turned to the other, saying, ‘I told you so!’ and the other boy gave him a dollar.”

Everyone in town knew Williams was the authority on Dallas Cowboys knowledge. At age 8, she made the local paper when she told her teacher she would marry star quarterback Roger Staubach. For as long as Williams could remember, she wanted to become a journalist and cover the Cowboys. “I was just so in love with the game itself,” she said. When she landed at Texas A&M, she latched onto The Battalion’s sports beat, applying her same enthusiasm and attention to detail while covering Aggie football and basketball. “The Aggie Spirit is real. It’s not hard to fall for the university while you’re there,” she said.

Post-graduation, Williams built up her resume by writing for local newspapers before securing her first gig following an NFL team at the Orlando Sentinel, where she covered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She reported on the team for six years, building rapport with stars like Warren Sapp, John Lynch, and Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy. Then, in 1999, she got the call that made her real dream come true: the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wanted her to cover her beloved Cowboys. “I got the call,” she remembered, “and I just thought, ‘Wow, I made it.’”

Williams reported on the Cowboys for 17 seasons before taking on her current role writing for Pro Football Talk. Along the way, she became the first woman to have a vote for the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the first woman to serve as president of the Pro Football Writers of America, also receiving their highest honor, the Bill Nunn Award (formerly the Dick McCann Award), in 2018. Other women working in the NFL have credited her as an influence on their careers. “I never thought I would inspire others,” she said. “It was never a goal for me when I started out, but I’m just so blessed to be in this position and encourage women to take advantage of every opportunity that comes their way.”

Frank Zastoupil ’09, Blue Angels demonstration pilot

Before he climbs into the cockpit of his FA-18 Super Hornet, Blue Angels pilot Frank Zastoupil ’09 makes a routine but profound gesture: He shakes his crew chief’s hand. “That handshake is the final bond between pilot and crew chief,” Zastoupil stated. “They do all the plane’s maintenance and make sure it’s safe to fly. The crowd may not realize it, but that handshake is our way of saying, ‘I trust you with my life.’” Trust is paramount within the Blue Angels, and Zastoupil has spent his life preparing to become the pilot his teammates can trust with their lives, too.

In 1990, when Zastoupil was 4 years old, his father took him to a Blue Angels show and passed down a childhood dream. “He wanted to be a pilot when he was a kid, but he had a surgery that prevented him from flying,” Zastoupil said. Fascinated by the Angels’ maneuvers, he took up his father’s desire to serve his country from above. Hailing from a long line of Aggies, including his great-grandfather, aunt, uncle, and four cousins, he knew he could pursue his sky-high ambitions at Texas A&M.

Unlike most students with military aspirations, Zastoupil didn't join the Corps of Cadets but still credits his experience in Aggieland for preparing him for his current role. “Attending Texas A&M was one of the best decisions I ever made,” he declared. “Everyone there affirmed my moral character, fed my drive and taught me I could overcome any obstacle.” Zastoupil commissioned as an officer in the United States Marine Corps before finding his way onto the same Blue Angels demonstration team that inspired him three decades before.

Though Zastoupil takes pride in perfecting his electrifying flight routine with his team, he cherishes the community outreach aspect of the Blue Angels above all else. “Just this morning, I was getting breakfast at our hotel when a little girl my daughter’s age saw us and said, ‘Mommy, I want to meet a Blue Angel,’” he said. “I ended up talking with her for 10 minutes. It’s like that everywhere we go, and it just warms my heart to put on that blue suit, inspire others, and be part of something bigger than myself.”