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When Aggie Met Tessie: Texas A&M University’s Special Relationship With Texas Woman’s University

Remembering the days of the Aggie Sweetheart competition, organized mixers and serendipitous encounters that led to love.

By Alice Popovici

Lead photo courtesy TWU Libraries Woman’s Collection, Texas Woman’s University, Denton TX

Cheryl Holland Bridges will never forget walking onto the football field at Texas Christian University at halftime on Oct. 16, 1965, when the Horned Frogs played the Aggies. As she stepped onto the field, the legendary Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band fanned out to spell her nickname: C-H-E-R-I. In keeping with tradition, the newly appointed Aggie Sweetheart shared a kiss with the Texas A&M University Corps Commander as Aggies erupted in cheer.
 

Texas Woman’s University sophomore Cheryl Holland Bridges was selected as the 1965-66 Aggie Sweetheart.

For Bridges, then a sophomore at Texas Woman’s University (TWU) and a self-described “Texas A&M devotee,” the evening marked the beginning of a year brimming with social events. Aggie Sweethearts were part of a tradition that began in the 1930s to celebrate and nurture the close bond between the all-female TWU, whose students were known as “Tessies,” and Texas A&M, which was then an all-male military school. Selected every year from nominated TWU students, the Aggie Sweetheart acted as the social glue between the two schools, bringing school spirit to Aggie football games, dances and other social events.

Though the tradition was phased out in the 1970s, roughly a decade after Texas A&M began enrolling women, it was still in full swing during Bridges’ college years. She remembers the legendary Fish Dance and Ring Dance, as well as Texas A&M’s float during the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, as the highlights of her time as Aggie Sweetheart. And although she met plenty of romantic prospects, she said her official obligations as Aggie Sweetheart always came first.

“As the Aggie Sweetheart, you had a different companion, or date, for each event,” Bridges explained. “There were a lot of times I thought I was madly in love with the Aggie who took me to a certain event, but I couldn’t date him again. I had to date a different one the next event!”

Old-Fashioned Romance

For most Tessie-Aggie pairs, dating was less complicated. Considering that TWU had been designated from its inception as a “sister school” to Texas A&M, there were plenty of opportunities for Tessies to mingle with Aggies. In addition to football games, dances and other social outings, the schools planned debates and rifle team matches and even organized train trips between Denton-based TWU and College Station. So, it was no surprise that romance blossomed between students at the two schools, leading to quite a few marriages between Tessies and Aggies.
 

Cheryl Holland Bridges shares a kiss with a Texas A&M Yell Leader (top left); Aggies participate in the annual Tessie cornhusking (top right) and Tessies welcome Aggies to a dance (bottom left, photos courtesy TWU Libraries Woman’s Collection, Texas Woman’s University, Denton TX); and another Aggie Sweetheart is selected (bottom right; photo courtesy Cushing Memorial Library and Archives).

Paul Romere ’61, a retired NASA aerospace consultant, met his wife, Betsy, purely by accident when the introductory letter she sent via a TWU P.O. box — as incoming Tessies were encouraged to do, ostensibly to connect with single Aggies — was delivered to his dorm neighbor, also by accident. “When a freshman came to Texas A&M, they wrote to their same post office box number at Texas Woman’s University, and TWU students did the same,” Romere said of this so-called box mate tradition. “As it turned out, Betsy’s handwriting was bad enough that it got put in the wrong box.” 

“I’ve got this Tessie letter,” Romere remembered his neighbor saying. “I’m engaged, and you’re not going steady with anybody. Why don’t you write this lady back?”

He and Betsy, who was studying nursing, exchanged a few letters in fall 1961 before meeting in person at a football game. Romere realized immediately that he wanted to pursue the relationship further.

The couple, who raised three boys, recently celebrated 61 years of marriage.
 

A smiling Aggie Sweetheart and football player enjoy a 1941 game along with the admiring crowd. Photo courtesy TWU Libraries Woman’s Collection, Texas Woman’s University, Denton TX.

“I was impressed with her the first time I saw her, and I thought, ‘This is going to be the one,’” Romere said. “It’s just something that kind of strikes you.”

School Spirit, Love and Marriage

Katherine Thedford Blachly ’98 describes her childhood home as “Aggie gaudy” — with a Texas A&M afghan on the living room couch, Aggie-themed cross-stitch pictures and even an Aggie family tree proudly displayed on a chalkboard in the kitchen. Blachly and her sister, Mary Thedford Ramsey ’93, who are both married to Aggies, credit their late mother, TWU graduate Julie Thedford, with collecting the Aggie-themed decor in addition to countless stories about relatives who attended Texas A&M. 

“We’ve done all the family histories,” said Blachly, adding that her mom’s father, uncle, and great-great uncle (among other relatives) were Aggies. “As kids, my mom ensured we knew our Aggie lineage.”  

Blachly and Ramsey’s parents met on the TWU campus in 1963. Marvin Thedford ’65 recalls meeting Julie and her roommate by chance when he and a friend drove to Denton to attend a dance organized in tandem with the football game against TCU. As the two boys were looking for parking, they stopped to ask the two girls for directions and exchanged contact information. Later, he began corresponding with both girls.

“One day, I got the letters mixed up. One of them thought it was very funny, and the other one didn't like it,” Thedford said. “I married the one who thought it was funny.”
 

Aggies and Tessies play with Reveille at a school dance. Photo courtesy TWU Libraries Woman’s Collection, Texas Woman’s University, Denton TX.

Bridges, the 1965-66 Aggie Sweetheart, did not end up marrying one of the many Aggies she dated during her sophomore year. But it was during that year that she met the head of human resources at the department store chain Sanger-Harris, which later became Macy’s. This contact would help her land a job after college, launching her career in retail marketing. 

She did end up marrying an Aggie, eventually. Several years after college, a mutual friend set her up with her late husband, Raymond “Eddy” Bridges ’62, a Houston-based architect.  

“The reason I agreed to a first date with Eddy is because the person who introduced us said he was an Aggie,” Bridges laughed. “We immediately hit it off.” A few Texas A&M football games later, she knew all her early dates as Aggie Sweetheart had paid off — this Tessie had finally met her Aggie match.

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