Baylor Gameday Vibes: Tailgating, Traditions, Friends and Food

Show Notes

For many Baylor fans, some of the best moments of game day happen long before kickoff. Friends and family reconnect, tailgate, cheer and celebrate a shared love for the Bears. And, of course, there's plenty of food.

 Les Hixson and Tim Twaddell have been attending Baylor games for as long as they can remember and now help run The Corner Tailgate in Baylor's Backyard Tailgating section, a gathering place for old and new friends alike. As members of multi-generational Baylor families, they've seen it all, from Floyd Casey Stadium to McLane Stadium, and share memories of favorite moments, tailgating traditions and the friendships that keep them coming back to Waco year after year. From Baylor victories to voodoo tater tots, they discuss why fans gather on the Brazos long before kickoff and how game day creates the sense of community that defines the Baylor experience from pregame to postgame and everything in between.

Tbe conversation includes:

• how a few friends grew The Corner Tailgate into what it is today
• how what happens outside the stadium has become as big of a tradition for many fans as the games themselves
• the friendships that have been built over years of Saturdays together in Waco 
• how Baylor game days bring parents, children, grandchildren, and friends back together year after year 
• the work that goes into building a great tailgating spot
• favorite foods and traditions of The Corner Tailgate
• stories of welcoming everyone from first-time visitors to lifelong season ticket holders 
• favorite memories spanning decades of Baylor football, from Floyd Casey Stadium to McLane Stadium 
• how Baylor's move to the riverfront transformed game day while preserving the traditions fans love 
• the food, fun and rivalries that have become part of the Baylor game-day experience 
• why so many Bears plan their fall weekends around coming back to Waco

Transcript

Derek Smith:
Football season is here, and the Baylor family is preparing to converge on the brasses this weekend for the home opener against Prairie View A&M. Fan First Initiatives abound as the home portion of the schedule begins inside McLane Stadium and certainly out where tailgating is growing once again, we've got concerts before each home game, and of course it's the Baylor family that makes it all what it is. And we've got two members of the Baylor family here with us today on Baylor Connections. Longtime Baylor friends and family members. They are part of The Corner Tailgate.
Now, a lot of you may know The Corner Tailgate, but for those of you who don't, we're going to find out about what makes The Corner Tailgate just what it is and get some of the stories of their time supporting Baylor football through the years. Our guests today are Les Hixson and Tim Twaddell. Les, who's a 1997 Baylor grad, Tim a 1993 at Baylor grad. They've been friends and fans for a long, long time and they're with us here today. Les and Tim, really appreciate you making the time to join us here on campus and talk about all you do that makes game day so special.

Les Hixson:
Excited to be here. Thank you so much.

Tim Twaddell:
Thank you, Derek.

Derek Smith:
Well, as we talked off the air, I guess we've got a lot of directions we can go with this. You've talked about your tailgate and what you put into it. And I've already know a lot of work has gone into just getting it set up for the opening game here. But let's zoom out a little bit here. What are you most looking forward to? And Les, I'll start with you. First home game, Prairie View A&M, getting back together with friends. What are you most excited about? What most makes it feel like, "Okay, football season, we're back here"?

Les Hixson:
The best part of a home game day to me, it begins at the tailgate for us on a Friday night. So we are out there with our group when we're working together, getting things set up for the next day. When we get to actually on the game day, it's the people that we haven't seen forever, it's all those people that come back to the tailgate, it's being a gathering place at the tailgate, and then, obviously, we love being in the stadium and cheering on the team and a win, of course.

Derek Smith:
How about you, Tim?

Tim Twaddell:
This season, I'm really looking forward to the emphasis of bringing everybody back onto the peninsula. So the peninsula was incredible for so long, and then after COVID, it was not quite the same as it has been. And I really think there's been an emphasis on bringing people back and I'm really looking forward to see the change that's going to bring this year.

Derek Smith:
I've seen a lot about the flexibility, different ways that people can set up their tailgates and just bringing people back to bring back, I think, that buzz outside the stadium.

Tim Twaddell:
I'm really excited about it. Yep.

Les Hixson:
The Bear Walk being there will be a big part of that as well.

Derek Smith:
They've kept adding little bells, literal bells, and whistles to what's going to be part of the pregame experience.

Les Hixson:
Exactly.

Derek Smith:
And that's going to be a lot of fun. And, boy, as you all just described it, just start on game day for you. The game weekend is really the thing, as you talk about setting up on Fridays, and we're going to dive into that. But you've been doing this for a long time, so I want to know how long for each of you. How long have you been tailgating? How long have y'all been coming to Baylor games? How early do those memories go back?

Tim Twaddell:
Coming to Baylor games, my brother's much older than me. He graduated in 1976, I was five. So I started going to Baylor games in the fall of '76. I was five years old and my parents refused to buy me a season ticket, so I just sat in the end zone with all the other orphaned children that were dumped in the end zone. And we had a regular, everybody got together every single week and we hung out, and at the end of the game we'd go find our parents and go home. But that's kind of where I got started was in the north end zone at Floyd Casey.

Derek Smith:
Pretty early memories.

Tim Twaddell:
Correct.

Derek Smith:
And then for you, who were some of the players, was it Grant Teaff era?

Tim Twaddell:
Correct. Alfred Anderson was probably the first player that I ever met that I really loved. In the '79 Peach Bowl, I actually was there on Clark County Stadium and walked down onto the field and got to meet Mike Singletary. And I walked off and he goes, "Hey, kid." And it was the time of the mean green commercial.

Derek Smith:
The old commercial.

Tim Twaddell:
I thought he was going to throw me his jersey, but he didn't. We got a picture taken and it was awesome.

Derek Smith:
That's great.

Tim Twaddell:
That was a lot of fun. I was nine.

Derek Smith:
Nine years old. What about you, Les?

Les Hixson:
Yeah. I was born in Louisiana, so 1976, I believe, would've been my first game. So we made pretty much every home game with my family from Lake Charles, Louisiana, driving over here for weekends. So we began going to games all the way back then. My memories really started in the '80s with the game. So some of the people Tim said, I remember going, basically didn't miss a bowl game. So there was great memories watching. Matt Clark's one of the people that comes to my mind early in those '80s years. Mike Singletary actually spent a night in our house in Louisiana, believe it or not. So he was an early memory, for sure, that I loved cheering for him. And been coming back ever since then. Rarely miss a home game at this point.

Derek Smith:
You guys have seen it all is what I take away from this.

Les Hixson:
Yeah.

Derek Smith:
All the ups, the downs, everything in between.

Les Hixson:
Yeah, absolutely.

Derek Smith:
You've seen it all.

Les Hixson:
Yep.

Derek Smith:
And you still keep on coming back. Maybe the obvious question, you said neither of you have missed many games over the years. So that means from all the milestones in life each of you have had, family members, you had kids, all these different things. Why have you kept coming back is, I think, the question that comes to mind for me? Why has it been so important for you not to miss?

Les Hixson:
Yeah, there's definitely points along the way when it's been easier than others, as you referenced. But I love it because what Baylor stands for is the "why" behind that. And so I love what Baylor stands for as a university. One of the best ways for me to express that is to support the teams on the field and be in the stands and help that environment as much as I can. And so I feel, personally, that it's the right thing to do, to be there in the stands and support those players. I love all of that behind it. Obviously game days are fun, it's part of my family, and so that's why I'm still around.

Tim Twaddell:
I was going to say that for many years I was probably a glutton for punishment, but the bottom line is we're not quitters. We're here.

Les Hixson:
Yep.

Tim Twaddell:
So if you're going to put on a game, we're going to be there.

Derek Smith:
Corner Tailgate, I don't know if it's been The Corner Tailgate, the actual name the whole time you've been doing it. In fact, y'all have hats on, I see "Established 2014", but y'all have been tailgating a lot longer than that. When did you start and how did it all kind of come together?

Tim Twaddell:
Well, our first official season together was 2014. They had a group, we had a group, there was a couple of other groups and we kind of just amalgamated and it worked really seamlessly. Is that fair?

Les Hixson:
Yeah. At Floyd Casey, we were separate kind of near each other. We joined into that scene as that scene was really starting to grow. We were super excited about it. When our group started, it was three guys in a truck and we were setting up our own tents and I believe we went and picked up food from a store for the first couple tailgates because we weren't even prepared to cook anything. And so that happened and then we got really excited about the momentum with the program and then the move over to McLean that Tim and I said, "We've got to do this together and make it bigger."

Derek Smith:
From Floyd Casey all the way to now, and what? About 12 now, probably 13 seasons, if I'm doing the math right, that y'all have been officially The Corner Tailgate. So for those who don't know, what makes The Corner Tailgate what it is? It's a little more elaborate than when you started, three guys in a truck, right? It's a little more elaborate now. So what is The Corner Tailgate known for?

Les Hixson:
Go ahead.

Tim Twaddell:
Good food, good times, good people, is what I would say. We do our best to provide a good experience for everybody. We don't ask for a dime. When we have donations, if you want to participate, but it's just something we do because we love it. If you want to come join in then come on.

Les Hixson:
Yeah, I think everything Tim said I would agree with. We put a lot of time into how we think about the food and those things. We've spent a lot of time to make sure it's a comfortable environment where people can at least get out of the shade, maybe have a fan blowing on them, some of those kinds of things.
But the parts I think about of why it's special is a member of our tailgate happens to be my dad who I describe him as our greeter because he's finding every opposing fan that walks by and making sure they know they can come in and hang out as long as they want to. And so it's a place that we want opposing fans to feel comfortable, and then anybody that comes in, hopefully they know somebody there.

Derek Smith:
So if I'm walking up to the tailgate, what am I going to see? What am I going to see that makes The Corner Tailgate? Les, we'll start with you. What makes it different from others?

Les Hixson:
Yeah. We've got big tents, so there are a lot of those. We have a person that's part of our tailgate as well, who it is his obsession to make sure there are two flags on every single pole all the way around that tailgate. So that's one of the first things you'll see is a plethora of flags of all different types up there, a lot of them Baylor. And then we do have a lot of tables set up inside there, lots of TVs, lots of fans. There has been an Airstream at the tailgate for a number of years. It's a lot of work, for sure.

Derek Smith:
Did I hear you say chandeliers are part of the setup?

Les Hixson:
Oh, yeah.

Tim Twaddell:
Well, we have 16 box fans in the corner of every single tent, 10 TVs, and eight chandeliers. So two for every tent. And so we do what we can to make it comfortable for everybody.

Derek Smith:
How long does it take to set all that up?

Tim Twaddell:
We're going to be out there until probably midnight tonight and probably until midday tomorrow. But the nice thing is, I don't know of any other place other than Baylor that allows you to put all the infrastructure up on the day one and you don't have to take it down until the end of the season. I mean, it would not be possible for us to do what we do week-in and week-out if we had to do it every single week. There's no way. We wouldn't do it.

Les Hixson:
Absolutely. The cable and the power being on site, having a consistent place where your tailgate lives, all of that just makes sense.

Tim Twaddell:
We're going to have to run 200 feet of coaxial cable up pipes and down tents to the TVs to get them ready, and you just can't do that every week. So Baylor's kind of a unique situation.

Derek Smith:
Labor of love, it sounds like, to get this set up.

Tim Twaddell:
Absolutely.

Les Hixson:
Definitely.

Derek Smith:
So it begins on Friday nights for y'all, Friday nights of home games. So if you would, just take us through, give us an overview of what the weekend looks like from Friday evening into game day.

Tim Twaddell:
Go ahead.

Les Hixson:
Friday night, we have people really scattered around Texas that are part of the tailgate group.

Derek Smith:
Because you're in Austin?

Les Hixson:
Yes.

Derek Smith:
And Tim's in Tyler. Okay.

Les Hixson:
We've got Tyler, Austin, Houston, let's see, another Tyler. We're spread all around most of the big towns in Texas. And so on Friday night, we all arrive at different times when it works for us. And that's when the TVs come out and we began to get the setup out, get some of the food prep, if there's any food that needs to be ready for the next day, doing all of that. Eventually, most Friday nights we will find time to take a seat and get to hang out and talk to each other. And that's really one of the few times we get with just the tailgate group together to get to catch up on what's going on in life. So that's Friday night.

Tim Twaddell:
And watch whatever game is on that night.

Les Hixson:
Yeah.

Derek Smith:
Yeah.

Tim Twaddell:
So we'll put the TVs on. If somebody's playing Friday night, we'll sit around and watch it.

Derek Smith:
And then Saturday, game day, what's the work look like to make it what it is?

Tim Twaddell:
That depends on the kickoff time. For 11:00, we're usually there about 7:30 and you never know how many people are going to show up. 11:00 is the hardest to plan for because you want to do a breakfast, but you never know who's going to be there. If you win, people will show up. If you don't, people won't show up. So you don't really know what to do after the game. It's just kind of hard to plan for. And we're very thankful that our first two games of the season are 7:30 and 7:00, correct?

Derek Smith:
7:30 and then an afternoon game with the Louisiana Tech.

Tim Twaddell:
What time is that one?

Derek Smith:
That is, I believe, 3:00.

Tim Twaddell:
Oh, though it was 7:00.

Derek Smith:
That's a TV game.

Tim Twaddell:
Okay. I thought that was a 7:00 also.

Derek Smith:
But right off the top, you're right, we've got that evening.

Tim Twaddell:
That makes it a lot easier to plan for.

Derek Smith:
Yeah.

Les Hixson:
So in a night game, we're in for the long haul. So the arrival time doesn't change a whole lot from when we get there in the morning, and so that is a get out there and make breakfast for the workers. And then the nice thing on those kinds of days is we have some time to sit down and watch other games usually, which that's one of the hard parts about running a tailgate is you actually watch less football than some people do because you're very busy. But we love those days. The night games are the best because we can have longer with all the people to come to the tailgate and we love those days.

Tim Twaddell:
Absolutely.

Derek Smith:
Now, you're a doctor, you're in finance, so you bring different skills and backgrounds. Does that work itself into the way you each work at the tailgate? Do you have people in there with different skills? Is one person the chef? Is one person logistics? What's that all look like? Does everyone have their role or is it just kind of move around, fungible?

Les Hixson:
I think I'm going to steal your line because I believe I've heard you say this, that we're kind of like a church where everybody has different tools and-

Derek Smith:
We bring what we have.

Les Hixson:
We bring what we have, whether that may be finances, in some cases, or amount of work you can put in. And, really, that tends to move around a lot over a year and several years where there'll be one week where someone cooks more than the others. Tim does the bulk of the cooking for the tailgate, I will say that, but the entire group contributes to that.

Tim Twaddell:
Absolutely.

Les Hixson:
A lot of people, we have probably 25 people that are part of all the hard work of moving stuff around and getting things set up and all of that.

Tim Twaddell:
But he's being a little self-deprecating. A tailgate our size is a business. We're actually registered as a social club with the IRS and he handles all the books. So that is very much appreciated.

Derek Smith:
That's good.

Les Hixson:
A nonprofitable business.

Tim Twaddell:
Correct.

Derek Smith:
Nonprofitable. That's fun. Obviously you've got a lot of customers, some pay, some don't.

Les Hixson:
That's fine doesn't matter.

Derek Smith:
So as the cook, what food is The Corner known for? If people show up there, what's the best thing to try? Maybe Les is the guy to ask that, but I'll start with you. Do you have a specialty?

Tim Twaddell:
The best thing we do, I would say is we usually do racks of lamb for homecoming. Would you say that's the best?

Les Hixson:
Yeah.

Tim Twaddell:
Okay.

Les Hixson:
That's not all the time.

Tim Twaddell:
No.

Les Hixson:
I think if you're thinking about what you can rely on when you go to the tailgate, one of the staples, there are a lot of things that move around, it's pretty consistent, you're going to be there and see Voodoo tots. So that is tater tots with Voodoo seasoning all over them.

Tim Twaddell:
We have a five gallon oil fryer that you would see at a burger store with the dropdown baskets and our Voodoo tots are very, very good.

Derek Smith:
Sounds great.

Les Hixson:
Those tend to get changed into "tachos" every once in a while. So tater tots with whatever meat, queso, all of those things.

Tim Twaddell:
Guacamole.

Les Hixson:
Yeah. We'll do sausage, we'll do ribs, we'll do the standard tailgate fair as well, but we do try to change it up on a regular basis.

Derek Smith:
The possibilities with the Voodoo tots or nachos are endless, it seems like.

Les Hixson:
Yes.

Derek Smith:
Yeah.

Les Hixson:
There's no way to go wrong.

Tim Twaddell:
There's two 40-pound boxes a season.

Derek Smith:
Wow. That's amazing. So if he was a restaurant and you're putting on a Yelp review, would he get five stars, four stars? What are we talking about here?

Les Hixson:
The cleanliness level is not always perfect, but the quality is five star.

Tim Twaddell:
That's funny.

Derek Smith:
So you watch the games, the food is great, a lot of fellowship. Again, you have people who have been coming in a part of this for a lot of years. I mean, it seems to me like you all, you have kids. I mean, you've probably seen a lot of life for people. Is that fair to say? Is that a main place you share that? Because you said you're all scattered across Texas.

Les Hixson:
Yeah, absolutely. I think your question is the "why" for really both of us, all of our group, is when we started doing this, most of our children were either in high school, or even younger than that in some cases. And the dream was, "Let's do this. We get to be with our friends that we know and then our kids get to be with our friends that they'll get to know. And then one day, maybe they'll go to school here and then they'll bring their friends here. And then eventually they'll get out of school and they'll still keep coming here." And we are that gathering place. We've now seen eight kids, probably, of our tailgate group that have come through Baylor and made that happen.

Tim Twaddell:
Well, and to your point, we're only about three or four years away from a churn. My son is 26. He's in an anesthesiology residency, won't do what I'm doing, but he's going to end up back in Texas, and in three or four years, they're going to begin to start doing some of the work that we've been doing. And so that's going to be really gratifying to see the next wave of people coming into work because they love it just as much as we do.

Derek Smith:
And you had, what, two kids at Baylor?

Tim Twaddell:
Yeah.

Derek Smith:
And you have two kids as well. Are they college age or are they younger?

Les Hixson:
So I have one at Baylor right now, a senior at Baylor. I have a senior in high school that has his application all submitted already that will be hoping to be here next year.

Derek Smith:
So the pieces are all in place.

Les Hixson:
Yeah.

Derek Smith:
Yeah, that's good. Well, part of your goal, part of the "why", you're already seeing it happen. They've come to Baylor.

Les Hixson:
Absolutely.

Derek Smith:
So the plan is going as you want it to.

Les Hixson:
Yeah. We've talked about this with my daughter. Her name's Avery. I have to throw that out there. We told her when she was coming to school here, I wasn't sure if she would end up at Baylor and she decided it was where she needed to be. And I said, "I just want you to know, we have this tailgate. It's really great. We're going to have this whether you're there or not, but we're going to have a pretty good party if you want to bring your friends." And we've seen that where those are some of our favorite years is when our kids of the tailgate people have a freshman because the Baylor lines are-

Tim Twaddell:
The freshman's the best year.

Les Hixson:
It really is.

Tim Twaddell:
My son who's 26 and my daughter who's 22, their freshman year, they brought so many people, just a lot of fun to see the jerseys.

Les Hixson:
We called them the minions at that point because they all came in and just devoured everything.

Tim Twaddell:
Yeah, the minions.

Derek Smith:
Well, as you share these stories, I think a lot of people can relate. There's that Baylor family thing through the generations, but also I'm struck by, you all have to be ready for anything. A daughter or a son might show up with 10 friends or it might be a well-attended game and a lot of people pop in. So what are a couple of stories? What are a couple of your favorite stories through the years, whether it's just, "Man, we got inundated by fans today," or, "Oh, we thought this was going terribly wrong and it went right." Does anything come to mind, like a couple of stories that just capture the zaniness, but also the fun of that tailgating experience for y'all?

Les Hixson:
You go ahead.

Tim Twaddell:
Was it 2015 that we had the absolute deluge the whole season long? And your dad, who was a Regent at the time, shows up to the tailgate wearing Walmart bags on his shoes.

Les Hixson:
True.

Tim Twaddell:
And I was like, "I can't have this." So I literally went and bought him some mud boots. And then the next year we installed turf, but I was like, "I cannot have a Regent walking around with bags on his feet. That is just... No."

Les Hixson:
Yeah, that's a good one. So we had a game, I believe it was an OU game, I think it would've been 2019, maybe, during a really good season for us. And we have a Facebook account out there that allows us just to try to get RSVPs so we get an idea of how many people that might come to the tailgate that weekend. The accuracy is not always perfect, but there was, I believe it was that OU game, we looked on Tuesday and we had 1,000 RSVPs for the tailgate, which we were not prepared for. So that was when we started putting tables across the way and doing a lot of work to make sure we were ready for a Saturday. I'm not sure 1,000 people showed up, but.

Tim Twaddell:
That season we had 10 60-inch tables in the median area across from us just for overflow and it was filled. You couldn't walk anywhere.

Derek Smith:
You'd go back there again.

Tim Twaddell:
Absolutely.

Les Hixson:
Absolutely. That's the goal.

Tim Twaddell:
I'll plan ahead. If you can get us back there, I'll take care of it.

Derek Smith:
Well, so will you think about some of these exciting initiatives this year, the tailgate concert, the backyard concert?

Tim Twaddell:
Absolutely.

Derek Smith:
Pat Green's going to be there. Colorado, hopefully, I know y'all are going to be busy, but maybe you can veer off back and forth a little bit, check out the music a little bit. I don't know, you might even be close to the stage, for all I know.

Tim Twaddell:
We should be able to hear it.

Les Hixson:
We should be able to hear it.

Derek Smith:
Yeah.

Les Hixson:
We should be able to hear Pat. I think we've talked about that. Again, it's game time-dependent on when that is, whether that would be before the game or after the game. If it's after the game, we definitely would be able to participate a little bit more. We'll be excited. We're excited for what it's going to do for the peninsula. The peninsula is going to have some buzz this year.

Derek Smith:
That's exciting. I appreciate all the work that's gone into from the athletic department, really throughout the university to say that this is an area that we can build back and get the buzz back. And you talk about your daughter coming, son's coming. You want it to be a happening place, a happening place.

Les Hixson:
Absolutely.

Tim Twaddell:
Well, it sounds like it is. I mean, from the preliminary reports I'd heard is that they're almost all filled, so that's great. That makes me happy.

Derek Smith:
That's going to be fun to see. I can't wait for that first game on a Saturday to see people show up. And we've got the night game.

Tim Twaddell:
Absolutely.

Derek Smith:
A little cooler when we get into the game time.

Les Hixson:
We hope.

Tim Twaddell:
Hopefully. Yeah.

Derek Smith:
But also better for people to show up and have some fun throughout the day. Well, as we head into the final few minutes, I want to ask you a broad question about what you'd like newcomers to Baylor to know, but then we'll also do some of your favorites through the year. You guys have seen a lot through the years, so want to get some of your favorite memories or players through the years. But before we get to that, I want to ask you, we're welcoming in a new class, the class of 2030, which that sounds like a science fiction word to me.

Les Hixson:
It does.

Derek Smith:
I don't know if it does. Yeah, it does to you too. Yeah, that doesn't seem right, but the class of 2030 is here. And we've got a lot of people, kind of like your families, who have come to Baylor through generations, but we're getting more students from out of state who maybe don't have those ties, which is also exciting. Tim, I'll start with you. What would you like them to see, to experience, to feel about what it means to be a Baylor Bear and to take with them?

Tim Twaddell:
Just the community. I mean, Baylor always felt special to me because people care about each other and that doesn't seem readily apparent at some other schools. And I just want them to know that wherever they're from or whatever they're doing, there's a community here that's for them that they can readily join. All they have to do is look around. And they're always welcome. Come on by. We'll feed them. And so I'd like to think that that's the way everyone is at Baylor.

Derek Smith:
So you heard that, class of 2030, freshmen or maybe people who have married into the Baylor family.

Tim Twaddell:
Absolutely.

Derek Smith:
In their first games, come on over to The Corner.

Tim Twaddell:
Absolutely.

Derek Smith:
Yep. Yeah. You gave a great answer. What about you, Les?

Les Hixson:
Yeah, I agree with a lot of that from Tim. I would add that I think it's just there are few places like Baylor where if you invest and try to get involved with a group of students, you get out of your dorm room, you go out there and meet people, there are very few places you're going to meet as many people that will give that back to you and make you happy. Get into a good community. My son likes to spend a lot of time... He plays sports, but he likes to spend a lot of time at home too. I've already talked to him about, "If you're going to Baylor and not getting into the community somewhere, you're missing out." Because it is special what Baylor brings from a Christian background perspective, all of those things. There's very few places like it.

Derek Smith:
A lot of ways to get plugged in for students, whether they're extroverts, introverts.

Tim Twaddell:
There's something for everybody.

Derek Smith:
Yep, for sure. Well, listen, Tim, this has been a fun discussion here. I want to close with just, we'll do a little kind of lightning round here of some of your favorite players, favorite memories, favorite traditions, all of those things. So, Tim, I'll start with you and then we'll kind of just go back and back and forth here. So favorite on-field Baylor football memory.

Tim Twaddell:
2013 against Texas, closing down the Case.

Derek Smith:
Final game at Floyd Casey. Yep.

Les Hixson:
Cannot miss 61-58 Baylor over TCU.

Derek Smith:
That's a good one.

Les Hixson:
That's impossible to beat.

Derek Smith:
Those two are such great memories. And for anyone who was there, I'll never forget. Let me ask each of this too. Are there any underrated Baylor moments? Are there any moments you're like, "That was really good and people don't talk about that as much"? I'm putting you on the spot here.

Tim Twaddell:
The BYU game, I think that was in 1983 when we beat Steve Young. And it was like, I don't remember the score, but it was like 48 to 45. I was in the south end zone that game with a friend of mine who was a Mormon that I brought to the game and we won. And so I was very happy about that.

Derek Smith:
That's good.

Tim Twaddell:
I think it was 1983.

Derek Smith:
That sounds right, yeah. Beating Steve Young there.

Les Hixson:
This is going to be, I think it's a surprising answer, but I can back it up. The RG3 OU game.

Tim Twaddell:
I wasn't there.

Les Hixson:
Tim missed that, apparently. Obviously a lot of people talk about that as one of the biggest games. How could that be underrated? That point in that season, I believe, was what set up everything else after that. I remember being in that stadium. It wasn't as full as what I wished it would've been that day. OU was expected to beat us, and the way that we won that game set up everything else after that. So I give that game credit for turning over.

Tim Twaddell:
When Kendall Wright touchdown off of Tevin Reese's helmet.

Les Hixson:
Yeah. Yeah. Correct.

Derek Smith:
And even the fact that in that game, this is a very minor thing, but he throws the touchdown and OU doesn't handle the kickoff and we get it back and we scored with seven seconds to go and end up taking a knee to win the game. Yeah, that is wild. Okay. You're not limited, just as many answers as you want on these. Your favorite players over the years. Who have been your favorites?

Les Hixson:
I'm starting with Mike Singletary. That's one of my earliest memories. He spent a night at my house in Louisiana, so I got to see him as a human being and his story. So I'll go with Mike.

Tim Twaddell:
Which camera am I on? This one?

Derek Smith:
Yeah.

Tim Twaddell:
Jimmy Landis, number 50, deep snapper for 61, 58.

Derek Smith:
Long snapper, you.

Tim Twaddell:
Yeah. Well, no, he was from Tyler, so I'm going with a Homeboy. Yep.

Derek Smith:
That's great. Tyler's given Baylor some good athletes over the years in a lot of different sports.

Tim Twaddell:
We've tried.

Les Hixson:
I have an underrated one I can add if you want to.

Derek Smith:
Okay. No, I want your underrated one.

Les Hixson:
Yeah. Shaun Rochon.

Derek Smith:
Oh, yeah.

Les Hixson:
Shaun was back when we were still trying to build things up and he just stuck with me because, coming in as a walk-on, he was Josh Cameron before Josh Cameron. And he came in as a walk-on, turned into a great contributor. The thing I loved about him, I told him this to his face, was no receiver have I ever seen block harder than Shaun Rochon.

Tim Twaddell:
Well, and he worked for Baylor for many years after that.

Les Hixson:
That's when I told him.

Derek Smith:
He's got a fun name to say.

Les Hixson:
Yep, exactly.

Derek Smith:
For sure. Underrated player for you?

Tim Twaddell:
Well, how can you underrate Jalen Pitre, the only person who stayed with us from 2016?

Les Hixson:
Yeah.

Tim Twaddell:
I mean, he's incredible and I'm so thankful that he's had the success that he's had.

Les Hixson:
Yep.

Tim Twaddell:
He's awesome.

Derek Smith:
He was a guy who came in, obviously we know his story that he stuck to the commitment, but he's just one of those guys who feels like what you all said, that's going to get every ounce out of his talent.

Tim Twaddell:
He's going to outwork you. He's going to outwork you.

Les Hixson:
Absolutely.

Derek Smith:
Most impressive on-field moments you've seen? It can be one. It can be a few.

Tim Twaddell:
On-field. All right.

Derek Smith:
Yeah. The play that stands out.

Tim Twaddell:
Okay. The 2014 OU game where we ran eight straight bubble screens and OU is just standing there knowing what we're going to do and couldn't do anything about it. That was impressive.

Derek Smith:
Yeah.

Tim Twaddell:
Bryce Petty just literally dissected me.

Les Hixson:
Yep.

Derek Smith:
He was ready for OU.

Tim Twaddell:
He was just ready for OU. That's exactly right.

Les Hixson:
That memory takes me to mine, which has some similar feelings of it's in the 61-58 TCU game. I believe we were down two touchdowns at that point. Maybe it was three.

Tim Twaddell:
We were down three in the fourth quarter.

Les Hixson:
Yeah. It's looking a little bit dire, and the coaching staff at that point says, "You know what we're going to do to come back quickly? We're going to run the ball over and over and over and over again all the way down the field." And they could not stop it.

Derek Smith:
It's a great memory.

Les Hixson:
It's unstoppable.

Derek Smith:
Yeah, that's a theme. You know something's coming and you can't stop it.

Les Hixson:
You can't do anything about it.

Derek Smith:
That's good. Well, final question for y'all. As you all are here, really in a lot of ways representing Baylor fans here, your favorite fans. Who's a fan or two that you want to shout out on this show that people need to know, "Hey," whether it's someone who's with us now or someone who isn't? Give you a second on that, and maybe, Tim, I'll start with you. A favorite fan over the years.

Tim Twaddell:
Well, I saw him today. There's a guy who his wife is my Sunday School teacher back in... But we teach first grade so we don't get to go, but he ran a quarter mile at Baylor in the '70s and has had some health issues recently. And I just saw him. My shout-out, it's going to be to Steve Sims from Tyler, Texas. Great guy.

Les Hixson:
I'm still thinking. Let's see. I've got to say Milton Hixson. So that would be my dad. He's the reason I'm here. He's what led our family to doing a lot of what we did and he doesn't miss games still at this point.

Derek Smith:
Great Baylor families, great traditions, and of course The Corner Tailgate, one of the biggest expressions of that. Well, Tim and Les, I really appreciate you joining us on the show here, sharing your story, but then also all the work you do just for the Baylor family. I think you paint a picture, too, of just all that goes into being hospitable to people and inviting them there and that's a lot of fun. And, yeah, excited to see what it looks like this weekend as you all have more reinforcements surrounding you. If you run out of something, more people at the tent next door to get something or vice versa.

Les Hixson:
Absolutely.

Derek Smith:
And more people in the stands to cheer on the Bears. So that's a good thing.

Les Hixson:
Amen. We agree with that.

Derek Smith:
Absolutely. We appreciate it. Thank you all so much.

Tim Twaddell:
Thank you so much.

Les Hixson:
Thank you, Derek.

Derek Smith:
Les Hixson and Tim Twaddell of the Corner Tailgate, our guests today on Baylor Connections. If you want to learn more about Baylor tailgating and game day at Baylor, you can go online to baylorbears.com/gameday. And of course you can find this in other editions of Baylor Connections online on the Baylor University YouTube channel. You can subscribe on iTunes and you can find them all on baylor.edu/connections. I'm Derek Smith. Sic 'Em, Bears. Thanks for joining us here on Baylor Connections.