HOUSTON — A Houston-area survivor of the deadly 1999 Texas A&M University bonfire collapse is recounting his story.
Nov. 18, 2019. will mark 20 years since the nearly 60-foot timber structure collapsed. Twelve students were killed and another 27 were injured, including Bill Davis, a sophomore at the time.
“There is not a day that goes by that in some way I’m not thinking about the bonfire,” Davis said.
It was a tradition that spanned decades; students would spend months constructing a massive log tiered tower to be burned on campus before a rivalry football game. In 1999, that game was against the University of Texas.
That year, Davis volunteered to help.
On Nov. 18, just after 2:40 a.m., something went terribly wrong and the structure made up of about 5,000 trees collapsed.
“I remember getting up to the second layer which is roughly 40-45 feet,” Davis said. “In that moment, I saw the ground moving and somehow it didn’t really get into my brain this thing is falling. A few seconds later, it was all said and done and I landed face down in the dirt. I was trapped for four hours.”
Davis was buried, pinned in a small cavity with several broken bones and a collapsed lung.
“I never felt like I was going to die. It was always a mission to me of, 'Get me out of here.'”
Davis spent seven days in the ICU and another couple of weeks in the hospital. He spent months undergoing rehabilitation for a shattered femur, all while grappling with the nightmare he survived.
“It absolutely reinforced in me the importance of life and the importance of relationships over everything else.”
Davis went on to graduate, get married and have two children. He considers these things blessings that he knows 12 of his classmates will never experience.
“I try to live in such a way that I would honor their memories and honor their lives,” Davis said. “In a way, I’m kind of carrying their flag.”
The accident ended the bonfire as an annual campus tradition although students and alumni still hold the event off-campus without support from the university.
On Friday, a documentary called "The 13th Man, a Charlie Minn Film" will open at seven Houston-area theaters. The film details the Bonfire collapse, follows the survivors and honors those who died.
For information about the documentary, including showtimes and locations, click here.