Sports

Actions

The long road to Omaha

Fourth-generation Aggie travels a great distance to Omaha to support Texas A&M on their College World Series run
Posted at 7:32 PM, Jun 19, 2024

OMAHA, Nebraska — “As soon as that inning came in and we scored all those runs and the grand slam – I immediately booked tickets.”

Stephanie Burgoon is a fourth-generation Aggie who like many others out in Omaha – were thrilled when the Aggies punched their ticket to the College World Series.

“[I] bought my ticket from Anchorage, got tickets to the game, got a hotel did all the things and said ‘We’re going. How do we miss this opportunity, we’re going.’”

But unlike a lot of the Aggies on hand at the CWS, she hit the road to see the Aggies play in person for the first time since 2021 – all the way from Alaska.

The stars continued to align as Stephanie’s son Austin’s high school baseball team in Anchorage happened to be playing in a tournament in Omaha this same week

“I just feel very fortunate,” Stephanie said. “I get to watch my Aggies play, and I get to watch my son play for his anchorage Alaska team.”

Aggie.jpg

Not only did Stephanie get to travel to Omaha with her son. She brought along someone else too –

“So I have my ring here but my dad was class of '72. He passed away and he never got to go to an A&M college world series game. So I brought him with me, so he’s here, and we’re going to go and BTHO Florida,” she said.

Since getting her masters from A&M in 2000, she’s lived in Alaska for 24 years. But, as they say, the Aggie network is real – so it's no surprise she found some other Alaskan Aggies.

“We actually have an A&M club that meets every Saturday during college football, there’s about 20 of us,” Stephanie said. “We’re really loud and obnoxious though, everyone knows when we’re there at The Peanut Farm. We have a great time, there’s not a lot of us up there but, but the ones that do we find each other real quick. We do muster every year and we meet up for games and I know there’s a crowd at The Peanut Farm watching Aggie baseball tonight.”

Even though she’s 3,322 miles away from Anchorage, she feels right at home surrounded by her Aggie family.

“This is my Aggie family and I am just so excited and go be part of that, and watch that with them.”

And of course, it’s all about supporting the Texas Aggie baseball team as they make a run at a National Championship.

“We’re over in the baseball village and we were talking to a class of ’70 Aggie and you know that’s what this is all about,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re class of ’70 or class of ’96 or class of 2014 or 2024, we’re all there for the same reason and that’s to support Aggie baseball.”


Follow Donna on social media!