FUNERAL SERVICES HELD FOR ELWOOD KETTLER
Funeral services will be held in Trinity this (Saturday) morning for one of Paul Bear Bryan’s original Junction Boys.
85 year old Elwood Kettler, who was born in Brenham and was a four-sport letterman at Brenham High School, will be honored with a funeral service at First United Methodist Church in Trinity at 11 o’clock this (Saturday) morning. Burial will follow at Prairie Lea Cemetery in Brenham. Kettler died Tuesday in Livingston after suffering a stroke last year.
Kettler had been on the Texas A&M football team for two years when Coach Paul Bear Bryant arrived on campus in the summer of 1954. Bryant took the team on a 10 day camp trip to Junction in the Texas Hill Country during a drought. Two thirds of the players quit, but not the quarterback, Elwood Kettler.
After A&M, Kettler went on to coach high school football teams in Nederland, Texas City and Angleton. He also coached in college at Alabama under Bryant, at Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Mississippi State and Sam Houston State. In 2015, Kettler was honored by the Texas Bowl in Houston as a “Gridiron Legend.”
I remember Elwood Kettler. Every one who went to Junction and stayed was a STUD! Gig ’em Elwood, may you rest in peace.
He was a nice man and tough. I saw him play and met him at the Junction Boys Reunion. Bobby R. Smith ’58
Many Aggies should remember the words of Press box Announcer, C.K. Esten, when he yelled:
Kettler on a keeper…