Roger Stone: The TAMUG hero you’ve never heard of    

“He’s my hero…I wouldn’t be here without him.” stated TAMUG student Steven Guy in an interview with Cape Cod Times on June 10, 2008.

Most likely, you have never heard of the hero who saved the lives of TAMUG students one fateful summer in 2008. 

On June 6th, 2008, 25 sailboats began their voyage for the 2008 Regatta de Amigos, a 610 nautical mile regatta from Galveston, Texas, to Vera Cruz, Mexico.

The Texas A&M Offshore Sailing Team set sail on the SV Cynthia Woods, carrying six people:

• Roger Stone: Volunteer Safety Officer from UTMB
• Steven Conway: Assistant Coach of Offshore Sailing Team, Safety Officer, Director of Computer Information Services at TAMUG
• Ross Busby: President of College Station Sailing Team; TAMU
• Steven Guy: Offshore Sailing Team Member; TAMUG
• Joe Savana: Offshore Sailing Team Member; TAMUG
• Travis Wright: Captain of Offshore Sailing Team; TAMUG

The 38-foot sailing vessel was donated by George P. Mitchell and named after his wife. The vessel was built by Cape Fear Yacht Works, a company owned by George P. Mitchell’s son, Kent Mitchell.

However, the vessel was not in perfect condition after not being properly maintained, running ashore several times previously, and alleged flaws since manufacturing.

Roger Stone was a volunteer safety officer from the University of Texas Medical Branch and, as such, was a member of the sailing team this regatta, one that he has done several times before.

The boat began taking on seawater after it lost its 6-foot bulb keel, which stabilizes the boat, and encountered very rough water conditions around midnight that Friday they set sail.

Roger Stone awoke the crew to alert them of the ship's dire situation as it began to capsize. Stone pushed two TAMUG students, Steven Guy and Travis Wright, to safety outside of the ship. 

They all watched as they tied themselves together under the guidance of the other safety officer, Steven Conway, but did not see Stone emerge from the sinking ship. 

Conway and the students were adrift at sea for 26 hours, hoping that Stone had managed to make it out.

Stone’s body was recovered amidst the wreckage of the vessel found 27 miles southeast of Freeport, with his son posting to an online message board, “He’s gone,” once he was notified.

"We now know that Roger Stone died a hero in the classic sense of the word." stated R. Bowen Loftin, vice president and CEO of A&M-Galveston, 2008 in response to the news of Stone’s passing.

The capsizing of the SV Cynthia Woods is a tragic event that displayed the heroic actions of Roger Stone, posthumously earning him the Coast Guard’s Golden Lifesaving Medal.

The Gold Lifesaving Medal is one of the oldest in the US and has been awarded to fewer than 700 people since 1874. 

Roger Stone “Represents the Aggie core values,” says Adin Tyger, a Class IX Maroon Delegate. He adds that “if something like this were to happen in College Station, there would be something to remember him by.” 

One might wonder why Texas A&M and Texas A&M Galveston’s only Golden Lifesaving Medal winner and the hero who saved two students' lives are not remembered as a memorial on campus for his sacrifice. 

Maybe a Roger Stone memorial could be added to the list of planned memorials for the Galveston Campus, especially one that directly affected the students of TAMUG specifically, amidst discussions of implementing an Aggie Bonfire Memorial here.

Roger Stone’s story is one that the majority of students on campus do not know, but Tyger says that “as the campus moves forward, it’s still important to remember people like him.”

While the development of a memorial on campus would be a tremendous and earned honor, the goal is to ensure that he is not forgotten for his heroic actions in saving two students’ lives, an exemplification of the Aggie Core Values.

Passing the story of this fallen hero is truly the least that we can do.