DALLAS — Now that a quarter of a century has passed, John Comstock doesn’t dwell on what happened.
He goes to work and cares for his family – just lives his life from day to day. But each November, the memories come flooding back.
“It happens right around this time of year,” Comstock said.
On the night of November 17, 1999, Comstock was a freshman at Texas A&M University in College Station.
He grew up in Richardson and was the first Aggie in his family. He remembers sitting in his dorm room that night, cramming for two tests scheduled for the following day.
Someone stopped and talked him into working an overnight shift at the site where the Aggie bonfire was being built. On a campus rich with tradition, Bonfire was likely the most treasured.
Every fall, students spent weeks weaving together and stacking thousands of logs into a wedding cake design more than 55 feet tall.
The stack was set on fire in an epic display the night before the Aggies faced off against the Texas Longhorns – their arch-nemesis.
“What we used to always say was that 5,000 people built it, but 70,000 people watched it burn,” Comstock said.
Comstock arrived at the site around midnight and climbed to the top of the third layer and went to work on construction.
He remembers a buddy from his high school, Jesuit College Prep in Dallas, who was near him.
That buddy took a break around 2:30 a.m.
Comstock stayed.
A few minutes later the stack swayed.
“And I just grabbed the logs in front of me and rode the structure down,” he said.
Twelve Aggies died in the collapse that happened at 2:42 a.m. on November 18.
Comstock was almost the thirteenth death. He spent seven hours trapped in the logs.
He was the final person rescue crews pulled out alive. His injuries were so severe, that the university drafted a press release announcing his death – a release they never sent.
A release he keeps in a frame.
Comstock would spend more than 140 days in the hospital and rehab.
He lost his left leg. But he didn’t lose his life.
“It’s kind of funny because people were always saying, God has some great plan for you. And I was always just like, I just want a regular life,” he said. “That was always my goal in my mind.”
He wanted to live independently.
And while the physical and mental journey hasn’t been easy, he achieved it.
Comstock eventually graduated from Texas A&M and now lives in College Station and works for the A&M system. He is a married father of two – the youngest is just 9 months old.
“There’s a lot of sleepless nights but you get the baby smiles and baby giggles,” he said.
Comstock said his heart is always with the families of the 12 Aggies who died. But he’s honoring them by living life and loving his kids.