John Mark with a 5 1/2 foot gator.
Some of the Longhorn players with little Al.
John Mark and his World Series championship teammates made a visit one afternoon in Beaumont to Alligator Island. Alligator Island is the largest gator breeding farm in Texas. The farm offers guided tours, including a visit with Big Al, the largest living alligator in captivity. They didn't get to hold Big Al, but probably one of his grandsons. I'm putting a picture of Big Al below. My brother Charles and I once killed a four foot gator on our lake in Florida. Each year the legend of the kill has grown. I was probably twelve and Charles was probably nine. We were paddling a canoe when one of Charles' friends stabbed the gator with a three prong gig. (To this day we're not sure of where Charles' friend is serving time). We were fortunate that the prong went through the head and served to clamp the mouth shut. The little, I mean ten foot gator kicked and splashed for a good hour before he gave up the ghost. This was around 1976, during the time when there were stiff fines for killing gators. We cut off the tail and buried little Al, I mean big Al in the brush near a drain. We had plans on eating the tail as we had been told it had been declared a delicacy by restaurants in the area. The next day Big Al floated to the top and out into the lake. There was a four foot, I mean ten foot tail-less gator. Rumors abounded of a bigger gator that had also heard the reports of the restaurants. Fortunate for us we were never caught, but again Charles and I were just paddling the canoe.BIG AL
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