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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 1987)
Back-to-School Edition k Campus Page lE/The Battalion/Monday, August 31,1987 listory of A&M traditions clouded with mystery I By Rodney Rather City Editor Texas A&M is a Garden of Eden Hof folklore called tradition, and Mi HP irit anc * b° n< l that breeds tradi- iorlis welcome at A&M. Aggies are m| jrayn here because of the unifying W/ ;lue its traditions secrete, but what’s Urious about this cohesion is [^Miether it sticks when held in steam, 1 Huse the actual history of tradi- Hoften isn’t as glorious as its pop- ilaijj history. with most legends, the origins H&M traditions aren’t necessarily s spec tacular as they seem. One of t&M’s most popular traditions, jell-known both inside and outside Hjniversity, is the Twelfth Man. origin of the Twelfth Man, as *^’s told to just about everyone who ' Hures through Aggieland, begins i 1922. A common description of ■legend is preserved in a tradi- ionf guide written in the late 1940s Hie Fort Worth chapter of the l&M Mother’s club. ^■te tradition of the Twelfth Man Hiorn on New Year’s Day in 1922 fhei the Aggies were playing in a tost- ison game in Dallas. An un- lerd g Aggie team was battling the taticn’s top team, Centre College. T Aggies were taking a beating, Bwhen finally out of substitute ila*rs, Coach D.X. Bible called into Htands for E. King Gill, a reserve ■ had made the trip with the J>s of Cadets. Although he didn’t i|a)| Gill stood ready and, in spirit, f d lead the Aggies to victory, at rendition of the Twelfth legend probably is the most Hilnon, but while it explains who Hirst Twelfth Man was, it doesn’t irijjli'int exactly who derived the rra — or its meaning. Evidence re- trling such an explanation exists He A&M archives, but not until B, in the form of a letter from ^ffhompson, Class of ’21. A nota le iplifference between Thompson’s ^B)n and that of the Mother’s [u| is that in his version, the game Hyed on Jan. 2 instead of New ea|’s Day as the first of the Cotton s (then called the Dixie Classic), ompson also says he derived P ^^Biotion of the Twelfth Man while train back to College Station ifter the game. A&M students al- vays are on hand to support the in any sport, he says, whether it Hrough yelling, praying or cus Yell leaders lead a crowd of Elephant Walk participants in a yell sing. On Jan. 5, Thompson says he put the idea up to the Cadet Corps. However, the new tradition didn’t spread at a feverous pitch. Photo graphs in both the 1924 and 1925 school yearbooks clearly reveal seve ral uniformed Aggies sitting during football games. In one photo, a handful of Aggies are sitting while someone receives a pass in the end zone and in the other, the seated fans are relaxing during a kickoff. Because both of these situations are those in which one usually stands, even non-Aggies, and be cause an Aggie not participating in the Twelfth Man tradition often is in danger of social and physical an guish, the practice apparently evolved over several years. While the roots of the Twelfth Man are easily traced, most origins of A&M’s traditions are tough to pin down. The first Aggie tradition is thought to have been initiated by A&M’s first graduating class, shortly after the University opened in 1876. The saying “Once an Aggie always an Aggie” planted an eternal seed of Aggie mentality. Another tradition, midnight yell practice, is not as easily traced. For a tradition as popular as it is, no one seems to agree about when it started. In a letter written in 1962, Harry E. Allen, Class of ’34, recounts his ver sion of the first yell practice. “In 1932, and just before the Texas game, some of us were gath ered in Puryear Hall . . . he wrote. “We then got in touch with Horsefly Perryhill and Two Gun Herman from Sherman, both senior yell lead ers, and asked about having all the fellows finally congregate at the “Y” for a midnight Yell Practice.” But another message, hand written and without a name, says the first one was held in 1920. Apparently, the head yell leader, R.B. Goodman, ignited another of A&M’s traditions, a bonfire, and ran through the campus yelling; hence, another tradition was born. But the credibility of those letters is wounded — mortally — after one reads a 1906 Battalion article. The editorial doesn’t condemn yells, but says they are “vulgar, and are not fit for use by gentlemen.” Although this article proves yell practices were common at the turn of the century, it doesn’t say when they began. But the article’s tone Battalion File Photo hints they had been established for quite a while. Another tradition, Aggie Muster, is regarded as noble, solemn and a symbol of Aggie unity. This is how the media portray it and how Aggies perceive it, but a close look at how it started should raise a question to the reasoning behind its conception. Muster is a beautiful ceremony held on April 21 — San Jacinto Day — every year. While it commem orates those who fought for Texas’ freedom, it also honors students and former students who have died in the preceding year and in past wars. But the first Muster didn’t grow through a peaceful, cooperative en deavor. Once upon a time in Aggieland, a bugle sounded 15 minutes before classes started and the Corps, upon hearing the tinny noise, lined up and marched into another day of educa tion. On April 21, 1903, looking for an excuse to ditch class, students de cided to celebrate San Jacinto Day. So, instead of marching to class when the bugle was blown, they marched to the University presi dent’s house and asked the president for an annual holiday to honor dead Texans and dead Aggies. President David F. Houston said he would agree to let the Corp^ out of school at noon every year if the students would return to class until lunch. Today, students aren’t excused from class after noon on April 21 unless they have a University excuse. While A&M traditions may be a little distorted from the truth, they remain essentially the same. But per ceptions of these traditions seem to run in cycles. By reading through old issues of The Battalion spanning more than 90 years, one detects waves of concern that swell again and again relating to the ap proaching death of traditions. One theme running through these concerns is that the A&M of old was better than it is now, no mat ter when “now” is. In a 1929 issue an editorial laments the actions of those who don’t adhere to tradition, while a letter in 1940 was devoted to dying traditions. The writer of the letter refers to the “good old days” when traditions were built and says the University is outgrowing them. Although the above examples highlight the general paranoia Ag gies feel over the loss — real or imagined — of tradition in their eyes, this attitude prevails not only over general A&M rituals, but over specific customs as well. If seen through the jittery minds of some, the Silver Taps ceremony — similar to a mini-muster wherein students gather to pay tribute to Aggies who have died in the past month — and the “Howdy” custom have been in peril numerous times. A letter printed in a 1940 edition of The Battalion claims a Silver Taps ceremony was desecrated by stu dents who were boisterously playing dominoes in a nearby building. Tur moil surrounding Silver Taps also is the subject of a 1961 editorial, after two successive ceremonies were marred. Mournful editorials bemoaning the loss of “Howdy” also stain The Battalion, such as one in 1947 that says one of A&M’s oldest traditions was rapidly becoming obsolete. After looking at Aggie concern over traditions, one sees that these outlooks, like the traditions them selves, haven’t changed. It could be said that fretting over the survival of traditions is a tradition in itself. In spite of the near-religious be lief A&M puts in the maintenance of tradition, however, some traditions have died. These traditions are chronicled in The Battalion, but the disappearance of them is not re corded, nor is it explained. One of these defunct cultural tid bits is Prexy’s Moon, a lamp symbolic of Aggie friendliness whose light guided students through the night from its perch atop the Academic Building. Apparently, Aggies didn’t put much stock into the light be cause it was shot with rifles regu larly. Just when the lamp was aban doned is uncertain — a 1931 editorial begins with the words “We regret the loss of Prexy’s Moon,” and speaks as though the beacon would never return. But two years later, an editorial warned students to stop taking potshots at the lamp. The last recognition of Prexy’s Moon uncov ered in the archives is a definition of the lamp in a 1946 journal listing Aggie vocabulary, but whenever Prexy’s Moon was shattered for the last time, its importance must have been swept away with its fragments. The date of the demise of Prexy’s Moon may not be cataloged, but the cause of its loss isn’t hard to deter mine. The extinction of yet another tradition is a mystery. From the number of articles concerning this act, hitchhiking used to be as com mon to Aggies as is khaki. Letters and editorials in The Battalion of the 1930s and 1940s offer an array of comments on hitchhiking. A 1933 editorial gives a few tips on hitchhik ing ethics and a 1938 editorial scolds a few rude thumb-waving cadets for their deplorable behavior when given a ride. As with Prexy’s Moon, no specific date denotes the passing of Aggie hitchhiking. But a fragment of A&M hitchhiking may still graqe Aggie tra dition through the “gig ’em, Aggies” custom. The sign looks remarkably like a hitchhiker’s thumb. Even when confronted with the dissolution of a few A&M customs, though, Aggie tradition doesn’t lose its cohesion, although its true history often doesn’t match its popular his tory. After all, folklore is part of the fun and heritage of any group, whether it be a university, town or country — A&M is just overstocked with it. 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