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Undergraduate Colleges /
Texas A & M University |
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Table of Contents |
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Traditions |
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Steeped strongly in tradition, Texas A&M University has several time-honored traditions:
- "The Aggie Spirit"
- "From the outside in, you can't understand it. From the inside out, you can't explain it"
- The 12th Man
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- Texas A&M is the original home of the 12th Man. In January 1922, Texas A&M was playing Centre College, the nation's
top-ranked team. The Aggies had limited reserves on their squad and several players were hurt. A&M coach Dana X. Bible,
looking for much-needed players remembered a student by the name of E. King Gill, a former football player who was helping
reporters identify players in the press box. Gill was asked to be available for the game, suited up and stood on the sideline
ready to go in at a moment's notice. As the game ended, which the Aggies won, Gill was the only remaining man on the sidelines.
Similarly, today, the Texas A&M student body acts as the "12th Man" for the football team and stands throughout the entire
game, ready to help the team.
- Fightin' Texas Aggies
- Students are known as "Texas Aggies", or "Fightin' Texas Aggies" and graduates are known as "former students".
- Texas A&M
Corps of Cadets
- An organization that trains students in the ways of the military with the option of a commission to the military upon
graduation. The Corps trains more military officers than any school in the U.S. apart from the service academies.
- Fightin' Texas Aggie Band
- The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band is the precision military marching band of Texas A&M University. The Aggie Band is composed
of approximately 400 men and women from the school's Corps of Cadets and the group is the largest military marching band in the
United States, performing at all of the school's football games and in other special events, such as inaugural parades for
presidents and governors.
- Midnight Yell Practice
- A "Yell Practice" is a much larger replacement for what other schools may call a "pep rally" where over 20,000 students and
fan attend the night before the football game to support the team. The principle is the same: to excite the crowd to cheer Texas
A&M on to victory.
- Gig 'em
- At a Midnight Yell Practice before the 1930
football game against Texas Christian
University, a Texas A&M board of regent Pinky Downs shouted, "What are we going to do to those Horned Frogs?" His muse
did not fail him as he improvised, borrowing a term from frog hunting. "Gig 'em, Aggies!" he said as he made a fist with his
thumb extended straight up. And with that the first hand sign in the Southwest Conference came into being.
- Yell Leaders
- Unlike many schools that feature cheerleaders to encourage crowds to support their sporting teams, Texas A&M has "yell
leaders," five male students (three seniors and two juniors) who serve to lead the crowds in "yells" (not cheers). Yell Leaders
do not perform gymnastic feats, and they use a variety of hand signals ("passbacks") to direct and intensify crowds.
- Texas Aggie Bonfire
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- Beginning in 1909, Texas A&M students worked together to build a massive bonfire on the grounds of the school. Students
cut down logs on their own and brought them to campus, working around the clock to construct a massive bonfire before the annual
game versus the University of Texas on Thanksgiving weekend. The idea behind the bonfire was to symbolize the Aggies' "burning"
desire to beat the "hell" out of Texas University.
- On November 18, 1999, 12 were
killed and 27 injured when a huge bonfire structure under construction at the campus collapsed. A memorial, which was dedicated
on November 18, 2004 and was built to remember the 12 fallen Aggies.
- Muster
- On April 21 of each year current and former students of Texas A&M University gather together, wherever they are, to
commemorate fellow Aggies who have died during the year. In 2004, there were over 400 Aggie Musters worldwide. The largest, with
around 13,000 in attendance, was held on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
- Silver Taps
- Silver Taps is a tradition of Texas A&M University to honor Aggies who died while attending Texas A&M. It is a
special arrangement of the military song "Taps" composed by Colonel Richard J. Dunn in the 1930s. Following a 21-gun salute by
the Ross Volunteer Firing Squad in the Academic Plaza, six buglers play Silver Taps three times from the dome of the school's
Academic Building: once to the north, once to the south and once to the west. The song is not played to the east because the sun
is never to rise on that Aggie again.
- Reveille
- The school does not have a mascot per se, but instead has its own unique tradition.
The "First Lady" of A&M, and the highest ranking member of the Corps of Cadets is a collie named
Reveille that is present at all football games and many other University
functions.
- Maroon Out
- A tradition were the entire crowd wears maroon to sporting events. Even though this is now practiced at every game, each
football season one game is specially designated "Maroon Out". In the first five years of the Maroon Out tradition, the Fightin'
Texas Aggies have beat all five opponents including four teams that were higher ranked and in the national top 10 at the
time.
- Aggie War Hymn
- Texas A&M does not have a fight song but rather a war hymn. The Aggie War Hymn was written by J.V. "Pinky" Wilson, former
student, while standing guard on the Rhine with the AEF, after World War I.
- Spirit of Aggieland
- School Song of Texas A&M University.
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Interesting Fact |
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Until 1796, the state of Tennessee was called "Franklin." |
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Did you know... |
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The MyPlan.com Undergraduate College Database provides detailed profiles on more than 1,700 different undergraduate colleges in the U.S. |
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