supercentex
02-12-2006, 12:17 PM
Texas (UT) Traditions
History Lesson on sip Traditions from an unknown source.....Thought this would be the place to see if this dissertation is rooted in fact/fiction.
Long read, but interesting.
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There has been recent interest on these boards concerning the origin of terms such as "teasip" and "t.u."
Most sips consider "research" to be asking their friends, but this doesn't always provide the true story.
As previously discussed in other threads, the Aggies started using the term "t.u." in lower case, but did not reverse the letters. The sips often called themselves Texas University, although the term University of Texas was also in use.
Their sports teams were called Varsity, not Longhorns. Our yearbook was called Longhorn for many years, since it was a logical symbol for an Agricultural College.
I have attached a link to an old sip banquet program from 1897 (where they undoubtedly sipped tea) and the term University of Texas was used. However, at the lower part of the program, there is a class yell that goes:
Uni, Uni, Who Are We?
Varsi, Varsi, T, T, T
Law Department Juniors, See?
Texas, Uni, Varsi T.
Do you suppose their budding lawyers would have chosen these words if EVERYONE ELSE on campus only used the term UT?
By the way, I have a another image of one of their Yell Books from 1926. They have a Yell called "Hulla Balloo" that goes like this:
Hulla Balloo, ray, ray
Hulla Balloo, ray, ray
Who-ray, Who-ray
Varsity, Varsity
Quite original, don't you think? Hulla Balloo? Yells? In 1936, the sips had five Yell Leaders, all male, who wore white suits. Hmmm.
They received their big Texas flag idea from the Ole Miss Band in the 1961 Cotton Bowl. The Rebels made a very large Texas flag (51 feet wide and 90 feet long) and unfurled it during their halftime show as a display of sportsmanship. After the game, they presented it to the Texas Governor, who presented it to the sips, who promptly adopted the idea as their own. Of course, most sips think their school invented the idea. They probably think they invented the state flag design, as well.
Purdue University has the World's Largest Drum. They've had it since 1921. They used to play the University of Chicago in football, and the Chicago fans wanted a large drum, too, and had one made. The Purdue Drum is wider and heavier. The Chicago Drum is taller. The debate over size became moot when UC dropped their football program. Their drum was stored under the stands of Stagg Field, where the first atomic pile was created.
The Chicago drum was contaminated with nuclear radiation from the atomic pile. The drumheads rotted off. It was worthless, but Dallas oilman Harold Byrd bought it (for $1) in 1955, decontaminated it, restored it, and donated it to the sip band as "The World's Largest Drum - creating another great sip tradition that was copied from someone else.
The fact that someone else claims the World's Largest Drum is of no concern. They're Texas. The sips claim the Football MNC in 1970 when the LOST THE COTTON BOWL to Notre Dame. Undefeated (one tie) Nebraska won the Sugar Bowl that year and also claims the 1970 MNC. Nebraska's one tie was on the road at USC, and they fumbled the hold on a 12 yard field goal attempt. No matter. Nebraska is not Texas.
Of course, their little cannon Ol' Smokey was not an original idea. Oklahoma fired blank shotgun shells at the Red River Rivalry games, and the sips wanted something similar. So, in 1953, they built a little tube on wheels that fires blank shotgun shells. I wonder where they might have seen another college with students who FIRED A CANNON?
Their "Hook 'em Horns" was first used in 1955, well after the Gig 'em Aggies gesture had been in use for years. They wanted to be like us, and had to come up with their own hand signal.
The name of their nutless mascot was influenced by a 13-0 loss to the Aggies. Lucky for them we didn't win 27-14 or their mascot would be unpronouncable.
They got tired of feeding their mascot in 1920 (the records claim it cost fifty cents per day to feed) so they barbequed the beast and served it to both football teams before the 1920 game. They presented the side branded "13-0" to the Aggie team, who apparently discarded the disgusting hide at the first opportunity. Imagine if we had it on display today - but back then, who could have imagined the sips would ever again have a steer for a mascot, when they just slaughtered and ate the current one?
The sips first school colors were gold and white. They changed to orange and white in 1895. In 1897, 1898, and 1899 their teams wore ORANGE AND MAROON because the white was too hard to clean. I'm not making this up. Their yearboook (called the Cactus) said the official colors were gold or orange and white. The Medical school used royal blue. Their fans were adorned in all the colors of the rainbow even back then.
An election was held to decide the matter, and orange and white gained 562 votes, with orange and maroon in second place with 310 votes. Just a few more votes and they would look like Virginia Tech.
The orange dye of the early 1900's tended to fade to yellow with washing. The sip players were called "yellow bellies" by opponents. I'm not making this up, either. They played in yellow (awww, that matches your handbag!) for several years before their coach decided to look for a darker shade of orange that would resist fading. It became known as burnt orange.
Of course, the sips just used this custom color until it became too expensive during the Great Depression. Remember the nutless mascot costing to much to maintain? They went back to bright orange in the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's.
Darrell Royal revised the burnt orange color on his own in the early 1960's because it looked similar to the football. It made it easier to hide the ball during fakes. So much for "tradition." Just let the football coach change the uniform colors to match the pigskin and tell everyone they "always were burnt orange."
The "Eyes of Texas" was written as a joke for a campus Minstrel Show. Minstrel Shows would be considered politically correct today, but don't remind the sips their beloved song has such an unsavory history.
The idea for the lyrics came from a common saying of their President, William Prather, who had attended Washington College in Lexington, VA. At that school, headmaster General Robert E. Lee continually told the students to act responsibly, because the "Eyes of the South are upon you." Prather came up with the original idea of telling his students "The Eyes of Texas are upon you."
The President like the joke song, and actually promoted it. It was even played at his funeral. Go figure.
Who do you think appointed William Prather to the post of head sip? The Governor of Texas, a man by the name of Lawrence Sullivan Ross. Without Sully, the sips would not have the Eyes of Texas, and would probably have to steal a Broadway Show Tune written by Yankees, like the Sooners did with "Oklahoma."
By the way, the sips didn't even own the copyright to the "Eyes of Texas" until they BOUGHT it from the owner in 1984. Of course, the sips claimed they copyrighted it without knowing the real owner had filed paperwork several years earlier (1928) - snicker, snicker, we just made a little mistake!
Then, there's Texas Bite. The sip band calls it Taps. Why? Because it was specifically written to counteract an early Aggie Yell called Taps. The Aggie Band Buglers would play Taps (the real one) and the Corps would yell "Farmers Fight" in time to the music. It was a slow and imposing yell. The sips hated it.
One of their creative geniuses decided to speed up the tempo and yell "Texas Fight." Impressive, huh? Next time you hear the sip band play the song, you might be able to hear it starts out like Taps played very quickly. Once again, it's a good thing they didn't copy one of our longer yells or they might have a song called "Fifteen for Team, Texas Fight and Call it a Night."
The sips aren't big on historical facts about their own traditions.
Most of them don't even know Texas A&M is the older school.
I have found that it is not worth the trouble attempting to educate sips about their own history. They cannot accept their traditions are all weak copies stolen from someone else, or in some cases, handed to them free of charge. They just change the subject or go back to their friends where they can make up their own facts.
I only posted this for the non-sips that might be interested.
My father, class of '40, gave me his Aggie yearbooks - yes, they are all called "The Longhorn." I don't care if ignorant sips think it's strange - WE HAD THE NAME FIRST.
Now I am past middle age, and am constantly reminded how few people realize the Texas A&M is a senior institution to that younger outfit in Austin, and certainly has better historical foundation for traditions.
The sips are doing their part to tell their version of these stories. Someday, hopefully soon, we will develop the resources and desire to market ourselves to the general public. Some of you younger folks should be aware of this information so that it may be spread to a wider audience.
Now, just look at the clock. I got way too fired up on this subject for a weeknight - but the Aggie Spirit still flows like a torrent through my aging body.
History Lesson on sip Traditions from an unknown source.....Thought this would be the place to see if this dissertation is rooted in fact/fiction.
Long read, but interesting.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There has been recent interest on these boards concerning the origin of terms such as "teasip" and "t.u."
Most sips consider "research" to be asking their friends, but this doesn't always provide the true story.
As previously discussed in other threads, the Aggies started using the term "t.u." in lower case, but did not reverse the letters. The sips often called themselves Texas University, although the term University of Texas was also in use.
Their sports teams were called Varsity, not Longhorns. Our yearbook was called Longhorn for many years, since it was a logical symbol for an Agricultural College.
I have attached a link to an old sip banquet program from 1897 (where they undoubtedly sipped tea) and the term University of Texas was used. However, at the lower part of the program, there is a class yell that goes:
Uni, Uni, Who Are We?
Varsi, Varsi, T, T, T
Law Department Juniors, See?
Texas, Uni, Varsi T.
Do you suppose their budding lawyers would have chosen these words if EVERYONE ELSE on campus only used the term UT?
By the way, I have a another image of one of their Yell Books from 1926. They have a Yell called "Hulla Balloo" that goes like this:
Hulla Balloo, ray, ray
Hulla Balloo, ray, ray
Who-ray, Who-ray
Varsity, Varsity
Quite original, don't you think? Hulla Balloo? Yells? In 1936, the sips had five Yell Leaders, all male, who wore white suits. Hmmm.
They received their big Texas flag idea from the Ole Miss Band in the 1961 Cotton Bowl. The Rebels made a very large Texas flag (51 feet wide and 90 feet long) and unfurled it during their halftime show as a display of sportsmanship. After the game, they presented it to the Texas Governor, who presented it to the sips, who promptly adopted the idea as their own. Of course, most sips think their school invented the idea. They probably think they invented the state flag design, as well.
Purdue University has the World's Largest Drum. They've had it since 1921. They used to play the University of Chicago in football, and the Chicago fans wanted a large drum, too, and had one made. The Purdue Drum is wider and heavier. The Chicago Drum is taller. The debate over size became moot when UC dropped their football program. Their drum was stored under the stands of Stagg Field, where the first atomic pile was created.
The Chicago drum was contaminated with nuclear radiation from the atomic pile. The drumheads rotted off. It was worthless, but Dallas oilman Harold Byrd bought it (for $1) in 1955, decontaminated it, restored it, and donated it to the sip band as "The World's Largest Drum - creating another great sip tradition that was copied from someone else.
The fact that someone else claims the World's Largest Drum is of no concern. They're Texas. The sips claim the Football MNC in 1970 when the LOST THE COTTON BOWL to Notre Dame. Undefeated (one tie) Nebraska won the Sugar Bowl that year and also claims the 1970 MNC. Nebraska's one tie was on the road at USC, and they fumbled the hold on a 12 yard field goal attempt. No matter. Nebraska is not Texas.
Of course, their little cannon Ol' Smokey was not an original idea. Oklahoma fired blank shotgun shells at the Red River Rivalry games, and the sips wanted something similar. So, in 1953, they built a little tube on wheels that fires blank shotgun shells. I wonder where they might have seen another college with students who FIRED A CANNON?
Their "Hook 'em Horns" was first used in 1955, well after the Gig 'em Aggies gesture had been in use for years. They wanted to be like us, and had to come up with their own hand signal.
The name of their nutless mascot was influenced by a 13-0 loss to the Aggies. Lucky for them we didn't win 27-14 or their mascot would be unpronouncable.
They got tired of feeding their mascot in 1920 (the records claim it cost fifty cents per day to feed) so they barbequed the beast and served it to both football teams before the 1920 game. They presented the side branded "13-0" to the Aggie team, who apparently discarded the disgusting hide at the first opportunity. Imagine if we had it on display today - but back then, who could have imagined the sips would ever again have a steer for a mascot, when they just slaughtered and ate the current one?
The sips first school colors were gold and white. They changed to orange and white in 1895. In 1897, 1898, and 1899 their teams wore ORANGE AND MAROON because the white was too hard to clean. I'm not making this up. Their yearboook (called the Cactus) said the official colors were gold or orange and white. The Medical school used royal blue. Their fans were adorned in all the colors of the rainbow even back then.
An election was held to decide the matter, and orange and white gained 562 votes, with orange and maroon in second place with 310 votes. Just a few more votes and they would look like Virginia Tech.
The orange dye of the early 1900's tended to fade to yellow with washing. The sip players were called "yellow bellies" by opponents. I'm not making this up, either. They played in yellow (awww, that matches your handbag!) for several years before their coach decided to look for a darker shade of orange that would resist fading. It became known as burnt orange.
Of course, the sips just used this custom color until it became too expensive during the Great Depression. Remember the nutless mascot costing to much to maintain? They went back to bright orange in the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's.
Darrell Royal revised the burnt orange color on his own in the early 1960's because it looked similar to the football. It made it easier to hide the ball during fakes. So much for "tradition." Just let the football coach change the uniform colors to match the pigskin and tell everyone they "always were burnt orange."
The "Eyes of Texas" was written as a joke for a campus Minstrel Show. Minstrel Shows would be considered politically correct today, but don't remind the sips their beloved song has such an unsavory history.
The idea for the lyrics came from a common saying of their President, William Prather, who had attended Washington College in Lexington, VA. At that school, headmaster General Robert E. Lee continually told the students to act responsibly, because the "Eyes of the South are upon you." Prather came up with the original idea of telling his students "The Eyes of Texas are upon you."
The President like the joke song, and actually promoted it. It was even played at his funeral. Go figure.
Who do you think appointed William Prather to the post of head sip? The Governor of Texas, a man by the name of Lawrence Sullivan Ross. Without Sully, the sips would not have the Eyes of Texas, and would probably have to steal a Broadway Show Tune written by Yankees, like the Sooners did with "Oklahoma."
By the way, the sips didn't even own the copyright to the "Eyes of Texas" until they BOUGHT it from the owner in 1984. Of course, the sips claimed they copyrighted it without knowing the real owner had filed paperwork several years earlier (1928) - snicker, snicker, we just made a little mistake!
Then, there's Texas Bite. The sip band calls it Taps. Why? Because it was specifically written to counteract an early Aggie Yell called Taps. The Aggie Band Buglers would play Taps (the real one) and the Corps would yell "Farmers Fight" in time to the music. It was a slow and imposing yell. The sips hated it.
One of their creative geniuses decided to speed up the tempo and yell "Texas Fight." Impressive, huh? Next time you hear the sip band play the song, you might be able to hear it starts out like Taps played very quickly. Once again, it's a good thing they didn't copy one of our longer yells or they might have a song called "Fifteen for Team, Texas Fight and Call it a Night."
The sips aren't big on historical facts about their own traditions.
Most of them don't even know Texas A&M is the older school.
I have found that it is not worth the trouble attempting to educate sips about their own history. They cannot accept their traditions are all weak copies stolen from someone else, or in some cases, handed to them free of charge. They just change the subject or go back to their friends where they can make up their own facts.
I only posted this for the non-sips that might be interested.
My father, class of '40, gave me his Aggie yearbooks - yes, they are all called "The Longhorn." I don't care if ignorant sips think it's strange - WE HAD THE NAME FIRST.
Now I am past middle age, and am constantly reminded how few people realize the Texas A&M is a senior institution to that younger outfit in Austin, and certainly has better historical foundation for traditions.
The sips are doing their part to tell their version of these stories. Someday, hopefully soon, we will develop the resources and desire to market ourselves to the general public. Some of you younger folks should be aware of this information so that it may be spread to a wider audience.
Now, just look at the clock. I got way too fired up on this subject for a weeknight - but the Aggie Spirit still flows like a torrent through my aging body.