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Tech
Traditions
The Saddle Tramps
Tech's best known booster organization, The Saddle
Tramps, was formed in 1936. The founding member
was Arch Lamb. Since that time, the Saddle Tramps
have come to represent the best in school spirit.
Will Rogers and Soapsuds
Humorist Will Rogers donated $200 for the Tech
band to play at the football game against Texas
Christian University on Oct. 30, 1926. He wanted
people in Fort Worth to hear a "real West
Texas band." In 1948, the Amon G. Carter
Foundation presented Tech a statue of Rogers and
his horse, Soapsuds, titled "Riding into
the Sunset" by Electra Waggoner Biggs. The
statue sits east of Memorial Circle and offset
23° north from west in order to face the rear
of the horse toward Texas A&M, a favorite
Tech rival.
The Wrapping of the statue
Before each home game, visitors to the campus
may notice red crape paper billowing in the West
Texas wind as it hangs from the sides of buses,
cars and the Will Rogers and Soapsuds statue.
Members of the Saddle Tramps have the honor of
wraping the Will Rogers statue before the games
as a demonstration of school spirit. They also
ring the Victory Bells after each athletic triumph.
The sister organization, the High Riders, joins
the Saddle Tramps in supporting Tech Athletics.
The Snake Dance
Members of the Saddle Tramps run through the
dorms and around the campus before the home game,
picking up students along the way. They ring bells
and shout as they make their way to the stadium
to arouse school spirit.
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Double T
The history of the Double T tradition goes to
the beginnings of Texas Technological College.
Historical evidence suggest that Tech's first
football coaches, E.Y. Freeland and Grady Higginbotham,
are the originators of this trademark, first using
it on letter sweaters. The emblem has come to
represent the men and women who have made Texas
Tech what it is.
Bell Towers
With its twin bell towers, sallyport, double
wings and a courtyard, the Administration Building
Tower is the most recognized building on campus.
The west tower is home to a rare carillon, a set
of fixed bells that are played like an instrument.
The east tower houses two Victory Bells, a gift
of the Class of 1936.
Carol of Lights
The Carol of Lights began in 1959 and is celebrated
throughout the month of December. The campus buildings
which line the Broadway entrance to Memorial Circle,
the Science Quadrangle and the Engineering Key
are covered in lights. A formal ceremony, which
is highlighted by a torch-lighted parade and seasonal
music, precedes the throwing of a switch that
begins the month-long observance. The lighting
festival is a project of the Residence Halls Association.
Goin' Band from Raiderland
This 400 member band is under the direction of
Keith Bearden, associate director of bands and
professor of music. The "Goin' Band"
recently performed at the GalleryFurniture.com
bowl.
Listen to the Band!
The band was awarded the 1999 Sudler Trophy --
the nation's highest and most coveted award for
college and university marching bands. A magnificent
bronze traveling trophy will be presented to the
band during Alumni Band Day, which is scheduled
for the first Red Raiders Football home game on
September 18, 1999.
Masked Rider
On Jan. 1, 1954 when Tech played in the Gator
Bowl, a horse named Jackie was loaned by Jim St.
Clair to student Joe Kirk Fulton. Wearing Levis,
red shirt, red and black cape and a black cowboy
hat, Fulton led the team onto the field. The Atlanta
Constitution described Fulton as a "cowboy
in a red cape on a charger" and noted that
the event was "typically Texas." Ed
Danforth of the Constitution wrote: "No team
in any bowl game ever made a more sensational
entrance." The Masked Rider, riding hell-bent
for leather down the sidelines at football games
has become one of the most impressive university
mascots in the nation.
Guns Up
The hand sign of Texas Tech is the "Guns
Up" made by extending the index finger outward
while extending the thumb upward and tucking in
the middle, little and fourth fingers to form
a gun. The Guns Up sign is the widely recognized
greeting of one Red Raider to another. It is also
the sign of victory displayed by the crowd at
every athletic event.
Written with materials provided
by the Texas Tech Office of News and Publications
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