University of Texas Pride and Craziness! Quiz

Answer: Burnt Orange

Burnt orange is just a little more brown than pure orange. Make a note of that. There are various stories as to how burnt orange and white came to be UT's team colors. One was that some people needed to buy ribbons at a store, and all the store had left was burnt orange and white.

Another story goes that UT was considering adopting burnt orange and maroon as its colors. I'm glad they decided to ditch that idea. Blech! You know, even the first violinist of UT's Miro Quartet has an orange dress.

Answer: It is lit up in orange and white

There are different configurations of lights for the tower for different events. Normally, both the tower and the shaft are lit in white. For academic events, the shaft of the tower is lit orange, and the top is lit in white. For athletic events, the shaft is lit in white and the top is orange. For really, really special events, the whole tower is lit orange. Sometimes the windows on the shaft of the tower are configured to show a "1." And there's more. Whew! That's a lot to keep track of!

Answer: Longhorns

Longhorns are a kind of Texas cattle which have (duh) long horns. They stick out to the side quite a ways. Hence, my dad's longhorn hat rack can hold quite a few hats. Longhorns are known for their speed and endurance on trails. A lot of them are darn smart.

The cattle on my grandparents' farm were pretty oblivious to me walking around. The herd of longhorns I encountered later ran around trying to intimidate me, and succeeded admirably. Yikes!

Answer: Bevo

Bevo is a longhorn. The story is that the first Bevo got its name in 1917 when a group of Aggies (students from UT's arch-rival, Texas A&M University) branded UT's longhorn mascot with the score from the recent Aggie-Longhorn game, 13-0. With some creative branding, the Longhorns changed this to spell BEVO. Actually, the creative branding never happened.

Instead, the Longhorns fattened up Bevo and served him at a 1920 football banquet. The Aggies got to eat the 13-0 side, and even got the hide as a keepsake. Subsequent Bevos were treated much better, after retirement living out the rest of their days on a lovely ranch. Bevo really got his name from Ben Dyer, the editor of "The Alcalde" magazine (nowadays the UT alumni magazine), who decided to call the pre-cooking, nay, pre-branding longhorn "Bevo." Nobody knows where that came from!

Answer: Smokey

And they actually shoot the cannon, too! Very loud. But not with projectiles. Smokey was built in 1953 by the Mechanical Engineering department. 1963 was a big year for Smokey, what with participating in a National Football Championship AND a 21 gun salute for the late President Kennedy. Smokey III saw its debut in 1988.

Answer: Texas A&M and University of Oklahoma

People from Texas A&M are Aggies, and people from OU are Sooners. Aggie and Sooner jokes abound, but, for the sake of decency, I won't be repeating any of them here. These football rivalries can have far-ranging consequences. One time, my friend, of the UT Department of Geological Sciences, was on a field trip in Oklahoma the day after the UT-OU game. OU won.

A UT geology van and an OU geology van pulled up to the same outcrop. After quite a bit of tension in the air, the UT guys decided to come back later. But, several years later, the UT Geology department got a whoppingly huge donation, and OU's didn't. So there.

Answer: The Eyes of Texas

"The Eyes of Texas" was written by John Sinclair in 1903. The phrase "The Eyes of Texas are upon you" was first used by former UT president Colonel Prather. The song is sung to the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad." The lyrics are:
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
All the live long day.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
You can not get away.
Do not think you can escape them
At night or early in the morn-
The Eyes of Texas are upon you
'Till Gabriel blows his horn.

One store stocking UT clothing and paraphernalia has a sign on the front of the store which says, "The Eyes of Texas are upon you. What will you wear?"

Answer: The mascot of the College of Engineering

Alec's full name is Alexander Frederick Claire. He is a wooden statue of a bearded man holding up a glass of beer. Some UT Engineering students "liberated" him from Jacoby's beer garden in 1910, and declared him the Patron Saint of Engineering. He has since had numerous adventures, including being kidnapped by students of other colleges and kidnapped back by the resourceful engineering students. But I provide for you a description of the stirring ceremony that took place almost 100 years ago (Excerpted from the only entertaining e-mail the UT administration has ever sent me):

"In a ceremony that better resembled a church service, sophomore and
TECEM Club member Murray Gill was dubbed "Priest" for the day, and led
the assemblage in a rousing hymn that was popular among students but
less known to those off-campus: "Nero, My Dog, Has Fleas." Priest Gill
then gave a stirring speech on the life and times of Alec. It was Alec
himself who founded engineering science, designed the Great Wall of
China, the Pyramids of Egypt and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. He was
the chief consultant for all roads built by the Roman Empire, and even
assisted in the digging of the Suez Canal. Gill was reportedly so
touched by his subject, he had to have a handkerchief ready at all times to wipe away the flood of tears from his eyes.

"Following Gill's remarks, the group swore their allegiance to Alec, with each right hand placed solemnly on a copy of the beloved Calculus. Then, "with much uncontrollable weeping and lamentation," the engineers filed by the image of their patron saint, each student leaving a tribute of Bluebonnets."

Answer: Liberal arts honors program

It is the better of UT's two liberal arts honors programs (the other, by the way, is named Plan I.) Plan II is actually its own major, with courses required in writing, science, mathematics, philosophy, social science, history, and other things. There has been joking about Plan II students not needing to have a "real" major. To this effect, the Plan II student association sells bumper stickers that say, "I don't have a major but I Plan II." They also sell bumper stickers something to the effect of "My money and my child go to Plan II, and I don't even know what that is!"

Answer: Hook 'Em Horns

To do "Hook 'Em Horns," open your hand, then use your thumb to hold down your middle and ring fingers. The palm of your hand, not the back, should face out. Harley Clark, UT's head cheerleader at the time, developed the sign in 1955. I can't say he invented it-- in some parts of Europe, if you do Hook 'Em Horns, but with the back of your hand out, it's an obscene gesture! This did not stop me from giving a giant orange foam Hook 'Em sign to a visiting professor from Spain/Germany, who had developed a strong affection for burnt orange t-shirts during his time here.

The Hook 'Em sign is now displayed proudly in his office in Germany. Go figure!