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Texas A&M has an incredible history and from that history was born some of the greatest traditions in college football.
- E. King Gill, The 12th Man – 1922
- Midnight Yell Practice – 1932
- Good Bull Hunting – 2012
I am biased towards our Yell Leaders, but, having begun in 1907, we are easily one of Texas A&M's oldest traditions. 337 men have served and of those, 214 are alive today. This weekend in College Station is the Former Yell Leader reunion. It is always a fun experience for me to hear the good bull stories of formers that got chewed out by General Rudder, meeting legends that have dedicated their lives to our school, and many remarks from our more mischievous members glad that "social media didn't exist back in my day."
Yells have come and gone. Currently we utilize 13: Gig 'em, Aggies, Farmers Fight, Military, Ol' Army, Locomotive, Kyle Field, Beat the Hell, 15 for Team, Team, 15 for Team Farmers Fight Call it a Night, Horselaugh, and Busdriver. In fact, our consistently used Beat the Hell wasn't even created until 1970 by Head Yell Leader Sam Torn. With all of the discussion lately about the constant evolution of the culture at Texas A&M and our traditions I thought this week would be a good time to take a look back at the history of our yells to understand how much we are still rooted in our rich past.
I want to give special thanks to Terri Siqueiros and the Cushing Memorial Library, without whose help this research would not have been possible.
From the archives we were able to gather a series of Yell Books dating from 1906-1931.
The yells were quite complicated by today's standards and some were more than a little racist, but it was over 100 years ago. I won't hold it against them. I also believe that people alive at the turn of the century were wizards at making up words.
The Early Years
Click on picture to view full Yell Book
Undated
1906
I was intrigued to see that yell books existed as far back as 1906 because this was before the school had formal Yell Leaders (even if they were just fish in janitors' uniforms). Perhaps the 1906 squad had a Visor Guy of their own, leading yells from the stands.
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Click – i – tee – chuck! |
Hi, yi, hi, yi! |
Bing-i-ty, bing-i-ty binger bar! |
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Hullabaloo! Caneck! Caneck!
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Sis! Boom! Boomerlacker! |
1907
The first official year of Yell Leaders. Upperclassmen, frustrated that their dates were bored, sent several freshmen down to the field to entertain the crowd. We see an early example of the yell Skyrocket and what will later become part of the War Hymn as an individual yell.
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Cling-a-rang-a-rang-a-tang |
Hip, Ho! Zip, Rolly |
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(A very long whistle) |
Chick-gar-roo-gar-rem! |
1910
This year brings the orignial version of the yell, Horselaugh. The spelling of 'Rickety' was changed to 'Riffety' by 1912.
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Rickety! Rickety! Riff-Raf! |
1911
Much like the Land Shark, did Texas A&M create Hotty Toddy before Ole Miss? Also, what is up with the Lizzie yell?
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Hity! Tity! |
Rah! Rah! Rah! |
1912
Perhaps we can pull out this old yell, Bulldog, when we have an SEC match-up against Georgia.
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Gr-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-augh! |
1913
The first version of the Locomotive yell. It has changed slightly, but this one is still used today. We also see a different version of the yell Lizzie.
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U----rah----rah-A. M. C. |
Rah! Rah! Rah! |
1914
1915
We see Military for the first time. I also think we should bring back the Spell Yell just for Johnny.
1915 is the first year that Saw Varsity's Horns Off! is included in the Yell Book as a song.
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Squads Left! Squads Right! |
N-A-M-E (J-O-H-N-N-Y) |
1917
Try saying this 1917 doozy, What?, ten times fast.
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What! What's what? |
1922
*Yell Book Cover Only*
1923
*Yell Book Cover Only*
1924
*Yell Book Cover Only*
1930
I take partial blame for the creation of the failed Bleacher Stomp yell, but they were doing it as far back as 1930.
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K-y-l-e F-i-e-l-d? |
(Clap Hands) |
1931
As a piece of trivia for you, 1931 brings about my favorite yell of all time, Ladies. I will spare you the details of the pass-back.
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Yeh - Gig 'em Aggies! |
We see you - Ladies |
Popularity Contest
Most Used Yells from 1906 - 1932
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Skyrocket |
23 Years |
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Chick-gar-roo-gar-rem |
22 Years |
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Hullabaloo |
21 Years |
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Rickety Rock! De-Rock! |
21 Years |
|
Horselaugh |
21 Years |
|
Lizzie |
20 Years |
As you can see some of the yells have died away while new ones have taken their place. It is comforting to know that so much of the tradition from our early heritage still lives on in our yells as Aggies have been chanting the same words for the last 100 years. I will see you all at Midnight Yell on Friday night; we have some practice to do.