About the Yell Leaders
HISTORY OF YELL LEADERS
When A&M was an all-male military college in 1907, students
often invited ladies from Texas Women’s University to take the train to
College Station to attend Aggie football games. Then as now, a certain
amount of tickets were set aside for guests, and these would be handed
out based on seniority, so freshmen were rarely able to bring guests to
the games.
According to legend, during one football game the Aggies were being
out-scored so badly that the ladies were threatening to leave the game
from boredom, and the upperclassmen ordered the freshmen, or “fish,” to
find a way to entertain them. The freshmen raided a janitor’s closet
and changed into the white coveralls they found there, and began
leading the crowd in yells from the track in front of the stands. The
freshmen got so much attention from the ladies that it was decided that
only upperclassmen would be allowed to participate in this
entertainment in the future.
TODAY
The Aggie Yell Leaders have evolved into a team of five
upperclassmen, three seniors and two juniors. Student body elections to
choose the Aggie Yell Leaders are held annually, and it is not uncommon
for more than twice as many students to vote for yell leader candidates
than vote in the Student Body President elections.The Yell Leaders
attend all home and away football games, all home basketball games, all
home volleyball games, all home soccer matches, and post-season
football, basketball, and volleyball. They can always be found on the
sidelines of the playing field in front of the student section.
MIDNIGHT YELL PRACTICE
One of the most well known and popular
traditions at Texas A&M is Midnight Yell Practice. Yell Practice
began as a post dinner activity in 1913, when different corps companies
would gather together to “learn heartily the old time pep.” However, it
was not until 1931, that Yell Practice as it is known today, was held
before the t.u. game. It began, when a group of cadets were gathered in
Peanut Owen’s dorm room in Puryear Hall. Someone suggested that all of
the freshmen should fall out and meet on the steps of the YMCA building
at midnight. The cadets notified senior yell leaders Horsefly Berryhill
and Two Gun Herman from Sherman, who could not authorize it, but said
that they may just show up. Well, needless to say, the word spread
quickly, and when the freshmen began to arrive, there were railroad
flares and torpedoes stuck in flower pots around the YMCA building to
light the area. The first Midnight Yell had begun!!!Today, Midnight
Yell is held the night before a home game in Kyle Field and is
regularly attended by over 25,000 people. Also for away games, a site
is designated for a Midnight Yell in the city of our opponent on the
night before the game. For example, for the t.u. game, it is held at
the Texas Capitol in Austin. For a yell at Kyle Field, yell leaders
lead the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band and the Twelfth Man into the stadium.
The yell leaders lead the crowd in old army yells, the singing of the
fight song, and tell fables of how the Aggies are going to beat the
everlivin’ hell out of our opponent for the next day. Lastly, the
lights go out, and Aggies kiss their dates. If they don’t have a date,
all they have to do is flick their lighters. As the story goes, the
flames make it easier for two dateless people to find each other, and
maybe they won’t be dateless anymore!The purpose of Midnight Yell is to
pump up the Twelfth Man for the next day’s big game!