University of Texas Hex Rally 2011-11-21

Hex Rally (sometimes Texas Hex) was a

pep rally A pep rally or pep assembly is a gathering of people, typically students of middle school, high school, and college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a ...

The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

that occurred in the week before the annual

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

game between the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

and their in-state rivals, the

Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M Aggies refers to the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname " Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also referred to as "A&M" or "Texas Agg ...

History

The Hex Rally traces its origins to 1941. Having lost the previous seven away games at Texas A&M, a group of worried UT students sought the advice of a local fortune teller, Mozzelle "Madame Augusta" Hipple. Hipple told the students to burn red candles the week before the game against A&M. The red symbolized challenge and opposition. In response, store owners, dorm residents, and other UT supporters around Austin burned red candles ceaselessly. That

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

, the Texas Longhorns snapped A&M's home winning streak with a 23–0 win. The rally has been held annually, except in 2002 after the death of Texas A&M football player Brandon Fails, and 1999 when the rally's tone was altered in response to the tragedy of the Aggie bonfire collapse; organizers extended an invitation to all Aggies and their friends to the event, which was dubbed a "Unity Gathering." Instead of red candles, participants lit white candles in memory of the fallen Aggies. After UT's last game against Texas A&M in 2011, attendance quickly declined in following years until UT's athletic department finally discontinued participation in the event. The Texas Fight Rally, held the week before UT's annual game with the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early part ...

, remains as UT's primary annual football pep rally.

Rally

The Texas Exes Student Chapter, sponsored by the Texas Exes alumni organization, organized the event. The Longhorn Band,

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

squad, Smokey the Cannon, the

World's Largest Texas Flag The World's Largest Texas Flag is a Texas flag used by the stadium handlers of the Alpha Rho chapter of Alpha Phi Omega (ΑΦΩ or APO), a national co-ed service fraternity, at the University of Texas at Austin in displays at football pre-game ...

, and football team all appeared at the event, where red candles were burned. As part of their rituals, UT held a bonfire similar in structure to the

Aggie Bonfire The Aggie Bonfire was a long-standing annual tradition at Texas A&M University as part of the college rivalry with the University of Texas at Austin. For 90 years, Texas A&M students—known as Texas A&M Aggies, Aggies—built a bonfire on campu ...

. However, there was not sufficient lumber to build one as large, and student interest was lacking. UT Bonfire eventually died out in the mid-1980s. The physics department at the university decided to build an iron candle-like torch as a replacement, which was lit each year at the rally. The 2008 rally, held November 24, 2008, featured Longhorn football head coach

Mack Brown William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American college football coach. He is currently in his second stint as the head football coach for the University of North Carolina, where he first coached from 1988 until departing in 1997, whe ...

, strength and conditioning coach, Jeff "Mad Dog" Madden, and the Longhorn Football Team.

References

External links

Texas Exes Hex Rally Pages
Texas Longhorns University of Texas at Austin {{Austin-stub