TAT: Students Crash A&M's Midnight Yell

This article originally appeared on September 28, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.


Texas A&M had its traditional Midnight Yell practice Friday night in the parking lot of Har-Ber High School in Springdale.

Hundreds of Aggies fans gathered to practice their cheers for the Arkansas game at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Dru Bledsoe, a 1991 graduate of Texas A&M and member of the Ozark A&M Club, has lived in Springdale for 15 years and helped organize the event. She said that she expected between 500 and 1,000 people to attend.

Among those in attendance was a large group of Arkansas fans.

“We welcome the opposing fans to come,” Bledsoe said. “We’ve never, that I can recall, had any problems with opposing fans. We want everyone to come and see what our tradition is about and enjoy it.”

For Texas A&M fans, it’s not only a time to practice their cheers, but also a time to get together and enjoy the company of friends and fellow fans.

Andrew Magness, a 2005 graduate of Texas A&M, tries to go to one away game every year and always attends the Midnight Yell the night before.

“Midnight Yell is an important part of us,” Magness said.

Like Bledsoe, Magness said the opposing team’s fans are usually “courteous” and “welcoming.” However, he has been to a few before Texas games that haven’t been as smooth.

“There’s been a couple times we’ve had some Midnight Yells get hairy in Austin,” Magness said. “Generally, fans are nice and just like to see what we do and we like to see what they do.”

When the event started, a large group of Arkansas fans marched together, calling the Hogs and singing the fight song.

For the rest of the evening, the Razorback fans were constantly singing and chanting. Some even brought air horns and megaphones, trying their best to interrupt the Midnight Yell.

UA student Tyler Glover was camping for the game when he heard rumors that Texas A&M fans would be doing their Midnight Yell just 15 minutes away from Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

“They have a lot of guts because here we are,” Glover said. “I give them respect, but they’re definitely taking a risk of having their opponent’s fan base coming to their pep rally.”

Many UA students, like Jennifer Fore, went because they wanted to show the Aggies that they had school spirit, too.

“I just came here to support the Hogs,” Fore said. “I’m all about school spirit, so that’s why I’m here.”

The Aggie Yell Leaders took the chants by the Arkansas fans in stride, stopping every once in a while to fire a joke about Arkansans.

“I hope my younger siblings don’t give up in the second grade and start kissing my cousin,” one Yell Leader said.

The Texas A&M student body president, Reid Joseph, who is a graduate of Har-Ber High, also took shots at the Arkansas fans.

Razorback fans were so loud that it became difficult to hear what the Yell Leaders and Joseph were saying, but when the Aggie fans started their chants, they overpowered the smaller group of Arkansas fans.

The Yell practice lasted about 30 minutes, ending just before 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning.

Here's a look at the group of Arkansas fans, including one waving the Arkansas state flag.

Here's a look at the Texas A&M Yell Leaders leading one of the cheers. I then pan over to the Arkansas fans.

Here's a YouTube video I made. It's a slide show of pictures from the Midnight Yell and includes audio from it. (There are only 9 different pictures. They play on a loop so all of the audio would fit.)