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| Traditions of the Aggies & Rams |
| From the school colors to the mascot there have been a number of traditions throughout the 62 years as the Aggies. Colorado State University is known as the Rams today but do you know who the mascots were before that? How did the school get its colors and what is up with that big "A" on the mountain west of town? Ever jump at the sound of a cannon following a touchdown? Everything you did or did not want to know about Aggie Traditions. (CSU Traditions too) |
Aggie Mascots
During the 62 years of the "Aggie Era" the college
had different mascots that identified the school,
however it was not until the 1959 that Colorado
State University "officially" adopted the Ram as their
mascot. In the earliest days of football there was
never any mention of an official or unofficial mascot
until 1912 when a dog showed up on campus.
The Colorado Aggie-Bulldogs?
Sometime around 1912 a student named Floyd
Cross purchased an English Bulldog that eventually
roamed around the Colorado Agricultural College
campus. Students would feed the dog peanuts and
He was taken to football games, adopted by
Battery A and attended other athletic events. By all
accounts he was very well liked by all of the Aggie
students. In April or May of 1918 Peanuts was
found dead, an apparent victim of being poisoned by
students from the University of Colorado. The Aggies
were never referred to as the Bulldogs during
Peanuts' status as mascot.
Billy Hughes and a Bear
The 1919 Aggie football team had Billy Hughes listed
as the school's official mascot. The son of coach
Harry Hughes was about six years old in the photo
and looking just as serious as his father about
football. Little Billy did not last long as the school
mascot and was probably given the status because
he attended the games and the students wanted a
replacement after the loss of Peanuts.
The 1919 team also shows a bear cub as the school
mascot in their championship team photo. Little is
known about this bear, where it came from or even
it's name. The bear disappeared as quickly as it
arrived and for the next 26 years the Aggies did not
have a mascot associated with the school; officially or
unofficially.
The "Aggie-Rams"
In January of 1946 a group of men on the Aggie
campus known as the "Senators" surprised the
student body and faculty by bringing out a ram
during halftime of a basketball game against the
University of Denver. They felt it was "about time the
school had a mascot" and spent two days in secrecy
grooming a two year old ram for his introduction.
The ram was an instant hit with the students and
unofficially adopted as the school mascot after
students voted in the fall of 1945 for the nickname
Rams. The Fall 1946 Collegian adopted the Ram as
mascot of sports right away and most articles were
written with both Aggies and Rams as the school
nickname.
Named "CAM the Ram", the "CAM" stands for
Colorado A & M and remains one of the few ties to
the Aggie days. In 1951 the football team started
wearing the ram's horns on their helmets and the
1955 football schedule made no mention of the Aggie
name but rather called them the Rams.
During the 62 years of the "Aggie Era" the college
had different mascots that identified the school,
however it was not until the 1959 that Colorado
State University "officially" adopted the Ram as their
mascot. In the earliest days of football there was
never any mention of an official or unofficial mascot
until 1912 when a dog showed up on campus.
The Colorado Aggie-Bulldogs?
Sometime around 1912 a student named Floyd
Cross purchased an English Bulldog that eventually
roamed around the Colorado Agricultural College
campus. Students would feed the dog peanuts and
He was taken to football games, adopted by
Battery A and attended other athletic events. By all
accounts he was very well liked by all of the Aggie
students. In April or May of 1918 Peanuts was
found dead, an apparent victim of being poisoned by
students from the University of Colorado. The Aggies
were never referred to as the Bulldogs during
Peanuts' status as mascot.
Billy Hughes and a Bear
The 1919 Aggie football team had Billy Hughes listed
as the school's official mascot. The son of coach
Harry Hughes was about six years old in the photo
and looking just as serious as his father about
football. Little Billy did not last long as the school
mascot and was probably given the status because
he attended the games and the students wanted a
replacement after the loss of Peanuts.
The 1919 team also shows a bear cub as the school
mascot in their championship team photo. Little is
known about this bear, where it came from or even
it's name. The bear disappeared as quickly as it
arrived and for the next 26 years the Aggies did not
have a mascot associated with the school; officially or
unofficially.
The "Aggie-Rams"
In January of 1946 a group of men on the Aggie
campus known as the "Senators" surprised the
student body and faculty by bringing out a ram
during halftime of a basketball game against the
University of Denver. They felt it was "about time the
school had a mascot" and spent two days in secrecy
grooming a two year old ram for his introduction.
The ram was an instant hit with the students and
unofficially adopted as the school mascot after
students voted in the fall of 1945 for the nickname
Rams. The Fall 1946 Collegian adopted the Ram as
mascot of sports right away and most articles were
written with both Aggies and Rams as the school
nickname.
Named "CAM the Ram", the "CAM" stands for
Colorado A & M and remains one of the few ties to
the Aggie days. In 1951 the football team started
wearing the ram's horns on their helmets and the
1955 football schedule made no mention of the Aggie
name but rather called them the Rams.
| School Colors -Green and Gold The color most associated with the Aggies and Colorado State University has been green, officially described as "Forest Green". Today the secondary color is gold, officially described as "Vegas Gold". However, there has been a long debate of when gold became the secondary color because during the Aggie era both gold and orange continued to show up. According to the February 1893 Collegian the school colors of "Green and Orange" were chosen by the first football team and their "rooters" before the game against Longmont Academy. There has never been a reason why green and orange were chosen as the school colors but in the 1895 Silver Spruce the class of 1896 had their colors as lavender and cream . Although it cannot be known for sure, it is possible green and orange had a significance toward a particular graduating class. These colors remained in tact even after Ellis banned football in 1894 and resurfaced in numerous publications into the first decade of the 20th Century. In 1903, one publication stated that the school colors of green and orange stood for "Alfalfa and Squash" for the agricultural roots of the school. In 1909, the football team was getting sick from the green die in their uniforms and the Collegian reported that the school should change it's colors to "Orange and blue...a more stable and solid combination, they appear to match very well." (Green remained the primary color) The change to gold appears to coincide with Charles Lory becoming college president in 1909. Into the 1950's it was easy to see gold (usually yellow) and orange as the secondary school color in everything from pennants to football schedules however, the secondary color was always described as gold regardless of how it looked. In 1993 a true "Vegas Gold" was introduced when Sonny Lubick took over as head coach of football. The yellow disappeared and a bright gold is seen in all CSU uniforms today. |
| Ringing the Bell in Victory - One old tradition lost to the ages is for freshmen students to ring the bell at Old Main after a victory. The original bell (seen above) was cracked around 1919 and the clapper stolen a few years later. The bell itself was stolen according to Dr. George Glover around 1925. A replacement bell was purchased in 1923 but never hoisted into the Old Main bell tower. When Old Main burned down in 1970, there was no bell in the belfry. (Clarence Oldemeyer Collection, 1917) |
Any visitor to Ft. Collins cannot miss the large white letter "A" on the hog-back mountain west of town. A closer look at the massive letter shows that it is actually made up of boulders in the shape of the letter and painted white for easier viewing. This moniker first showed up in 1923 and was enlarged and painted white in 1924. The letter was placed on the mountain as a form of school pride and to make a tradition of having the freshmen paint it each year. Today it is still painted each fall, not just for tradition but because the FAA requires it to be seen from the air as a land marker for planes. When some students wanted to remove the "A" and replace it with an "R" in the 1980's it was the FAA that prevented it from happening. With Hughes Stadium just below the "A" this moniker remains as the largest and best reminder that CSU is, was and always will be an agricultural school. |
| The ROTC Cannon As a Land Grant institution, Colorado State University is required to have an ROTC military presence. Durkee Field also acted as the military training grounds so it is only natural that a cannon sound off at football games. The 1894 team posed beside a cannon showing the earliest connection with football and the military program. A September 11, 1937 Collegian article states that the cannon first appeared at football games in 1920 to open and close the games. The tradition has continued ever since making the ROTC cannon the oldest continuous tradition at Colorado State University, beating the painting of the "A" by four years. The original cannon was a 75mm Model 1897 French artillery piece (better known as a "French 75") and was first mounted on a wagon and pulled by a large military truck. The Aggie ROTC men would travel to away games like CU, Denver and Colorado Mines to show their spirit and cause a little trouble along the way sometime shooting the cannon as they drove down the road. By the time of the 1937 Collegian article, the 17 year old tradition had become one of the most favorite of Aggies at Colorado State. With the onset of World War II, the US Government recalled all "French 75's" to be retrofitted for modern warfare. It is unclear at this time when the original cannon was taken by the US Government but after WW II a loaner cannon was used until 1952. In 1952, the 5th Army donated the current cannon used at CSU games today. Named "Comatose", this gun is a 1918 French 75 built in France during WW I. The gun was mounted in to the carriage in 1941 during retrofitting at the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois. Records are unavailable to know where "Comatose" went after it's modernization in 1941. First time visitors, freshmen and forgetful alumni are always the first to jump at the sound of the cannon during the National Anthem ("Bombs Bursting in Air") and scores. This great and lasting tradition is not unique to Colorado State University but it does bring out a sense of pride when Ram Fans hear the "BOOM" of the longest tradition in school history. |
