The all-male Beaver Club was first organized during the spring term of 1921 to foster and promote university spirit and to meet and entertain visiting athletic teams. The impetus for formation of the club was a football game against Dartmouth in fall 1921 during which Dartmouth’s Green Key Club was responsible for hospitality for the UT team and visitors.
In 1922–23 the All Students’ Club organized the group into a permanent men’s club for sophomores, which it sponsored. The Beaver Club was the first organization of its kind in a southern university. The charter president was V. M. Robertson.
By 1924 the club was a representative organization, composed of one representative from each national fraternity, one from each local fraternity, and two nonfraternity members. One member, called the Alumni Supervisor, remained active from the preceding year. New Beavers were appointed each year and served a one-year term. In 1935 the Beaver Club founded the cheering section—Vol Voices. In 1936 a new constitution was adopted.
In 1939, the year its membership was expanded to include women, the club began a new activity of card tricks, in which spectators holding up pieces of colored cardboard on a cue made intricate patterns during football games. The card section was an open-seating area on the east side of the stadium, and those who chose to sit there found cards on their seats and directions under the seat for each display. The Beaver Club met once a week to prepare the instructions for the card tricks—over 1,500 had to be prepared for each game. Many of the displays were quite elaborate.
By 1943 the Beaver Club was made up of an elected representative from each fraternity and sorority along with four non-Greek students.
The Beaver Club was also responsible for the orange and white rooter caps and stunts performed with them at football games. The club sold the rooter caps, which were popular in the 1940s and 1950s. The club became part of the new Pep Council in 1953, and Adawayhi subsequently assumed its functions.