Orange Tie Club

The Orange Tie Club was founded in 1963 to be the men’s basketball boosters club. Coach Ray Mears suggested forming the club as part of his campaign to have fans wear orange and white. Henry F. (Hank) Bertelkamp Jr. (’53), himself an acclaimed basketball player for UT, and dentist Earl Keister worked with Mears to follow up on his idea and develop the club. One hundred orange ties were purchased. They were kept in a cloakroom, and men, wearing white shirts, would pick up the ties and wear them to basketball games. Membership in the group swelled to approximately five hundred.