Colonel Rebel, representing Mississippi as the quintessential caricature of an elderly southern gentleman, served as the on-field mascot for Ole Miss from 1938 until 2010, when a new on-field mascot, the Rebel Bear, was chosen through a lengthy process headed by students. A costumed Colonel Reb had been discontinued in 2002. The Colonel Reb likeness … Continued

Soon after the University of Missouri’s football team was formed in 1890, the athletic committee adopted the nickname “Tiger” from a group of local Civil War militia called the Missouri Tigers. Originally there were two tiger mascots, a male and a female, but neither had a specific identity. In 1984 a contest was held to … Continued

The official mascot of the University of South Carolina is Cocky, a fighting gamecock. The mascot comes from the nickname “Fighting Gamecocks.” In the 1890s the football team was informally referred to as Game Cocks. In 1903 the student newspaper shortened the word to Gamecock and that has been the nickname ever since. Gamecocks are … Continued

The mascot of Vanderbilt, the Commodore, comes from the school nickname, the “Commodores.” Vanderbilt is named for Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided a million dollars in 1873 for its establishment. His penchant for steam boating resulted in his being called Commodore, and the students at the university that bore his name also became known as … Continued

Knoxville native Reed Massengill graduated from UT in 1984 with a bachelor’s in journalism. The nephew of Byron De La Beckwith, convicted (in his third trial) of killing civil rights leader Medgar Evers, Massengill’s first book, Portrait of a Racist: The Man Who Killed Medgar Evers? (St. Martin’s Press) was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize … Continued

In addition to several other forms of tribute to Dean Felix Massey, in 1939 the Alumni Association was given a plaster bust of Massey, the work of Puryear Mims of Nashville. A bronze casting was to be made later.

In fall 1958 more than 600 women who applied for UT housing could not be accommodated. In March 1959 UT announced plans for a new women’s dormitory to be located on the west side of what was then known as West Hall and is now named Greve Hall. The new residence hall was originally designed … Continued

The All Students’ Club formed a committee consisting of students, faculty, and alumni to raise money for a fitting memorial for Dean Felix Massey. Money was raised slowly, but by spring 1939 funds were in hand to purchase the recommended choice of the committee—an electric organ with chimes for the Alumni Memorial Building. Three organs … Continued

Born in Mulberry, Tennessee, Felix Massey graduated from the Webb School of Bell Buckle in 1899 and then from Vanderbilt, where he was a well-known football player and debater and a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He served as the first paid secretary of the YMCA at Vanderbilt in 1902–03. He left Vanderbilt and … Continued

In 2003 the Agricultural Extension Service undertook the most comprehensive beef education program presented in Tennessee, with participants who completed the program being designated as Master Beef Producers.