Purple Poos (Cameron Baller)

Title: Purple Poos

General Information About Item:

Informant Data:

R.R. is a 37-year-old male. He was born and raised in Celina, Texas. He currently is a football coach, track coach, and recruiting coordinator for a high school in Argyle, Texas. He attended and graduated from Tarleton State University where he played college football.

Contextual Data:

R.R. attended Tarleton State University which was established in 1899 and has a rich tradition surrounding football especially in the state of Texas. The Purple Poos were a secret organization of 10 males and 10 females who were unknown to the student body and whose mission was to promote the spirit of Tarleton. Many members would eventually unmask themselves the final spring that they are on campus. This specific tradition of hiding an item was meant to increase the school spirit. Whenever one of the players carried around that item, everyone on campus knew what it meant. It was also a way to keep up the rivalries between the schools across the Lone Star Conference at the time.

Item:

After a win, Tarleton State has a group of unknown individuals who dress up in purple and are known as the Purple Poos. After every win, the Purple Poos will come into the locker room and hide an object that represents the rivalry between Tarleton State and the school they just played. Whoever finds the item after singing the song “Way Down Yonder” gets to keep it until they play the team again the following year.

Transcript:

“One of the main traditions is after a win, we have these people who dress up in different costumes and no one knows who they are and they are called the “Purple Poos”. After every win, they come into the locker room and they hide certain objects. If we were playing Midwestern which would be called the “Lonestar Battle of the Axes” then they would hide a golden axe in someone’s locker or bag. If you find it after we sing “Way Down Yonder” then thats a special keepsake for yourseld that you hold onto until the following year when you have to give it back. Its one of the corky traditions that has stayed with my heart for a long time.”

Informant’s Comments:

“I think its trying to get us to show school spirit and the Lonestar is rooted in rivalries and is not just one big rival. At the time, each school had a different rivalry with a different meaning to it. I think they were trying to keep the rivals up and then walking around with the object promoted school spirit because if you had that axe, then everybody around campus knew what that meant.”

Collector’s Comments:

This is defintley one of the most intersting traditions that I observed. I thought it was a great idea in order to not only promote school spirit but also give some motivation for every single opponent that the team plays.

Collector’s Name: Cameron Baller

Tags/Keywords:

Dartmouth Folklore Archive