Tag Archives: Football

Purple Poos (Cameron Baller)

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Title: Purple Poos

General Information About Item:

  • Material Lore, hidden object
  • Language: English
  • Origin: Tarletono State University
  • Informant: R.R.
  • Date Collected: 10-25-21

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. 
Purple Poo suspended for hazing – Texan News Service | Tarleton State University

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:

  • Material Lore
  • Football
  • Tarleton State University
  • Locker Room Traditions

Fall Camp

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General Information:
Informant: AG
Place: Hanover, NH
Date: November 5, 2021
Genre/Form of folklore: Ritual/Customary
Title: “Fall Camp”

Informant Data: AG is a 19-year-old member of the class of 2025 at Dartmouth College. He is from New Jersey but spends most of the year on the college’s campus in Hanover, NH. He is a student-athlete, a part of the college’s football team as a tight end, and he is interested in studying economics.

Contextual Data: Football teams across the country, whether it is high school, college, or professional teams, spend at least a few weeks before the first game to get prepared with a series of intense practicing. This is referred to as “camp” by almost everyone involved in the sport. At Dartmouth, it is a time when the team is on before most of the campus has arrived and they are all housed in the same building as a group and forced to do everything together.

Social Data: Football players across the country show up to campuses early to prepare for their upcoming season with a few weeks of intense practicing referred to as “camp”.

Item: Each fall, the football team at Dartmouth spends about 25 days before the rest of the student body arrives on campus doing a fall camp. During this camp, players spend roughly 14 hours per day in meetings, lifts, practices, and team meals. It is a major bonding opportunity for the team, as well as a chance to get prepared for a competitive football season.

Transcript:

Collector: “Why did you (or didn’t) participate in the DOC Freshman year trips?”

Informant: “I play on the football team and we had to be at camp, so we missed out on the DOC freshman trips that the rest of our class participated in. We were slightly bummed, but we came here for football and it was important for us to be here and bond with the team, as well as learn our plays and practice to get us ready for the upcoming season. Every player misses the trips, and at the end of the day, we prefer it that way because football is the reason we are here. Camp gives us the chance to meet our teammates and get used to campus before everyone else arrives.”

Collector Comment:
As a member of the football team, our class also experienced its first camp this fall. It was a good preparation period and I enjoyed the bond the team built from being on campus early.



Collected by:

Ross Parrish 20

Cincinnati, OH

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013

Fall 2021

Harassing the Harvard Band

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Title: Harassing the Harvard Band

Informant info: Keaton Renta is a current member of the class of 2016. He is 21 years old and from South California.

Type of lore: Urban legend

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context: Keaton Renta was interviewed inside his room.  He has experienced football game four times (once each of his years in college Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior, Senior), and heard about the gille suit-band incident from friends.

Item: Each year, during homecoming there is a football game. It is a tradition at half time for freshmen to hop the banister and rush the field during half time. Usually, the freshmen just run across the field. However, there are stories about how some students took the tradition further one year. They dressed up in a sniper’s gille suit and proceeded to harass the Harvard band attempting to play their half time show.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Informant’s comments: The informant described the legend from the perspective that he heard from his friends.

Collector’s comments: The informant seem to remember the story very fondly.

Tags/Keywords: homecoming, football, football game, marching band

 

Rushing the Field

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Title: Rushing the Field

Informant info: Charles Cai is a current member of the class of 2016. He is 21 years old and from Princeton, NJ.

Type of lore: Customary, traditional

Language: English

Country of Origin: United States

Social / Cultural Context: Charles was interviewed outside his dorm. He has experienced the football game four times (once each of his years in college Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior, Senior).

Item: Each year, during homecoming there is a football game. It is a tradition at half time for freshmen to hop the banister and run across the field during half time. Previously, only a few freshmen would rush the field since it would typically involve evading security. However, security generally allows the tradition currently.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript (if verbal lore): N/A

Informant’s comments: Informant has rushed the field his freshmen year and watched subsequent classes also rush the field.

Collector’s comments: Rushing the field was an important and bonding experience for his freshmen friends. Rushing the field was previously a bigger deal than it currently is as security now allows freshmen to rush the field unmolested.

Tags/Keywords: homecoming, football, football game, rushing the field

“Who Dat”

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Who Dat

Informant:Libby Flint, age 59, New Orleans resident of 36 years, originally from Upstate New York and Vermont. Collected May 22, 2016 and recorded on iphone.

Verbal Lore: folk speech, slang, chants, cheers

English

United States of America

Context: a phrase used by Saints (The New Orleans Football team) fans and often used to describe those same fans

Transcript:

“‘who dat’  are saints fans  the cheer is ‘who dat say dey gonna beat dem saints’”

 

Informant: Erin Fell, age 21, New Orleans, LA. Collected on May 22, 2016 and recorded on iphone.

Transcript: “Next, “Who Dat?” That is the, uh, rallying cry of (New Orleans) Saints fans everywhere. It comes from “who is that” or “who is that that says they can beat the Saints?” Right so the chant goes Who dat say they gonna beat them Saints?”

 

Collectors commentary:

Keywords: Who Dat, Saints, Football, New Orleans