COLLEGE STATION, Texas — While most college teams have cheerleaders, the Texas A&M Aggies have yell leaders.
While yell leaders don’t do gymnastics on the sidelines, their job is the same – to energize the Aggie crowd at sporting events, especially football games. So why yell leaders and not cheerleaders? According to the Texas A&M website, ‘Aggies don't cheer — they yell.’
The yell leaders are made up of three seniors and two juniors. They’re elected by the Texas A&M student body.
So how did the tradition of Texas A&M yell leaders come to be?
The answer to that question dates back to the early 1900s during a football game. The Aggies’ football team was losing badly, according to the Texas A&M website, and fans – many of whom had traveled to the game from Texas Woman’s University -- were getting bored. That’s when upperclassmen tasked freshmen with finding a way to entertain the crowd. Those freshmen found white coveralls and started leading the crowd in yells.
According to Texas A&M, everyone had so much fun that it was decided the upperclassmen would participate, too. And the tradition was born.
Aggie yell leaders still wear coveralls during football games. They go to home and away games, leading the crowd in yells, such as Farmers Fight and Old Army, and hand signals, called “pass backs.”
This year’s Texas A&M yell leaders are head yell leader Jake Carter, seniors Grayson Poage and Josiah Brantley and juniors Kyler Fife and Luke Widener
KHOU 11’s Matt Dougherty was inside Kyle Field during yell practice on Friday night. You can see his report below.
