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Inside the century-old tradition of Texas A&M’s yell leaders
Yell leaders have led fans in cheering on the Aggies since 1907.
This is the first in a series of three videos on college sports traditions with Four Points by Sheraton. Stay tuned for more ways to experience tradition at colleges across the country.
Every Friday night before a home game, more than 20,000 Texas A&M fans fill the stands of Kyle Field. To the uninitiated, it might look like the crowds of supporters arrived a few hours too early for the game. But this is actually an important A&M tradition that dates back to 1913. This is Midnight Yell Practice.
The yell leader tradition originated in 1907, back when A&M was an all-male military school. The student body elects a group of three seniors and two juniors, with one senior head yell leader. Several yell leaders have gone on to notable leadership roles after graduation, including former Texas Governor Rick Perry and Texas State Representative Trent Ashby.
Midnight Yell Practice prepares Aggie fans, known as the 12th Man, to cheer on the football team with a series of coordinated “yells.” Clad in painted denim overalls and white or maroon T-shirts, a group of five yell leaders tells stories of Aggie victories and leads the crowd in yells. At each Midnight Yell, the senior yell leaders watch the junior yell leaders do a “class set” in front of the crowd, which is a set of 100 push-ups, plus their class year. This year, for example, the class of 2020 junior yell leaders would perform 120 push-ups.
The following day, on game day, yell leaders run out onto the field shortly after the team and stand in front of the full stadium of fans for the entirety of the game, ready to pump up the crowd and cheer the team on to victory. If A&M wins, the freshmen in the Corps of Cadets storm the field, carry the yell leaders across campus to Fish Pond, and throw them in the fountain of cold water. After they’ve gotten over the initial shock, the yell leaders do what they do best, still standing knee-deep in the water: They lead another yell.
Watch Gavin Suel, head yell leader for the 2018–2019 academic year, tell the story of A&M’s tradition in the video above.
Experience your own traditions when you stay at Four Points by Sheraton. With over 150 properties throughout the U.S. and Canada, you’ll never be far from a college football game day location.