A History of the Mulerider Name and Mascot

By Dr. James F. Willis

TDAS

 

The unique name of “Muleriders” was not always the symbol of Southern Arkansas University. At the beginning, athletic teams and students were known as “Aggies.” The Third District Agricultural School (TDAS) was founded in 1909 to educate rural youth of the region and to promote better agriculture practices. Of course, the school’s working farm had many mules. Arkansas farmers used mules, along with oxen, to plow and for other tasks. Students at TDAS worked mules and played with mules in their leisure time.

Students and their mules at Third District Agricultural School in 1911-12, in front of the Boys Dorm, later named Holt Hall. Walz Photo Collection, Southwest Archives.

Until the end of the First World War, the name Aggies was used more often than Muleriders. The school’s yearbook, titled The Monitor, when first issued in 1914, did not have its name changed to The Mulerider until 1922. The pages of the early yearbooks refer frequently to Aggies. The first use of the word Muleriders occurs in the 1914 yearbook to describe the school’s football team and its record during the fall season of 1913. The first image of a mule in a yearbook, apart from farm scenes, appears as a cartoon on the final page of the 1918 yearbook.

Newton Smith, the cartoonist, was president of the sophomore class. The Monitor, 1918, p. 151, SAU Archives.

It is clear therefore that well before the United States entered the First World War athletes and students used the name of Mulerider, although school officials had not yet adopted it. The football team certainly embraced it after the war, as the photo below indicates.

The 1919 Mulerider Football Team: At top, l. to r.: Dolph Camp, Willie King, Ves Godley, Dewey Burnside, Lloyd Godley, F. O. Middlebrooks. Bottom, l. to r.: D. M. Stuart, Hubert Wilkinson, and Sam Crosswhite. Players not included in the photo: Thearon Atkins, Fonzie Moses, Royal Franks, and Carl McCollum. The picture took place before a game with Texarkana High, which TDAS won 51-7. The 1919 TDAS team was the first of the championship teams at the school. The team won all of its eight games. Travel was in Model-Ts driven by Van Emerson, Dr. H. K. Carrington, and Jules Roper; trip time depended on the number of flats. Facts from Ves Godley; picture from H. B. Nesbitt; enlargement and caption by Dr. Robert B. Walz. Walz Photo Collection, Southwest Archives.

Ves Godley of the winning 1919 team years later told the story of the Mulerider name’s origins. On at least one occasion, when cars were scarce, team members had to ride mules to McNeil, five miles north of the campus, to board a train for a game trip. Interviewed in the early 1970s by Dr. Dan Skelton, Godley recalled that afterwards team members gathered in the campus home of G. R. Turrentine, the history teacher and coach. Someone proclaimed that the players were Muleriders. Team members liked that name. The name was adopted officially after Mr. Charles A. Overstreet became the school’s head in 1921-22. Subsequently, when the student newspaper began publication in 1924-25, it was named The Bray. (Dr. Dan Skelton, “A History of Southern Arkansas University From 1909 to 1976,” Ed. D., dissertation, The University of Mississippi, 1979, pp. 46-47. SAU Archives.)

MAGNOLIA A & M

Exactly when the tradition began of having a mule and a rider– a Mulerider–as a mascot at football games is not clear. The practice had certainly developed by the time TDAS became a junior college, in 1925 with a new name, Agricultural and Mechanical College, Third District (known as Magnolia A & M). Several yearbook photos of the era show these Muleriders.

This collage of A & M football photos from the 1924 season shows in the top picture a student atop a mule on the sidelines. The handwritten caption reads: “Our Mulerider.” The Mulerider 1925, p. 115, SAU Archives.

This photo of the “Pep Squad” formed in 1927 shows a Mulerider as a part of this cheer-leading group. The Mulerider 1928, p. 94, SAU Archives.

These early mule mascots apparently did not have names, or at least their names were not recorded in yearbooks. The mules were those used everyday on the farm. After the Second World War, however, a new tradition developed of naming mascots and of using mules who were more pets than work animals. This change undoubtedly reflected the disappearance of working mules, increasingly replaced by tractors.

SSC

As Magnolia A & M was preparing to become a four-year college, with a new name, Southern State College, there were many changes, including the appearance of a new mascot. On October 14, 1950, the local Magnolia Optimist Club gave the school a mule named Optimaggie.

Optimaggie. The Mulerider 1951, p. 21, SAU Archives.

Optimaggie, unlike the working mules of the past, was a pampered animal. Optimaggie accompanied the football team on road games, riding in a specially decorated trailer. The attention and care shown Optimaggie was directed in part by Southern State College’s new president in 1950, Dr. Dolph Camp. He was a graduate of TDAS and a member of the 1919 Mulerider team.

Optimaggie prepares for a road game. The Mulerider 1953, p. 96, SAU Archives

Optimaggie was a cantankerous mule, as likely to kick and bite his handlers as to nuzzle them. More endearingly, he would bray loudly at games when crowds were quiet, as though he were an extra cheerleader trying to drum up support for the team. This behavior was sometimes inappropriate. He did interrupt prayers that preceded 1950s football contests.

Optimaggie arrived at mid-season at a low point in Mulerider football fortunes, the team having lost most it its games up to that time. Dr. Camp predicted that Optimaggie would bring good luck, and he did. The Muleriders enjoyed a winning streak afterwards that carried forward far into the future. For this reason, and undoubtedly others, students from cross-state rival Arkansas A & M at Monticello tried to break Mulerider spirit several times by stealing the mascot. Several episodes of attempted “mulenapping,” some successful, occurred over the next few years.

Optimaggie had a son, Adolphus, in 1955. He made his debut at the fall homecoming game with Henderson State College. His name, of course, was taken from that of the school’s president, Dr. Dolph Camp.

Adolphus and Optimaggie with cheerleaders. The Mulerider 1955, p. 138, SAU Archives.

For almost twenty years, Optimaggie paced the sidelines at Mulerider games. His long reign came to an end when he died in the spring of 1970. One of the last photos of the two mascots together was taken with cheerleaders at the 1969 homecoming game.

Optimaggie and Adolphus at homecoming in 1969. The Mulerider 1970, p. 57, SAU Archives.

Adolphus soldiered on alone for several years in the early 1970s.

Adolphus and Eddie Parham. The Mulerider 1974, p. 1, SAU Archives.

Then in 1974 Imonaggie succeeded Adolphus. Members of the student business organization, Phi Beta Lambda, purchased Imonaggie as a gift to the school. Imonaggie was named after the President of Southern State College, Dr. Imon Bruce, a graduate of Magnolia A & M in 1931.

Phi Beta Lambda students present Imonaggie to SSC. The Mulerider 1975, p. 6, SAU Archives.

SAU

Imonaggie reminded the school of its past as the institution’s name and mission changed once again, this time in 1976, from SSC to Southern Arkansas University (SAU). Imonaggie, just like Optimaggie, continued the name of Aggie, the original nickname of the institution’s teams and graduates, keeping alive the earlier tradition.

Imonaggie. The Mulerider 1977, p. 49, SAU Archives.

A beloved, well-mannered animal, Imonaggie, posed in photographs with queens and presidents.

Imonaggie with 1977 Homecoming Queen. The Mulerider 1978, p. 96, SAU Archives.

President of SAU, Dr. Harold Brinson, and Mrs. Brinson with Imonaggie in1978. The Mulerider 1979, p. 132, SAU Archives.

In the 1980s, a new mascot joined SAU, from time to time, as student cheerleaders wore a mule costume. This mascot could attend indoor basketball games as well outdoor football games. This imitation mule had to try to take the place of Imonaggie who had died.

The Mulerider Mascot at a basketball game. The Mulerider 1984, p. 172, SAU Archives.

The Mulerider Mascot (Sarah Culverhouse) in 1988. The Mulerider 1989 , p. 5, SAU Archives.

The tradition of a Mulerider at football games continued in the 1980s with a series of lesser-known mules. In a practice stretching back decades, students majoring in agriculture took care of the mules and rode them at home games. There was usually a competition for the honor of serving as the Mulerider.

A Mulerider at 1985 football game.
The Mulerider 1985, p. 4, SAU Archives.

A Mulerider at 1988 football game.
The Mulerider 1989, p. 5, SAU Archives.

For several years in the 1980s, T. O. Hammacker, an alumnus of Magnolia A & M, was also a Mulerider at football games, riding his own mule.

T. O. Hammacker. The Mulerider 1983, p. 207, SAU Archives.

A former SSC student of the early 1950s, Dr. James Tollett, newly appointed Chair of the Department of Agriculture, persuaded SAU’s new president, Dr. Steven A. Gamble, in 1991 of the need to reinvigorate old traditions. Dr. Tollett and his wife purchased and presented the school with a new mule mascot, Molly B. This mule, like the earlier named mascots, was pampered, but she was also worked, herding cows to keep her in shape. Molly B is expected to have a partner mule, donated by Mr. Reid Woodward, for the fall 2005 football season.

Molly B and her partner will assure that the century-long tradition of the Mulerider continues, as Southern Arkansas University prepares, with its newest president, Dr. David Rankin, to celebrate its centennial in 2009.

Molly B. with her rider, Ashley Moss, in 2004. SAU Communications Office.