Old/Forgotten UH Traditions

I’m doing a project on Old/Forgotten UH Traditions, and I’m wondering if any old-timers on here might be aware of some that this generation of Coogs might have forgotten. I already know about Who’s He coming back (I’m currently the president of the spirit org who orchestrates it now-Coogs of CV3), and I already have down some more recent things like the Spirit Cheese during Football and the Painting of the Statue of the Four Lies, as well as TrashCan Man for Basketball. If there are any other sporting traditions or campus traditions, please let me know. Or if you have thought of any really cool/spirit-filled traditions we should start (like maybe turning Cullen fountain red during Homecoming in the same way OSU turns their fountain orange), please post them!! Thanks and GO COOGS!!

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It used to be, “Eat em up, eat em up, Rah, Rah, Rah” now it’s “Eat em up, eat em up, Go Coogs Go.”

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There’s also the more recent and vulgar “neck” version of one of the songs (stolen from LSU) where we scream, “Ayyyyy-oooooo, suck that Cougar d****, b****!” Not sure if you’re familiar with it, but sometimes the student section (or at least the ten to fifteen of us who know it) screams it even after the band stops playing the song and definitely get some looks from the security guards on the field.

*edit: I didn’t mean to offend, and for the song I mentioned, it has been adopted by some students and is sung in the student section. That being said, it isn’t a huge student voice where the entire stadium can hear (only a handful of students sing it, and it is already a rare occurrence because the SOH doesn’t play the song very often, and in the student section itself there is only students and no women or children nearby). The students in the student section are very much respectful and kind, just very passionate about Cougar Spirit and football. There are always some students who are rowdier than others, and overall when students show some type of spirit it can bring unity to the section and actually get some students involved in cheering or wanting to have school spirit. Again, I didn’t mean to offend or start an argument, I just wanted to inform everyone of this chant and would not want to make anyone uncomfortable.

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Really old 68 grad
Each year an organization would sponsor a senior football player for home coming and do different things all week. We would put on a skit on I believe Thursday. One year the guys did a cancan for Barry Sides.

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Ooh, like each org took on a player and hyped them up for the week?

we used to have a live cougar at the football game, shasta 1 (1947) through shasta 5 (in 1989) the original was purchased in mexico by a frat

the name shasta was short for “she has to”
" Shasta have a cage, Shasta have a keeper, Shasta have a winning ball club, Shasta have the best."

the students in charge of shasta were known as “the cougar guard”… often times they brought shasta to away games

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The stadium used to split and say “HOUSTON! COUGARS!” before games! This actually used to be a kickoff chant before the Train Cadence was implemented.

The “Eat Em Up” song used to be “Rah Rah Rah” instead of “Go Coogs Go”. A drunk alumni tried to say “Make em eat ***t”.

SOH would play a song to let everyone know that they are showing up.

Who’s He didn’t have the “He’s a scrub response”. The newspapers were tossed after the visiting team was announced.

The Bleacher Creatures started in the late 80s, around the same time or before Shasta Mascot did pushups after every touchdown. They started as body painters, then did face paint when the UH win vs UT (60-40) didn’t allow them to come in without a shirt. Their first paint was “sigma ATM sigma epsilon”

Rushing the Field was a huge thing after upset wins. Has been a while, but CSC security screwed that up.

During the PSJ days, CoogFans would hold up ‘10’ signs after every. single. dunk. This mainly occurred during dunk contests during those days. This was the first tradition The Coogs of CV3 (then Coog/just me) attempted to bring back.

During homecoming week, we used to have an actual bonfire! In 1948, a few students from Sam Houston State attempted to prank us by burning it down early. UH students caught them, shaved their heads, put them in Shasta’s cage and paraded them around town.

Before the Cougar Paw, it was “V” for Victory. Then came the UH Cougar Paw after it was adopted by the students to mock UT. The 1953 incident happened two years before the Hook 'Em Hand sign was created. Legend tells that the Cougar Paw was more of a middle finger FU to the Hook 'Em Hand sign.

The Student Body President at some point, Jack Valenti was key in getting UH a football team. He went on to graduate school at Harvard.

University of Houston students were known for acts of vandalism before games. Given their high transfer rate of veterans after the war and beyond, it was known that mischief was a thing. In 1948, in an attempt at revenge for the bonfire incident with Sam Houston State, UH students went up to Huntsville to hang UH placards everywhere. They were caught and had their heads shaved, similar to the fate they gave the Bearkats. In 1949, before UH’s first official Football game of the season, they vandalized the College of William and Mary.

There was a rifle team at UH, known as the Cullen Rifles. Also a hockey team.

Before there were cheerleaders, UH also had yell leaders! Likely all male or both male and female at the time (correct me if I am wrong please)

Also, @vibia-aurelia and her officer team are doing an exceptional job running the Coogs of CV3 student organization portion (most important) of the project this year, they have the organization’s, and my original goals carried on and in check (I’m the alum/founder posting from the account).

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That is definitely something to be ashamed of and not celebrated, in my opinion. Would you sing that at home in front of your mother, sister, grandmother, and maybe children? I bet not. Then why do it in front of other ladies and other people’s children?

I spent 4 years in the Navy and have worked in engineering & construction for 50 years. I’ve heard all sorts of vulgarity and have used it myself. But, not in front of women and children. I do not think that is what one hopes their kids will learn in college.

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This opinion is completely independent but:

I think the time students spend in college, specifically those who went directly into a higher education format after high school (meaning admittedly, young, dumb and rebellious) are attempting to use the ‘freedom’ they have to be some version of themselves that aren’t under the view of family. While that can lead to vulgar/odd chants/acts, it can still be something that students do to at least give some energy towards the game and unify the student section at that. It is mainly used in Football and none of the other sports due to the proximity to women, children, and dogs.

The chant itself, as understood as the language in it, is never really intended to be direct. The students in the section/players know this, but it makes sense for other people to think otherwise due to some the histories of these words.

Some of these words, in personal use, are ONLY used during sports events. Being the oldest of four and currently living with my two sisters, mother, and grandmother, my filters are up!

Does it excuse it as use for an insult? No. Anything outside of the scope it was made for? Nope. It’s just something for fun at games and not intended for anything else. SOH has attempted to make their own, clean version of the chant, but it sounds wrong.

I’d settle for “Clawin out the Side of Ya Neck”, modified from “Talkin’”

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Scoring touchdowns is a tradition I wish we would bring back.

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I really liked that t shirt cannon they used.
Also the Houston Cougars split of the stadium.
I wished we had a song not named O fortuna that we could used to get stadiums hyped.
The only other tradition i can think of that we should do is doing the fountain red and hold a gigantic party before game.Painting the roads or the entrance of spur five red and call it Red War, and also Space war with space uniforms between UCF.

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A tradition we have sadly lost over the years is our fans and students getting to basketball games early.
Back in the ‘60’s and ‘70s the Hof was the place to be and the place would be rocking well before tip off.
The Cougar Brass set the tone and we became a very intimidating crowd especially for hoops games.
Loved the old chant where Houston was screamed from one side and Cougars from the other.
Miss Shasta coming on the field and miss not having enough students at the basketball games to do The Who’s He rant.
Like a previous poster I really miss the days when our football could actually score TDs against anyone.
And I agree there is no place for vulgarities at a college game.
Geez to think I used to cringe when our students would scream at the Rice folks a question I need not repeat. You old timers know what I am talking about!
But my favorite chant of all time was “poor Aggies.” Love to bring that one back

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We brought back the Who’s He stuff :slight_smile: It worked out VERY well and it’s evolved further and further. We gave Jim Nantz one of the custom newspapers printed for the occasion. I hope at some point it can be extended to the entire FC this year if people can find those newspaper spots on campus

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True on all points Butch. I hope we are on a path for student participation, like the days of old (my teens, and my time as a student).
The HOF was always rockin, and there were literally years when it was the toughest ticket in town to get…
Sampson has us on this trajectory :+1::smiley:

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Used to chant,Cougar Mambo,Ole Ole when the BB team was on defense and seemed to cause steals. The cougar Brass used to play the “Bud” song during warmups!

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The Cougar Guard if memory serves me correct were a spin-off from Alpha Phi Omega which is a service based now co-Ed fraternity.

APO is loosely based on scouting traditions. I thought about joining them, went to one service activity with them which was selling programs at the astrodome but I did not join that organization.

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Did said question involve goats?

@harrier1 The Bud song is still around in some form. Played by the Tubas and Trombones, therefore ‘bud bones’ at Football games. It was played at least once every year I’ve been in the UH system, but unfortunately not in 2020. It’s definitely a favorite.

Are there still Buggy Beauties?
The Blaze?

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Did I miss the "Whose House? “Coog’s House” Cheer?

There was the (cheerleaders yell) “Eat 'Em Up” (and the fans yell) “Cougars”, and repeat several times. That was an old 20th century cheer.

Then the cheerleaders would yell “Hail Cougars” and the fans would hell “Hail yes”. This was done three times then the cheerleaders would yell “Hail (insert name of opponent)” and the fans would yell “Hell No!” This was a 1960s and 1970s cheer.

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The Bud bones and tubas was only the last version of something Budweiser. The Brass would play a Budweiser theme song that ended with “when you say Buuuud-weiser, You’ve said it all”

In keeping with the beer theme, the Cougar Brass would play the “Beer Barrel Polka” at every basketball game.

In the late 60s early 70s the brass would play a song called “Something for the Cat” as an opening song before the team came out.

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