Texas Longhorns History

Bevo

Bevo, a Texas Longhorn, has been a fixture at UT games since 1966. The Longhorn mascot epitomizes the pride and tradition of Texas Football.

The Longhorn was an important part of the building of the American West. Brought to the North American continent by Spanish explorers, the breed has flourished for almost 500 years.

With its roots on the hot, arid plains of South Texas, the Longhorn became a major food source for young America. First it survived with little grass and food to eat. In a world vulnerable to attack, its long horns and strong legs became effective weapons againstwild animals looking for prey.

When the railroad made places such as Omaha and Kansas City chief stops for a nation moving west, cattlemen used the famed Chisolm Trail to drive their cattle to market. The 1,000-mile trek would take months, but while other breeds couldn’t make it because of the long odds, the lean, mean Longhorn survived.

Independent, never tame, and always on guard, Longhorns grow to a ton or more, and the span of the great horns can reach six to nine feet. In the early 1900s, when The University of Texas was looking for a mascot, none fit better for the young college than the Longhorn — a breed apart because of its toughness and strength, determination to survive, and will to win against all odds.

It's one of the best-known stories on campus. During a late night visit to Austin, a group of Texas A&M pranksters branded the university's first longhorn mascot "13-0", the score of a football game won by the Aggies. To save face, UT students altered the brand to read "BEVO" by changing the "13" to a "B", the "-" to an "e", and inserting a "V" between the dash and the "0". For years, Aggies have proudly touted the stunt as the reason the steer acquired his name, but was the brand really changed and is that why he's called Bevo?

Sorry, Aggies. Wrong on both counts.

During halftime of the 1916 Texas vs. Texas A&M game, two West Texas cowboys dragged a half-starved and frightened longhorn steer onto Clark Field, where it was formally presented to the student body by a group of Texas Exes. They were led by Stephen Pinckney, who had long wanted to acquire a real longhorn as a living mascot for the university. While working for the U.S. Attorney General's office, he'd spent most of the year in West Texas, helping with raids on cattle rustlers. A raid near Laredo in late September turned up a steer whose fur was so orange Pinckney knew he'd found his mascot. With $1 contributions from 124 fellow alumni, Pinckney purchased the animal and arranged for its transportation to Austin. Loaded onto a boxcar without food and water, the steer arrived at the train station just in time for the football game.

Following halftime, the animal was removed to a South Austin stockyard for a formal photograph and a long overdue meal. In the meantime, the UT football team ran two punts in for scores to win 22-7. To spread the news, the December 1916 issue of Alcalde was rushed to press. Editor Ben Dyer gave a full account of the game and halftime proceedings. About the longhorn, Dyer simply said, "His name is Bevo. Long may he reign!"

A week later, amid rumors that the Aggies planned to kidnap the animal outright, the longhorn was removed to a ranch 60 miles west of Austin. Within two months, the United States entered World War I, and the university community turned its attention to the conflict in Europe.

Out of sight and away from Austin, the branded steer was all but forgotten until the end of the war in November 1919. Because food and care for the animal were costing the university 50 cents a day, and because the steer wasn't believed to be tame enough to roam the campus or remain in the football stadium, it was fattened up and became the barbecued main course for the January 1920 football banquet. The Aggies were invited to attend, served the side they had branded and were presented with the hide, which still read "13-0".

Why did Dyer dub the longhorn "Bevo", instead of another name? For some time, the most popular theory has been that it was borrowed from the label of a new soft drink that took its name from the Bohemian pivo (beer). "Bevo" was the name of a non-alcoholic "near beer" produced by the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis. Introduced in 1916 as the national debate over Prohibition threatened the company's welfare, the drink was extremely popular throughout the 1920s.

The term "beeve" is the plural of beef, but is more commonly used as a slang term for a cow (or steer) that is destined to become food. The term is still used, though it was more common among the general public in the 1910s when Texas was more rural. The jump from "beeve" to "Bevo" isn't far and makes more sense given the slang and national fads at the time.

Whatever the reason, the university's mascot was named by folks in Austin.