University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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PROFESSIONALS S a a ANDI EISENKRAFT

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346 Special Interest

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by Rene Lynn Fletcher Engraved in the traditions of some schools at the University are their patron saints. These mascots symbolize the ideals which students of particular colleges hope to attain during their professional lives. Attributing their associ ation with The University of Texas to the school ' s early history, the patron saints are either mytholog- ical characters or creations which sprang unexpectedly from the fertile imagination of some past UT student. Such was the origin of Peregrinus, (pear-a-grin-news), the School of Law mascot. As the first patron saint to grace the campus, Perry was born in 1900 as a result of an incident involving former football center Jim McCall. After he had missed several of his law classes in deference to his athletic pursuits, McCall was called upon by law professor Judge Simkins to the Main Then,!! in hopes Unsuo ere, Ihet by ' sBee figure wt Symbolizing the high ideals of patron saints link professional recite. Because of his absences, McCall was unaware that the Peregrinus was originally the old traveling Justice of Peace of the Roman Empire. While, as Simkins said, The boneheads of the class evi- dently thought the Peregrinus was an internal organ of the body for they continually greeted each other, ' How is your Peregrinus today? ' , Perry took on yet another identity when McCall responded, Judge, I don ' t know what it was unless it was some kind of animal ' . The class roared with laughter. Russell The Savage Savage drew his conception of the animal on the board while fellow student Scott Key watched to see that Sim- kins did not catch him. Although McCall withdrew from the University at the end of the fall term, he had given Savage the idea which launched a tradition. That spring, Savage redrew Peregrinus on a pattern and cut it out of cloth which his landlady sewed on a back- ground. This sheet was then attached to two shafts. The law- yers claim that he stands for all that makes a man great: pep, power and pertinacity. Five senior engineering students and an academic absconded with the banner of Peregrinus in 1912. They cut him into six pieces and sent these in six directions. To replace his loss, a banner and papier-mache figure were constructed the next semester. In 1930, some students kidnapped a wooden Perry and destroyed him between the American National Bank and the Driskill Hotel. Two were tried in District Court for con- tempt but were exonerated. Seventy-seven years later, Perry is still very much in evi- dence, according to Dean T. J. Gibson of the School of Law. If school officials had decided to close classes on April Fool ' s Day in 1908, a fat-bellied wooden statue might never have gained prestige as the patron saint of the engineers. Oar. patt nestings! Khich ix certain studen yerseanc Initially., School of! ii 1910, 348 Traditions Engineer Governor 1 1 tow torn of ' out-la County s convict,