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

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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,

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PROFESSIONALS S a a ANDI EISENKRAFT

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Sophomore engineering students decided to declare the April 1 date as a self-imposed holiday. To inaugurate the festivities, the night before students planned to round up stray dogs. They decided that the animals were to be taken to the fourth floor of the Main Building where tin cans would be tied to their tails. Then, the next day, the dogs were to be started down the stairs in hopes that the noise would sufficiently disrupt classes. Unsuccessful in their search for the four-legged noise-mak- ers, the disheartened group stopped for refreshments at Jaco- by ' s Beer Garden. There, they spotted a five-foot tall wooden figure with a glass of beer held in his right hand. Smuggled out and taken to the front of the Main Building, he was presented to the assembled group and proclaimed Alexander Frederick Clair, patron saint of the engineers. With a lofty speech, engi- neering student Alf Tombs explained Alec ' s accomplishments which included his involvement with the creation of the Uni- gh ideals df irofession; pertain schools and colleges, - .-- - - ' -- ' : - ' itudents with their heritage. -- ' ' ' on a paW , ted on a back- ' verse and his reincarnation from Alexander the Great. Initially, Alec took up residence at the head of the steps at the School of Engineering where he was captured by law students in 1910. At the insistence of Judge John Townes he was returned unharmed. In 1916, the Law Class of 1911 purchased Alec from Mrs. Jacoby, thus acquiring him legally. While in their possession, the lawyers had him declared a vagrant, and on these grounds, he was sent to jail. Engineering Dean T. U. Taylor pleaded Alec ' s pardon from Governor Pa Ferguson. Complete with the official seal and signature, the pardon stated: WHEREAS, It has been made known to me that on the blank day of blankety-blank, in a bone- dry year of Texas, ALEXANDER FREDERICK CLAIR, the Patron Saint of all the Engineers, who did design the Solar System . . . in the evening of his life, surreptitiously seized upon by a band of ' out-law-yers, ' dragged into the Justice Court of Travis County . . . falsely accused of insulting and exotic things . . . was convicted, fined and forced to spend a night in the custody of an unjust law. Whereas, without investigation, I am led to believe by Dr. T. U. Taylor . . . that his fellow, Clair, after much ado about nothing, is a sainted personage (or ought to be one) and therefore, like the King, he can do no wrong. Receiving his sainthood during World War I, Alec ' s right leg was amputated, so that pieces of it could be sent to all Texas engineers serving in France. Some of these pieces, called Celafotrap ( part of Alec spelled backwards), have recently been bequeathed to the University. In 1919, a new Alec was constructed so that the old one could be retired to a mountain ranch. However, he was dis- membered by law students in 1927, and his head was returned to Dean Taylor via Governor Dan Moody. Present at Alec ' s massacre was Bascom Cox, a student who later became a judge in Brownsville. In 1938, two engineers recaptured Alec ' s right hand from the judge and returned it to the School of Engineering where it is today. Consequently, the old Alec was forced out of retirement to resume his position. To insure Alec ' s safety, he was hidden in a box marked Sur- veying Instruments and transported throughout Texas and even to Virginia. After his travels, he remained peacefully in the Texas Memorial Museum but came out of retirement to host the 80th reunion of the College of Engineering in 1 964. Presiding at the crowning of the engineering sweetheart in 1972, Alec was kidnapped. Found abandoned on the front lawn of the present Dean of Engineering Earnest Gloyna, Alec was placed in a glass case in the Engineering Library where his wandering days have come to a halt. While Alec may have created the Universe, Ptah boasts of being its architect, according to Professor Drury Alexander of the School of Architecture. Most students have lost touch with our traditions. The School of Architecture has a patron saint, but probably one out of a hundred students has heard of him. However, he ' s still known to a few who remember the days when the school would have costume parties and some mem- ber of the faculty would dress up as an Egyptian to appear as Ptah. Represented as a bearded man with a bald head, he dresses in rather skin-tight clothing and wears an obelisk around his neck to symbolize stability. Credited with wondrous deeds and achievements which include his being proclaimed the greatest of the Memphis gods, Ptah is regarded as the personification of the rising sun just as it appears over the horizon. He attributes Saint Peter as being his mispronounc ed namesake, Petah. Faded in the memories of most pre-med students, Damion was presented as the patron saint of Alpha Epsilon Delta, hon- orary pre-med fraternity at their banquet in 1 936. Not satisfied with the body and neck of a stegosauras, the hands and arms of man, horns and plate of triceratops, eyes of an amphibian, wings of a bird, teeth of a mammal, hair, feathers and an array of three types of scales, the imaginative creator bestowed Damion with the crowning glory the brains of a pre-med student. Hermes, patron saint of the School of Business, stands in front of the business school on the Speedway side and is a con- stant example to all business students. As a symbol of success and efficiency, he wears winged san- dals to insure swiftness. His bag of gold represents successful commercial transactions. He is known for possessing wisdom and authority. Patron saints epitomize the living essence of a school. Having deep roots in t he traditions at the University, their perpetual spirits span across time and unify students of all generations. Although some are forgotten, either through neglect or apathy, they never perish. They are ever present to be rediscovered. After a period of antidisestablishmentarianism, University stu- dents returned to books and revived traditions, resurrecting patron saints and mascots. Observance of customs of old was a cohesive force to unite the vast numbers of students at the Uni- versity. ( Traditions 349