Running of the Texas Flag

1969. Running of the Texas Flag.

On January 1, 1961, the Texas Longhorns played Mississippi in the Cotton Bowl. At halftime, the Mississippi Rebel Band unfurled a huge Texas flag measuring 51 feet wide by 90 feet long. After the game, which UT won 12-7, the flag was presented to Texas governor Price Daniel, who gave it to the Longhorn Band. The band asked Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity, to “run the flag” at that year’s Texas vs. Texas A&M football game.

The current flag, the largest state flag in the world, measures 75 feet by 125 feet and weighs 500 pounds. Alpha Phi Omega members still run the Texas flag — a symbol of school spirit and a proud tradition — before every home game.

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Photo originally published in the 1969 Cactus yearbook; colorized by Von Allen