UT athletes were already known as Longhorns when, in 1916, a maverick longhorn steer was brought to campus on a train from South Texas and introduced at halftime to cheering football fans. The following month, the editor of the alumni magazine dubbed him Bevo, possibly by combining “beeve,” a plural form of “beef,” with “o,” a popular ending to nicknames at that time. Since then, UT has had more than a dozen Bevos, who are handled by the Silver Spurs student organization. UT’s costumed mascot is known as Hook ’Em.

The Forty Acres is the nickname for the campus of The University of Texas at Austin because that was the size of the original tract set aside by the state. Those 40 acres formed a square that today is defined by 21st Street, Guadalupe Street, 24th Street and Speedway. A 40-acre square is a quarter of a mile along each side, so if you walk the perimeter of the original campus, you’ve walked a mile. Today, UT’s Main Campus is more than 430 acres.

UT’s school song, “The Eyes of Texas,” was written and performed in 1903 by students, poking fun at a favorite saying of then-President William Prather. Read more about the history of "The Eyes of Texas". Today it is sung at the end of sporting events and university ceremonies. In the summer of 2020, President Jay Hartzell announced that UT will own, acknowledge and teach about all aspects of the origins of “The Eyes of Texas” as we continue to sing it moving forward with a redefined vision that unites our community. Read about those efforts.

The Eyes of Texas are upon you all the livelong day.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you, you cannot get away.
Do not think you can escape them at night or early in the morn.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you till Gabriel blows his horn.

Since its opening in 1937, the UT Tower has been lit to celebrate the academic and athletic accomplishments of Longhorn students, faculty, staff and alumni, and to mark University milestones, illuminating the Tower on the Austin skyline. Numbers can be created by turning on certain lights in the building’s offices, including a 1 for national championships or the last two digits of a graduating class year. Learn what each lighting configuration symbolizes.

Among the many traditions of the Longhorn Band, also known as The Showband of the Southwest, is the world’s largest bass drum, Big Bertha. The original Big Bertha, pictured above, was retired after more than 60 years of playing a prominent ceremonial role in home football games. Big Bertha II debuted at the Texas-Iowa State game in 2022.

Tradition has it that any student who sees a white squirrel on the way to a test will get an A. The squirrels are not albinos but rather white fox squirrels with brown eyes, not pink.