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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBorrowing Bevo~" ~'~~~~ ~: ~ `.aX k ~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~~~5 ~~k~r~~rt ~~~~ ~~ __ - ±~ I- .M ~ ~ , N` ~S a ,° - ,,, , „s .~0~1? ,,~~~~~. i. P ~.. ~s ~,y a. - ~ a~q`r r~+r,r~i. su ~ ~ pY~io i1u 1WpClu~ p+~~' L E+t ~'~i ~ ,'4y~F-MI 'fi.ll ~~ mate, 'wa ~ ywe ~~ ~ _ 14b ru rdlFl' 1 b+~ l ,q ~ .~ ~q1 ~ ~o9ra~ ~~~'~ ~'~ Yam ~ ~~§ MFy~ 4+rs r 4rA14h' :MS9C S ~+'l~ r 1~! re~rtlg,~ ~16'~ ~ 4N~ i bil ~ ~ tla M.t r.~L!dW fir.: da4r-.. ~~ W c ni W w ~ s a . ~~`w na # r ~ ~~ arl ie !Ir lrl ~a - i r i ~ ~S ~,.k r~ ~}r tl~dr ~~RJ y~ d r _ 1•~ ~ ~ 1S er ~ ~ m r-, a ti 0. t ~1 /1 ~ ~ ~.. p~~M Ld.a ~ - d 1 a _ y ~, - ~~J I - . '~' '. ,F lr ~i °k~ i ~ ~` .. ~. _ 1 ~~ 3 ~+~ e .~ ~ , jay i. -~~ ~ AI a. Gus Harris holds the plaque displaying a piece of the rope used to tie up Bevo VII from when he and four other Aggies stole the steer from the University of Texas in Austin in 1963. Harris and the others keep their pieces of rope as mementos of the theft. ~, ~~e L 4j ~ , ~, ~ ~,. ~~ _ ~_ -- ,. .. _ "~ ~~ Gus Harris, Class of 1966, shows the map he and his friends used to steal Bevo VII in November 1963 at his home in Orange, Texas. The map is a rough drawing of the hog farm north of Austin where Bevo was housed and includes the group's escape route directions at the bottom. Borrowing Bevo By: Krista Smith Posted:ll/30/07 Gus Harris should have been studying for his physics test. Conrad Burks should have been studying, too. Bill Duncan, Don Mika, Lester Hatcher -they all had other activities they should have been attending to. However, on this particular November evening, the five men had one common goal: stealing Bevo, the mascot of the University of Texas in Austin. The plan hatched by the Class of 1966 sophomores was not elaborate orwell-designed. The five members of the Corps of Cadets Buzzard B-2 unit had tossed around the steer- napping idea, which was suggested by Duncan, an Austin native. "[Duncan] knew people that were going to the University of Texas, and he was able to get the information about where the steer was kept at this hog farm north of town," Burks said. "He had all the basics about it. We thought it would be a fun thing to do since Bill knew where everything was." Along with Burks, Harris was recruited to be a part of the prank. Harris said he had two characteristics that made him an important member. "I had a truck and I was the only one that knew one end of a cow from another," Harris laughed. The five left College Station, travelling to Austin in the afternoon on Nov. 12,1963, in Harris' truck and another sedan that was designated as a chase car. The group met at Duncan's home, where along with Duncan's father, they developed the details of their plan. The plan would involve sneaking into the hog farm in the dark of night and loading Bevo VII onto a stock trailer. It was not too long before a problem arose. "It was hard to find a stock trailer," Harris said. "We scrambled to find a trailer and finally ended up renting one." Armed with bolt cutters, plywood, 30 feet of rope and a crudely drawn map, the five men drove down a dirt road running alongside the back pastures of the hog farm. Harris said the sophomores removed a gate that was wired closed to get into the farm and then continued on their way to Bevo's shelter. "We went through a few gates on the way to the steer's pen," Burks said. "We had the plywood in case there were cattle guards, but all of the gates were unlocked. We just opened them and went through and never messed with the cattle guards." When the group arrived at Bevo's wooden pen and adjacent shed, they were surprised to find the area empty of Silver Spurs members, the UT student organization responsible for the care and transport of the mascot. "All was quiet," Harris said. "We were expecting guards, but they weren't there. We just had pure, dumb luck. It was our understanding that they'd be there." Without the presence of guards, Harris, Hatcher and Burks quickly climbed into the steer's pen, ready to rope Bevo. "The steer came out from the corner and he was kind of spooked," Burks said. "I thought, 'Well this isn't any place forme, I'm a city boy and I don't know what I'm doing.' Gus and Lester were country boys, and with just a little bit of talking, they walked over to him and roped his horns." Harris remembered walking toward the steer while it was still under its shelter and realizing just how large Bevo was. "The steer was in his shelter, and it was dark," Harris said. "He came up beside me, and his horn brushed against my chest. That was kind of scary." Once Harris and Hatcher secured Bevo's horns with rope, the group began leading the steer back toward their waiting trailer. Aside from a scare when a dog began barking at a nearby farmhouse, the heist went undetected, Burks said. However, getting Bevo back to College Station would prove to be difficult because of the size of his horns. "The next problem we encountered was that his horns wouldn't fit in the trailer," Harris said. "It was plenty big for him, but not for his horns." Burks said the group solved this dilemma by tilting the steer's head to one side in order to wedge his horns through the stock trailer's door. With Bevo secured in the rented trailer, the group headed back to College Station. Each vehicle used a different, roundabout route to return to the University. Excitement in the ranks "It was probably five in the morning when we got back, before the morning bugle went off," Burks said. "There was a lot of hoopla, and we drove circles up and down the Quadrangle." Harris said he was amazed at the amount of people appearing on the Quad to see Bevo. "[The residence halls] just emptied out," Harris said. "Word spread quickly." When the excitement had dimmed, Burks said the group was faced with a problem they hadn't quite thought about. "The idea was to steal it," Burks said. "Once we stole it and brought it back [to College Station], we had no idea what to do with it." Harris said upperclassmen from Squadron 1 approached the sophomores and told them of a farmhouse where Bevo could be stored for the night. "We bedded him and went back to the dorm for some uneasy sleep," Harris said. The next morning, Harris and Burks said nothing out of the ordinary happened. After eating lunch, Harris traveled out to the farmhouse where Bevo had spent the night, only to find Bevo wasn't there. Harris discovered that the members of Squadron 1 had moved the steer further away from the road because they felt he could easily be seen from the farmhouse. Harris also realized that the stock trailer he had rented was no longer parked beside the farmhouse, as the members of Squadron 1 had moved the trailer - to a campus parking lot. Back in Austin, Bevo's disappearance was reported and Harris said the Longhorns were clambering for excuses as to how their mascot was so easily stolen. Speculations arise The Austin American Statesman and The Daily Texan, UT's student newspaper, reported many versions of Bevo's kidnapping. Articles published by the papers alleged that more than 80 Aggies were involved in the caper. They also claimed that the individuals responsible dressed in Levis and cowboy shirts so they could look like members of the Silver Spurs. Harris said these rumors were spurred because UT students were surprised and embarrassed. To ensure the safe and quick return of UT's mascot, the Texas Rangers were enlisted to find the steer as soon as he was reported missing. Harris returned to campus with no idea where Bevo was being kept and found the Rangers had already made it to the University. "It didn't take too long for the Texas Rangers to see the rented trailer in an A&M parking lot, and then to look at the rental agreement and find an Aggie's name," Harris laughed. "The next thing we knew, they showed up knocking at our doors." Burks said he willingly answered every question the Rangers asked him. "I was called in the office of the commandant and sat with him and two Texas Rangers being grilled about this," Burks laughed. "And they weren't too nice about it." After the five were questioned, Harris said they led the Rangers to where they had last seen Bevo. It took a little more digging for the Rangers to find the Squadron 1 members who had hidden the stolen steer for a second time. Bevo back home With Bevo VII located, officials transported the steer to A&M's vet clinic, where his health was checked. The next day, the Silver Spurs arrived in College Station with Bevo's special trailer to pick up the kidnapped mascot. "They had to drive with their fancy trailer down University Avenue," Burks said. "The whole street was lined with Ags who were whooping and hollering and sneering when they drove by to the vet clinic." The five sophomores, along with two members from Squadron 1, were put on conduct probation for the theft. On the same conduct probation notice, other students were listed for stealing other school's mascots like the Southern Methodist University pony and the Rice University owl. Harris said Texas Christian University's horned frog and Texas Tech's horse were also stolen that year. No criminal charges were pursued against Bevo's kidnappers. Harris said this was in part due to Duncan's father who, in addition to helping the band of thieves lay out their plan, was put in charge of finding the missing mascot since he was an official within the Texas Department of Public Safety. The glory of stealing their rival's mascot was tarnished about a week later when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Burks said. The same year, Bonfire was also cancelled. Harris and Burks said even though they did not get to bask in the success of their theft for long, it is a story of Aggie lore that they have enjoyed carrying with them for more than 40 years. All five men still keep a piece of worn rope mounted on a board as a reminder of the prank -the same rope that was used to harness Bevo VIPs large horns decades earlier. "It was a flash and it was over with," Harris said. "We've enj oyed telling the story over time, but there wasn't any one of us that stood out as doing more than the next." © Copyright 2007 The Battalion