We got out of that conference, we’re not playing them anymore. All my friends from high school go there. Cayleb Jones, I still talk to him on almost a weekly basis. There are guys on that team that I’ve grown relationships with. “I understand the rivalry that is between A&M and Texas, but for me – Malcolm Brown has been one of my great friends since high school. Manziel went so far as to downplay the rivalry as a whole after being seen throwing up a Hook’Em Horns sign. With Johnny Manziel as the program’s greatest player of all time, the Aggies are going to be thought of as a feisty program.Įven so, Manziel himself hasn’t shown much of any emotion in regards to the Hook’Em Horns hand gesture, which has been a huge talking point recently. When you think of college football teams that talk a lot of trash, the Texas A&M Football team might be one that comes to mind. As an image of victory and solidarity, it has become a common bond among the wide variety of students that attend the University of Texas.COLLEGE STATION, TX – NOVEMBER 24: Jeff Fuller #8 of the Texas A&M Aggies attempts to catch a pass against Carrington Byndom #23 of the Texas Longhorns in the first half of a game at Kyle Field on Novemin College Station, Texas. The gesture has been used consistently since its introduction and serves as a symbol of pride for supporters and students, even as the university has grown and changed over time. By 1959 the gesture was common among students and boosters and was both photographed and illustrated in the Austin Statesman. Later that season, Texas played against Texas A&M in a televised game, displaying the symbol for a nationwide audience. Despite the Longhorns losing, the gesture was popular. Clark introduced the gesture at a pep rally prior to the TCU game on November 11. Pitts invented the sign while making shadow puppets and recognized the gesture’s resemblance to a steer’s head. In 1955, with the Longhorn football team possessing a precarious 4–4 record, junior Henry Kirby “H.K.” Pitts suggested the sign as a morale booster to head yell leader Harley Clark when the two met at the Texas Union. The Texas A&M gesture, developed by A&M regent Pinky Downs in 1930, referenced the practice of hunting frogs with a multi-pronged spear, or gig. While Texas A&M’s “Gig ’em” hand sign-identical to a “thumbs up” gesture-was created prior to the the Hook ’em Horns, both were developed prior to the respective teams facing off against Texas Christian University.
While institutions across the state lay claim to many distinctive hand signs-Baylor University’s bear claw, Texas Tech’s “guns up,” Southern Methodist’s pony ears, the University of Houston’s cougar’s paw-the Hook ’em Horns sign of the University of Texas is one of the most recognizable traditions in college sports, both in and out of Texas. Hand signs are popular visual expressions of pride at colleges and universities across Texas and are prevalent at many former member institutions of the Southwest Conference (which ended in 1996). It is performed with the hand facing forward, index and pinky fingers extended, with middle fingers and thumb pressed against the palm. Developed by students at the university in 1955, its use continues today. The “Hook ’em Horns” hand sign is a gesture used to show support for the University of Texas at Austin, and particularly, for the university’s Longhorn athletic teams.