Rice Mascot – Owl
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When athletic activities began at the Rice Institute in 1912, the teams adopted as their mascot the owl from the Rice seal. Over the years, Rice’s various mascots have included students dressed in owl costumes, live Great Horned Owls, and large owl statues of fiberglass and of canvas, the latter being particularly famous in Rice lore (see below).

Mascot Name – “Sammy”
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An early symbol of Rice’s athletic teams was large canvas owl, a tempting target for the Institute’s rivals. In 1917, when students from Southwest Conference football rival Texas A&M kidnapped the owl, Rice students pooled their resources and hired a private detective to go to College Station to find the missing mascot. When the detective, having recovered the owl, sent a coded telegram to Houston that read “Sammy is fairly well and would like to see his parents at eleven o’clock,” the Rice mascot had a name.

Alma Mater – Rice’s Honor
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All for Rice’s Honor, we will fight on.
We will be fighting when this day is done.
And when the dawn comes breaking,
We’ll be fighting on, Rice, for the Gray and Blue.
We will be loyal, to Rice be true. 
(To the tune of “Our Director March,” written by Ben H. Mitchell ’24 in 1922)

Rice Fight Song
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Fight for Rice, Rice fight on, loyal sons arise.
The Blue and Gray for Rice today, comes breaking through skies.
Fight, fight, fight!
Stand and cheer, Vict’ry’s near, Sammy leads the way.
Onward go! to crush the foe, we’ll fight for Blue and Gray.
(Words and music by Louis Gerard ’40)

The Old Gray Bonnet
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Put on your old gray bonnet
with the blue ribbon on it
And we’ll take old Sammy to the fray
And we’ll rock, rock, rock’em
And we’ll sock, sock, sock’em
To the end of Judgment Day.