Midnight Yell is the late-night tradition of Aggieland, a tradition that has brought Aggies together for decades to get excited for the next big game.
The longstanding tradition takes place the night before a home game in Kyle Field and at the Grove on Thursday nights before away games to get the team and the student body rallied together.
“The chants and the roars of 20,000 people that makes your hair rise and gives you goose bumps, the stories that rile people for the upcoming game always brings a smile to me,” Said Michael Rodriguez, a senior industrial engineering major. “The spirit that flows through the crowd is the pulse of Aggieland.”
Midnight Yell started as a regular yell practice in 1913 when different units in the Corps came together to learn the old time cheers. In 1931 there was a change when a group of cadets suggested that freshmen should meet on the steps of the YMCA building at midnight before the University of Texas game. They notified senior yell leaders, who could not authorize it, but said that they might show up. Word spread around campus and at midnight the majority of the school meet and the modern version of Midnight Yell was started.
The tradition has stayed strong since then and has changed with the times. Today people bring dates to receive a kiss, or “mug down,” when the lights go out, and the dateless can bring a lighter to find others who are also in need of a date.
“Midnight Yell is a tradition that is unlike any other. From the scrambling through campus to that find that perfect date, to the unity of the community, nothing is like midnight yell.” Rodriguez said. “Then once the lights go out then its time to pucker up or light the lighter up.”
You might also find other surprises at Midnight Yell.
“By far the most fun Midnight Yell was when President Loftin taught us how to ‘dougie’, only at A&M,” said Ben Ford Jr., a junior animal science major. “Since my first Midnight Yell though I’ve only missed two, but only for good social networking reasons as any fellow Aggie would understand.”
Every Midnight Yell the yell leaders lead the fightin’ Texas Aggie marching band and the spirit of the Twelfth Man into Kyle Field and proceed to practice all the yells.
“Midnight yell is pretty awesome. Like a huge pep rally that pumps me up for the games,” said Elizabeth Navarro, a senior agriculture leadership and development major. “Going with friends is fun and I feel like a true Aggie doing the yells with everyone else. I will definitely be going to more this coming semester.”
Ford said that it is an experience that can only be described after you attend your first one.
“The first midnight yell I went to was freshmen year before the Texas A&M v. [University of Texas] game, where the student side was almost completely full,” he said. “It showed a lot of student support in one of A&M’s many year-to-year traditions.”
From the cheers of fellow students and the stories told of days passed, Midnight Yell is a time to congregate and get pumped for the next football game.