10 quirks, facts, and traditions of the University of Georgia

o “The Arch,” an iron gate found on everything from the UGA logo to t-shirts, is representative of the Arch on campus, which was an original gateway to the school. Legend has it that if a freshman walks under The Arch during their freshman year, they will never graduate.

o When the UGA Bulldogs have won a home football game, the school chapel bell traditionally rings until midnight. Except when Georgia beats Georgia Tech, one of their biggest rivals, then the bell rings all night long! In the old days, it was the job of freshmen to do the hard work of ringing the bell; today, fans, students, and alumni take turns.

o During the 2007 season, the bell rang after UGA’s loss over the University of Florida when the 877-pound bell dropped. It has since been returned to the platform.

o Bulldogs like to put their opponents ‘Between the Hedges’. This is a reference to the hedges growing around the Sanford Stadium playing field, and dates back to the 1930s, when a sportswriter made the reference.

o In 1939, coach Wally Butts decided that silver pants would go well with red jerseys, so the beginning of the Bulldog’s ‘silver pants’ began. Although coach Vince Dooley changed the pants to white for several years, the silver pants were brought back in 1980 and were worn during the school’s National Championship season.

o UGA has a student ID card and travels in his own doghouse, with air conditioning! Because bulldogs are susceptible to heat stroke, spend football games sitting on ice packs. If opposing teams get too close to his precious ice, he growls fiercely. He is a tough puppy, wearing a jersey with a varsity letter and a spiked collar.

o The mascot of the bulldog in disguise is called ‘Hairy Dawg’.

o Soccer players pass the ‘Dog Walk’, which features players walking through a crowd of fans on their way to Stanford Stadium, led by the Redcoat Band.

o Georgia’s original colors included ‘old gold’, until the intense rivalry between Georgia Tech and Georgia resulted in a skirmish over colors – Georgia students declared yellow to be an inappropriate color for the Georgia Bulldogs, considering it a funky color, and yellow was removed – and Crimson (aka ‘good old Georgia red’) and black have been the official colors ever since.

o College football was nearly outlawed in 1987, after UGA quarterback Richard Gammon was so seriously injured in a game against the University of Virginia that he died as a result. In those days, players did not wear helmets. Soccer was immediately dissolved in Georgia schools, and just as the Georgia Legislature was preparing to formally ban college soccer, Richard’s mother wrote a letter, published in newspapers, asking the legislature to save soccer, Saying it was his son’s most precious object. “Ban was defeated and college football in Georgia survived! Today, visitors to Gammon’s hometown of Rome, Georgia, can stop and pay tribute at family graves, with plaques detailing the sad death and great plea of a mother to rescue the sport so loved by her son.