Bluford Library Archives: The Legend of the Aggie Bulldog

“Gr-r-r-r Fight

Gr-r-r-r Fight, Fight

Gr-r-r-r Fight, Fight, Fight

A.-and-T.!   A.-and-T.!   A.-and-T!

Fight-Fight-Fight.”

— Bull Dog Yell, from the “A&T Book O’ Pep” 1931, author unknown.

For generations, the name and likeness of the Bulldog have embodied the Aggie Spirit of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University as much as “Blue and Gold”, singing “Dear A. & T.” and yelling out “AGGIE PRIDE!” From 1900 to the early 1920s, the A&T College sports teams were and still to this day are called the “Aggies” in reference to “Agriculture.” In those early days we were sometimes unofficially referred to as the “Tarheels” by out of state rivals. The name bulldogs were first applied sometime after North Carolina A&T joined the Colored (later Central) Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) in December 1924.

The origins of the bulldog name and identity may always remain a mystery, however, there are two legends that are connected to the story of the Aggie dog. Dr. Albert C. Spruill ‘44, the longtime dean of the Graduate School (1970 – 1993) and one of A&T’s greatest historians collected those stories in his 1964 book “Great Recollections of Aggieland” and in his columns for the “Carolina Peacemaker.”

The first legend tells of how a shepherd dog was used on the old A&M (later A&T) Farm for herding cattle, sheep, and the other farm animals. Sometime in the 1920s this dog either died or was taken away when a new herdsman was appointed. That dog’s replacement was a bulldog, a first in the campus’s history. This bulldog was brought to a heated A&T football game. When the referee declared that an Aggie field goal was no good, someone untied the bulldog, and it ran after the referee. This version was recalled by several faculty and alumni from the 1920s.

A second, and very similar, account reveals a possible candidate for that new herdsman as a student named Ezra Pemberton (or Pembelton). Dr. Spruill interviewed A&T property custodian and historian Clyde DeHughley (DeHugley Building) who recalled Pemberton as a bulldog breeder from Salisbury, N.C. Pemberton walked with artificial limbs and was accompanied everywhere by “Major Brown” his personal, and vicious, bulldog. At a 1926 A&T football game against Virginia State University, their referee got into a scuttle with spectators. “Major Brown” mistakenly believed his master was in harm’s way and leaped onto the referee. The referee survived this attack, but the incident almost cost A&T its CIAA membership. According to DeHughley, it was from that event the Aggies became known as the Bulldogs. Reports from historically black newspapers confirm that most of this account was true, but not necessarily that this is when the Bulldog name started.

Whenever the name originated, sports journalists began referring to us as the “A. & T. Bulldogs” as early as October 1926. This name fit the new vigor of our sports teams. By then, we were the North Carolina Athletic Conference (NCAC) 1924 football champions led by Coach Lonnie P. Byram Sr. ‘1911. Under his guidance, we also became the 1927 CIAA football championship team. In both championships, we won many victories by leaving our opponents at “0” scores.

In A&T histories, it has been said that bulldogs began appearing in Homecoming events in the 1930s. There was once a “Bulldog Song” that started with “Fight on old A. and T. Bull Dogs, Fight on Blue and Gold, Rah, Rah, Rah…” Student cartoonists for the A&T Register drew the bulldog taking a bite out of opponents in fall editions of the campus newspapers. The bulldog made its first Ayantee yearbook appearance on the cover of the 1947 edition. Official Aggie Bulldogs images that alumni will recall fondly include the Bulldog wearing an A&T sweater and cap, and the modern Bulldog with paws stretched out for actio.  

Always present in recent decades for football and basketball games and parades have been “The” Aggie Bulldog. A&T caring for a real bulldog as a “permanent living mascot” began in 1989 when Dean of Agriculture Burleigh C. Webb (Webb Hall) asked A&T clinical associate veterinarian Dr. Tracy Hanner to obtain a live bulldog. The search for the right bulldog was not easy and success was eventually found with a referral from the American Kennel Club for a bulldog breeder in Lexington, N.C. Our first living mascot was “Aggie” born in August 1989. He began appearing in Homecoming events the following year. In fall 2001, the university was introduced to “Aggie Pride.” Aggie Pride would continue in the footsteps of “Aggie” until he passed away in the summer of 2009. A community bulldog filled in his role for two years until “Aggie Pride II” took over in 2011.

Information for this article comes from the research of Dr. Albert W. Spruill and Dr. Tracy Hanner in our “A&T Mascot” historic vertical files, and historic newspaper accounts. The F. D. Bluford Library Archives and Special Collections also keeps records about our seals, mottos, and alma mater “Dear A&T.” For more information about this story or if you have any questions about A&T History please contact us at libraryarchives@ncat.edu. Also for more Aggie History please visit the University Archives home page and the Archives and Special Collections LibGuide.