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By Angela Payne/Staff Writer
October 14, 2005
Decked out in red Homecoming T-shirts with the logo from the Spirit Board on the back, the High Riders will be one of many organizations to participate in the annual spirit walk, scheduled to start at 8 p.m. today.
The women will go around campus, including in the residence halls, encouraging people to come to the Spirit Walk and bonfire.
The purpose of the High Riders is to promote woman's athletics, spirit and tradition at Texas Tech through service, honor and integrity, Felicia Michael, a junior public relations and Spanish major from Grants, N.M., and president of High Riders, said.
"We're the ones here to promote Texas Tech and give women a chance to be recognized," she said. "There are more female sports, and so we are easily visible at games to bring spirit to the team so they can win."
The High Riders is the only organization besides the Saddle Tramps that is allowed to ring the victory bell after winning games, Michael said. The bells are rung for 15 minutes during the week, and for 30 minutes on the weekends.
That's not the only Tech tradition the High Riders take part in.
"We also have two girls who suit out as Raider Red," said Joyce Arterburn, the first sponsor of High Riders and a retired physical education teacher at Tech. "There are two High Riders and two Saddle Tramps who suite out as Raider Red. There four Raider Red costumes just in case there are four different athletic games going on at the same time."
Michaels said the High Riders are a similar to the Saddle Tramps, but they work together and not as opposing forces.
"We do so much that our service is for the Texas Tech athletic department," she said. "We are the unofficial part of the team."
Kendall Todd, an early childhood education member from Lubbock and the High Rider's pledge trainer, said there are requirements to be a High Rider.
"Pledges are required to go to all woman's athletic functions and let them know about traditions," she said. "We decorate the locker rooms in preparation for big games."
Each pledge has a big sister so that they are not so intimidated, and they can get to know that person, Todd said. The big sister is unveiled to the little in a variety of ways, she said.
"For one event, had the pledges dress up as movie characters, such as Batman or a character from the Wizard of Oz, and they received a clue," she said. "When they found the clue, they got the next one, and eventually they were blindfolded and revealed to their big sister."
Other activities the pledges do to get to know each other, are getting signatures from High Rider alums, Tech coaches and the Masked Rider, Todd said.
Arterburn said the High Riders help get students get acquainted with campus and act as a friendly face.
"We've had a lot of success," she said. "It is so much more fun to root for a team if you know who they are personally."
Story last updated at 2:22 a.m. Wednesday, June 1, 2005
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Women will suit up as Raider Red in
historic move to expand mascot's presence
BY ELLIOTT BLACKBURN
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
Women will don the moustached visage of Raider Red for the first time in the mascot's 34-year history this fall, but Texas Tech University spirit organization sponsors don't believe fans will notice the difference.
Members of the High Riders, an all-female spirit group created in 1976, will wear Red's masked head and shotgun holsters.
The Saddle Tramps, an all-male spirit group that is credited with creating Raider Red, will continue to play the role of the mascot and no costume changes are planned.
"There's not going to be a female Raider Red - a Raider Rita or Raider Rose or anything like that," said Chris Snead, a Saddle Tramps sponsor. "This is going to be Raider Red, and the Saddle Tramps are still going to be a major part of this. Nothing is being taken away."
Using performers and alternates from both the Saddle Tramps and High Riders, the mascot could now be in up to four places at once, rallying the stands at track meets, soccer matches and other sporting and community events that scheduling would not previously allow.
The Saddle Tramps are overwhelmed with requests for appearances, and approached the High Riders to expand the number of events they could attend, university spirit coordinator Stephanie Rhode said.
"Raider Red is a very popular figure around town at sporting events," Rhode said. "For that one student to fulfill all those obligations, it was getting to be pretty demanding."
Texas Tech is among the last of the universities in the Big 12 and nationally to use more than one student to fill the role of a mascot, Rhode said.
High Riders sponsor Jamie Sims was hopeful that the prestige of supporting the Raider Red tradition would help flagging membership in the spirit organization. The addition could allow the mascot to attend more women's sporting events as well, she said.
"It's always been a Saddle Tramp, so it's always been assumed that it's a guy," Sims said. "I think this allows us to support more women's events too, support soccer and softball and be at all the volleyball games."
Raider Red was created in 1971 in response to a Southwest Conference rule prohibiting schools from traveling to other schools with live animal mascots, according to the school Web site.
The identities of the new Raider Reds are a secret, in accordance with school tradition. Primary and alternate mascots from both the High Riders and the Saddle Tramps will train with Tech cheerleaders this summer.
Tech introduced the first female Masked Rider in 1974. Even if fans can't tell which is which under the costume, a female Raider Red is an important change for the school, Snead said.
"This is going to be historical for Texas Tech," Snead said. "This is something that, if we do it correctly, will be a wonderful tradition."
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elliott.blackburn@lubbockonline.com 766-8722
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