“By the way” is an interesting piece of American verbiage. You can say, “By the way, did you know they are trying to replace Peruna?” One could also say, “Mrs. Baird’s Bakery has gone by the way.” Either denotes a loss of history to this university. One of those two would be a tragic loss to this university.
SMU has just been graced with the opportunity to show our respect for and love of the wild mustangs that are being neglected or destroyed by our wonderful society and its needs.
We willingly take up this responsibility as an institution, although our greater responsibility is to all mustangs. We have mustangs that run on all four hoofs that need our help because they cannot provide for themselves. And then we have those who do their best to run on the two feet with which they have been blessed.
Our “Top Ten Spirit and Traditions” show the pony as one of our most beloved symbols. While the wild mustangs are in peril and certainly need our help, we now face a moment in which there are those who seek to eliminate, or at least minimize, our own most beloved.
What would SMU do without the red and the blue? I’ve stood at many football games, looking to the south and saluting the red, white, and blue of the United States flag, the Texas Flag, and the SMU flag. All sported the same shades of colors. It was a wondrous day when we decided to return to what are truly the colors of SMU: Harvard red and Yale blue.
We have since abandoned those; what else will be abandoned?
Many of you won’t remember this, but at one time, Mrs. Baird’s operated a bakery just across Mockingbird. You cannot begin to imagine the comfort produced by the aroma that danced across this campus as they kneaded and then baked thousands of loaves of fresh bread every day.
Most of you will never know that joy and excitement; some of us will never forget. The point is that we will never get that back. We will never again experience the smell of freshly baked bread as it covers the campus of SMU like a warm blanket on a cold morning.
In 1917, as she peered out of the window of Dallas Hall, Dorothy Amann (President Hyer’s secretary) said that our football team looked like “a bunch of wild mustangs.” She saw a roughneck bunch, kicking up a cloud of dust as they practiced.
Fifteen years later, Peruna 1 was brought to a pep rally and named after a popular prohibition tonic. Since it had such a kick to it, the students decided to name our mascot after this drink. That was 77 years ago, when Peruna and the ponies showed up on campus.
Today, we are enjoying our eighth Peruna, who continues the 77-year-long tradition of contribution to SMU. This pony has been known to kick a Texas Longhorn so hard that it was sent tumbling. Our beloved pony has led the charge onto the field for, what some would say, three national championships in football. The pony has led the charge with Doak Walker, Kyle Rote, and Jerry Levis as well as a group of players (Craig James and Eric Dickerson) deemed the Pony Express. The pony has also led the charge during times when no one cared.
One has to respect this ol’ soldier for keeping the charge going for all of this time. There is a lot to respect about those who go forever looking forward, praying, hoping for a better day.
Stay strong Peruna, because a true Mustang is never corralled, a true Mustang won’t be saddled, a true Mustang can’t be ridden, and a true Mustang will always remain unbridled.
David R. Hayden is assistant director of the Hughes-Trigg Student Center. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
