Salute to Graduation Day! Traditional Cache
Vertighost: Since there has been no response by the cache owner within the time frame requested in the last reviewer note, I have archived this cache. Please note that caches that have been archived for maintenance issues or lack of cache owner communication are not eligible to be unarchived.
Salute to Graduation Day!
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Film Canister
Welcome to the greatest University in the country! We hope you enjoy your cache tour of campus, but we can't show you everything. We can't show the awesome staff or the incredible students, but we can show you just a few of the great sites to see at this wonderful university. Feel free to walk around campus, though there may be many caches, we aren't able to take you everywhere because of distance restrictions. Have fun, and Eat 'em up Kats!
This location is not only our basketball stadium, it's also the place where EVERY student longs to be, the location for graduation!
Sam Houston State University (known as SHSU and Sam, for short) was founded in 1879. It is one of the oldest purpose-built institutions for the instruction of teachers west of the Mississippi River and the first such institution of its type in the State of Texas. It is named for one of Texas' founding fathers, Sam Houston, who made his home in the city. The university is part of the Texas State University System and is a comprehensive, doctoral granting university enrolling approximately 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
What is a Bearkat?
Sam Houston State University's athletic teams have been nicknamed "The Bearkats" since 1923 when the University's name was changed by the Texas State Legislature from Sam Houston Normal Institute to Sam Houston State Teachers College. (Prior to 1923, the varsity sports teams were nicknamed "The Normals").
It is doubtful those who coined the "Bearkat" nickname had a particular animal in mind. More likely, the name came from a popular local saying of the time, "tough as a Bearkat!" The late Reed Lindsey, who was a student/athlete in the 1920s and later retired as University registrar, once said that "it was a good fighting name of the time." Since the animal in the saying was thought more mythical than real, the spelling settled upon was "Bearkat."
In the late 1940s, then SHSU president Harmon Lowman attempted to change the SHSU mascot from Bearkats to "Ravens" (after General Sam Houston's Cherokee nickname). Mrs. Vernon Schuder reported that the alumni were polled, she voted for the raven but that "all those old Bearkats beat us out!"
A Sammy Bearkat mascot character, with the later addition of a Samantha, began appearing at SHSU sports events in 1959. Samantha is now retired.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
FNYHGR gur tenqhngrf
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