WHAT: Ceremony honoring “Pig Bellmont,” the mutt who had the run of The University of Texas at Austin campus from 1914 to 1923 and was the school’s first varsity mascot.
WHEN: Monday (April 30). Noon.
WHERE: Batts Hall auditorium (Room 7 on the ground floor). UT Austin President Larry R. Faulkner will read from the original eulogy given by Dr. Thomas U. Taylor, dean and founder of the College of Engineering. In the eulogy, Pig was praised for his loyalty to the University and compared to the faithful dog of Lord Byron. The two UT students who organized the tribute also will speak as will Jim Nicar of the Ex-Students’ Association. Photographic displays of Pig will be featured.
Participants will then take a short walk over to “Pig Bellmont Tree” located between the Graduate School of Business and Mezes Hall, for the unveiling of a sign. The tombstone/epitaph/sign is a recreation of the one placed at Pig’s original graveside. It reads “Pig’s Dead . . . Dog Gone.”
Parking has been reserved for the press.
BACKGROUND: Pig was only seven weeks old when he was brought to campus by L. Theo Bellmont, a co-founder of the Southwest Athletic Conference and the University’s first athletic director. The dog was named for Gus “Pig” Dittmar, who played center for the Longhorn football team. Dittmar was known to slip through the defensive line like “a greased pig.” Pig went to classes with students, attended home and out-of-town athletic events and participated in morning “fall outs” with military aeronautics cadets during World War I. When he died in 1923 after being hit by a Model T at the corner of 24th and Guadalupe streets, his body lay in state in front of the University Co-Op. Hundreds of mourners filed past.
CONTACT: Nancy Neff, 471-6504.
