Arkansas Tech University Student Government Association observed Jerry Day 2018 with an event at Hindsman Tower on Tuesday, Oct. 23.
Jerry Day marks the anniversary of SGA’s unanimous vote to restore the tradition of Jerry the Bulldog at Arkansas Tech. Tuesday was the fifth anniversary of that vote, and members of the SGA Jerry committee celebrated by passing out color-changing tumblers, sno cones, buttons and stickers to ATU students.
Anna Adams-King of Fort Smith, co-chair of the SGA Jerry committee, was among those who planned and executed the Jerry Day 2018 event.
“I think (the campus ambassador program) means a lot,” said Adams-King. “Arkansas Tech has so much pride. Jerry brings that pride to our school and our students. He is so loved. Jerry is a celebrity on campus and he deserves to be celebrated. He works hard just like the rest of us do. He’s always there to support us, so we want to be there to support him, too. Jerry Day turned out great, and it was good to see so many students coming out to love Jerry.”
The SGA vote to bring Jerry back and install him as campus ambassador took place on Oct. 23, 2013. The first modern Jerry — Jerry Charles Young I — was introduced to the university community during a Homecoming Saturday ceremony on Oct. 26, 2013.
The tradition of Jerry the Bulldog at Arkansas Tech dates back to the mid-1930s. Owned by the W.O. Young family, the original Jerry spent much of his time at the on-campus armory with National Guard Battery F. The students and guardsmen there adopted Jerry as if he was their own.
Reports from an Arka Tech student newspaper article of the era state that Jerry was “always present at anything of importance at the armory,” which was a social center of campus at that time. When Jerry passed away in late 1937, the headline in the Arka Tech proclaimed “Campus Loses Mascot in Passing of Jerry.”
The story of Jerry was lost for three quarters of a century before it was rediscovered and restored as a permanent part of Arkansas Tech lore. Since SGA’s vote to bring Jerry back, he has represented the university by appearing at a variety of campus and community events.
Learn more about Jerry the Bulldog.
