Arkansas Tech University Student Government Association will host Jerry Day 2021 activities on Thursday, Oct. 21.
Jerry Day 2021 will be observed from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Hull Building Student Union. The event was originally planned for Hindsman Tower but was moved due to a water main break on campus.
ATU students will be eligible to receive a free Jerry Day T-shirt from ATU Student Government Association while supplies last. Refreshments will be served and Jerry will be available to take photos.
Jerry Day is a celebration of the anniversary of SGA’s unanimous vote to restore the tradition of Jerry the Bulldog at Arkansas Tech and install him as campus ambassador.
That vote took place on Oct. 23, 2013, and 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 on campus at the armory (later known as the Stroupe Building) 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.
Individuals who wish to support Jerry the Bulldog with a gift through the ATU Foundation as part of Signature Weekend of Giving 2021 may do so at https://bit.ly/3FJCy37.
Learn more about Jerry the Bulldog at www.atu.edu/jerry.
