A Celebration of Baylor Spirit

Today, the annual Mass Meeting is a beloved part of Baylor University’s Homecoming festivities during which first-year students hear the story of the Immortal Ten and share in the presentation of the Eternal Flame. It’s a time-honored tradition serving to remind students of their unique responsibility to care for and value one another as individuals and collectively as part of the Baylor Family.

The first year the Mass Meeting was held, however, freshmen weren’t invited — nor were any of Baylor’s female students.

On November 1, 1933, The Baylor Lariat’s front page featured an announcement that read, “A mass meeting of all upperclassmen (men only) has been called to be held at the Old Chapel gym for 8 o’clock. No freshmen will be allowed.” At issue was school spirit — specifically, its absence on campus. The football team owned a losing record at the time. The Homecoming game was three days away. Something needed to be done to generate enthusiasm and camaraderie.

For more than two hours, members of Baylor’s athletic staff had joined a number of students in addressing “the Baylor spirit that was here in ‘the old days,’” the student newspaper reported in recapping the meeting. “They deplored the fact that that friendly, brotherly spirit no longer exists on the campus, and asked about 150 men who were present to assist in bringing back that which has gone.” Plans for generating better student support during the football game were also discussed.

The next day, the Bears beat TCU by a touchdown and went on to win three of their last four games that season. A tradition was born.

Although still restricted to male students, the Mass Meeting was expanded to include freshmen the following year. Held on Tuesday night of what was then called Good Will Week, which culminated with Homecoming activities on Saturday, the meeting featured several students and alumni. The men who were present heard about the Immortal Ten and other athletes of the past “whose spirit will be alive and glowing on the Baylor campus this weekend,” according to the Lariat.

By 1937, the Mass Meeting had settled into what would eventually become its annual Thursday night slot before the Homecoming game. But from its very beginning, the gathering had drawn upon the school spirit represented by the Immortal Ten — a tradition rooted in the events of January 22, 1927.

On that date, 10 Baylor students, most of them prominent athletes, died when a passenger train collided with the Baylor athletic bus at a railroad crossing in Round Rock as the basketball team was en route to play the University of Texas that evening — the worst such accident in Texas history at the time. The students soon became known as “The Immortal Ten,” eulogized across the state and nation.

Remarkably, 12 men survived the crash, including Ralph Wolf, the team’s young head coach. Six years later and still in charge of Baylor’s basketball team, he spoke at the first Mass Meeting. Coach Wolf’s memories of the young men who had lost their lives while wearing the Green and Gold under his care remained painfully vivid — the horrific accident likely  something he was reluctant to revisit — but he knew that sharing the story of the Immortal Ten and holding them up as shining exemplars of the Baylor spirit would inspire the crowd.

A separate “Women’s Mass Meeting” was created in 1967. That first women’s gathering, held the night before the men would meet, featured the previous year’s Homecoming Queen as a speaker and concluded with the Baylor women leaving in a processional while carrying lighted candles. In 1972, the two meetings were merged into the modern tradition we hold dear. 

First-year students participating in the Mass Meeting today experience a well-organized, emotionally inspiring program. After the story of the Immortal Ten is shared, 10 current students — each representing one of the young men who died in 1927 — take their places in front of chairs over the backs of which are draped jerseys that read “Baylor 10.” At the gathering’s conclusion, the students use lit candles to light the Eternal Flame torch, which the freshman class representative receives from the three other classes’ representatives. All are designated as Baylor Homecoming Torchbearers, and together they light the bonfire the following night.

Despite its share of twists and turns over the years, the annual Mass Meeting has steadfastly remained dedicated to celebrating the Baylor spirit represented by the Immortal Ten — a spirit that unifies all generations of the Baylor Family. 

More information can be found in The Immortal Ten, published by Baylor University Press.