The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Traditions: Big Bertha
Acquired at the bargain price of $1, Big Bertha has been a focal point of the Longhorn Band since 1955, and at 8-feet in diameter, 41 inches wide and 10 feet high, the drum remains a centerpiece of attention.
Bertha was created by C.G. Conn, Ltd., for the University of Chicago. The University of Chicago dropped varsity football in 1939, and the drum went into storage and was eventually returned to C.G. Conn. In 1954, Colonel D. Harold Byrd, a longtime benefactor of the Longhorn Band, expressed interest in acquiring the drum and providing its new home on the Forty Acres. Mr. Moton Crockett, former Director of the Longhorn Band, purchased Bertha for $1 and transported the drum from Elkhart, Indiana to Austin, Texas.
Mr. Crockett refurbished the drum during the spring and summer of 1955 and presented it to incoming Director of the Longhorn Band, Vincent R. DiNino.
Today, Bertha can be seen in her permanent home in the north end zone concourse of DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. For her performances at football games, she is escorted by a group known as the "Bertha Crew."
