Hall of Fame
Not long after Southern Arkansas University was founded as the Third District Agricultural School (TDAS) in 1909, a football team was fielded, and a young 23-year-old George Ruford Turrentine was tabbed to serve as the first coach of the program beginning in 1911. Turrentine, who coached all sports offered at TDAS at the time, would go on to coach the football team through 1917.
While his 11-23-3 career record over seven seasons does not lend itself to a memorable coaching career on its own, Turrentine’s name still resonates and is synonymous with SAU Athletics to this day as he is credited with being the one to first attribute the nickname of “Muleriders” as he did so to his 1912 football team following the final game that season.
As the story has been accounted, preserved, and re-told, shortly after the school’s final football game of 1912, which was played on Thanksgiving that year, young men from the football team rode mules to Coach Turrentine’s home north of the campus.
In that final game, TDAS had played to a scoreless tie with Fordyce High School at home and players wanted to talk over the season with Coach Turrentine. At this time, it was not unusual for young men in the rural South to ride mules; as the animal was used most often in Southern agriculture, and were easily available. Additionally, it was noted that there were only four automobiles in Columbia County in 1912 and no paved roads, which made travel difficult in adverse conditions. Riding a mule therefore was a more reliable means of transportation.
In the school’s early years, football teams may have ridden mules occasionally to reach McNeil, five miles north of TDAS, to catch the Cotton Belt train to away games.
A few days after the Fordyce game in 1912, Coach Turrentine invited the players to dinner at his home, which was also located on the road to McNeil. As the riders (his players) dismounted in his yard, Turrentine walked onto his porch and shouted a greeting, “My Mule Riders!” This was the first known occasion when the name Muleriders was used for the football team.
The nickname coined by Turrentine that day did not officially stick until several years later. Steps in making “Muleriders” the official nickname for SAU Athletics came in 1922 when the yearbook changed its name from The Monitor to The Mulerider and when the student newspaper began in 1923, it was suggested that the name be The Bray as the paper was to server as the “voice” of the students.
After it became the official nickname of SAU Athletics, “Muleriders” endures as a unique mascot association within all of college athletics, and this coming 2017 football season will be the 100th season in which the Muleriders take the field.
