"We believe that October 14 will go down as a Red-Letter day in Southern State's history. This was the day when the Optimist Club of Magnolia presented to us our first school mascot. School spirit, which had fallen progressively lower with each of the successive losses of our football team, suddenly came alive. Our school spirit reached unheard of height after the acquisition of our mascot. We, the staff of the Mulerider, proudly dedicate this book to the rejuvenation of our college spirit in which we believe this humble Sicilian Mule played a great part."
(Excerpted from the dedication section of the 1951 The Mulerider)

"In the early 1950s, many students were caught up in the excitement of extracurricular activities, especially cheering for their championship Mulerider football teams and their new mule mascot, Optimaggie. After Coach Elmer Smith's great teams of 1947 and 1948, who together had a combined win-loss-tie record of 17–3–2, fans expected more victories but instead suffered through a 3–7 season in 1949. It appeared that 1950 would be more of the same when the team lost the first four games.
 
Suddenly, the year turned around, beginning with the homecoming game on October 14, 1950. On that evening, the Magnolia Optimist Club presented a Sicilian mule (a donkey) to Dr. Camp for use as the school's mascot. When the football program was discontinued in the 1930s and again in the Second World War, the practice of having a mule (often with a rider) at games had disappeared. The new mule, named Optimaggie (a combination of Optimist and Aggie), restored that tradition. Optimaggie was a stubborn burro like the one famed World War II cartoonist Bill Maldin portrayed with weary GIs in the war in the mountains of Italy. During SSC football games, Optimaggie would bray loudly as though he were cheering on the Muleriders, but he sometimes brayed at the wrong times, interrupting local ministers' prayers that preceded kickoffs in those days.
 
In accepting the gift of Optimaggie for the school, Dr. Camp predicted that the mule would so raise the players and fans' spirits and fortunes that they would lose no more games. Whether or not it was Optimaggie's presence, the result was indeed a remarkable turnaround and a winning streak for the rest of the season. The team had a 6–4–1 record in 1950 and 5 more straight victories in 1951 (11 wins in all) before it lost another game, that one to a non-conference team from Louisiana. In fact, from October 14, 1950, until September 26, 1953, the Muleriders racked up a string of seventeen victories in the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference (AIC). When SSC lost to College of the Ozarks in 1953, many fans attributed the defeat to the fact that it was the first AIC game not attended by Optimaggie."
 (Excerpted from James F. Willis, Southern Arkansas University: The Mulerider School's Centennial History, 1909-2009, pp. 205-209)

"The Muleriders broke into the win column for the first time by defeating Eastern Oklahoma Junior College 21-0. After having two touchdowns called back Grady Cathy ran a punt back 60 yards for a touchdown. In the third period Oklahoma drove to the four but the Riders stopped them. Wallace intercepted a pass and ran 36 yards for a T. D. to make it 14-0. Late in the fourth quarter Lamphere took a pass from Mulligan to conclude the scoring. Thomas kicked all three extra points squarely thru the uprights."
(Excerpted from the athletics section of the 1951 The Mulerider)

The Story of the Muleriders
"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 George Ruford 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."
(Excerpted from George Ruford Turrentine's 2017 SAU Sports Hall of Fame Induction bio; The Story of the Muleriders)