• The first school fight song was “March of the Purple and Gray.” The lyrics were written in 1910 by Miss Ethel Swartwood, head of the Department of Music and Reading.
• The Royal Rooters, a booster organization formed in 1926, is credited for bringing organized cheerleading to the university.
• President Jimmy Carter spoke before a crowd of 3,200 people during the 1985-86 lecture series at the university. The president was handed a note prior to his speech advising him that the U.S. had bombed Libya.