TAYLOR REGAN I The Daily Mississippian
Chancellor Dan Jones and ROTC members at the Veteran’s Day Review Nov 14.
A new tradition will begin in the Egg Bowl rivalry when ROTC cadets make a 100-mile game ball run from Oxford to Starkville.
Before daylight on Nov. 25, University of Mississippi ROTC cadets will run 45 miles carrying the Egg Bowl game ball to Calhoun City. Once in Calhoun City, UM cadets will hand off the game ball to members of Mississippi State University’s ROTC program in the city square at a small pavilion. MSU’s ROTC will then carry the game ball 55 miles from Calhoun City to Davis-Wade Stadium in Starkville, where the ball will be handed off to the Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen.
Matt Hayes, assistant professor of military science at Ole Miss, says this is a way to get the community involved.
“It’s Thanksgiving time and football season,” Hayes said. “We want to pump up the game more.”
The run will begin on Union Drive and proceed to University Avenue. The cadets will then head on University to Highway 7, where they will run until the split at Highway 9. Mississippi State Highway Patrol and University Police were requested to escort the runners while on the public roads and streets.
Twenty UM cadets will take turns running the ball, rotating every three to four miles. One mile outside of Calhoun City, all of the UM cadets will run in army formation with the flags to hand the ball off to MSU.
In the hand-off location, both the Ole Miss mascot and the MSU mascot will be present. Both universities’ media relations are expected to video and still shot the relay for use during a pre-game video. Hayes said there is more to this run than just the football rivalry.
“The values of this run are personal courage, sacrifice, perseverance, teamwork, physical fitness and the spirit of competition,” Hayes said.
John Bolding, Ole Miss ROTC cadet battalion commander, said this is an event where the schools can come together to appreciate forces greater than them.
“For me personally, it’s an event that we can do with the MSU cadets,” Bolding said. “It’s like a brotherhood.”
Bolding said that the run is a good opportunity to do something different and is something that the cadets will always remember.
“I’m graduating this year,” Bolding said. “It’s like a legacy for me and my senior class to be able to say that we were the first to do the run.”
The game ball will be signed by both universities’ presidents, by both head coaches, and by the Professor of Military Science from each university.
After the game, the ball will be auctioned off, and proceeds will benefit the Wounded Warrior Program.
-Randall Haley
arhaley@go.olemiss.edu
