Editing University of North Texas (section)

==Traditions==
===Primary colors===
North Texas adopted [[Shades of green|green]] and white as its official colors during the 1902–1903 school year.{{Sfn|Rogers,|2002|p=}} The university also uses black as a tertiary color,{{Sfn|UNT System, "Brand {{nowrap|...}}," 2023–2024||p=9}} but it is not a "school color".

===Mascot===
[[File:UNT Eagle statue.jpg|thumb|right|250px|{{center|''In High Places''<br>Sculpted in 1990 by Gerald Balciar.}}]]
UNT's mascot, the American [[eagle]], was adopted on February 1, 1922, as a result of a student-faculty council debate and ensuing student election.{{Sfn|UNT: "Faculty & Staff"||p=}}

The eagle has had two nicknames, beginning with "Scrappy" in 1950.{{Sfn|''DMN'', Nov. 14,|1950|loc=p. 8 (sect. I)}} The green and white human costumed eagle character, launched in 1963, carried the name "Scrappy" until 1974—during the throes of the [[Vietnam War]]—when students adopted the name "Eppy" because it sounded less warlike. Since then, the name has switched back from Eppy to Scrappy; and for the last {{Cardinal to word|{{age|format=raw|1995|09|09}}}} years, the name "Scrappy" has endured.{{Sfn|UNT: "Scrappy"}}

===Nickname for intercollegiate athletics===
The name "Mean Green," now in its {{ordinal to word|{{age|format=raw|1966|11|20}}}} year, was adopted by fans and media in 1966 for a North Texas football defensive squad that finished the season second in the nation against the [[Rush (American football)|rush]].{{Sfn|''DRC'', Sep. 21,|1967|p=10}} That season, [[Joe Greene]],{{Sfn|''DRC'', Aug. 30,|1967|p=13}}{{Sfn|Fowler, February 16,|1992|p=6D}} then a sophomore at North Texas, played left [[defensive tackle]] on the football team and competed in track and field ([[shot put]]). The nickname "Mean Joe Greene" caught-on during his first year with the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]] in 1969 when Pittsburgh fans wrongly assumed that "Mean Green" was derived from a nickname Joe Greene had inherited while at North Texas. The North Texas athletic department, media, and fans loved the novelty of the national use of its nickname, and its association with Joe Greene's surname and university's official school color. By 1968, "Mean Green" was branded on the backs of shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, and the cover of the North Texas football brochure.{{Sfn|Cochran, Sep. 1,|1968|loc=p. 2 (sect. D)}}

===Fight song===
Francis Edwin Stroup, EdD (1909–2010),{{Sfn|Jaquel Cattell Press,|1971|p=920}}{{Sfn|Jaquel Cattell Press,|1974|p=}} emerged in 1939—ten years after graduating from North Texas—as the winning composer (lyrics and music) of a university sponsored [[fight song]] competition organized by [[Floyd Graham]].{{Sfn|''DRC'', Jun. 25,|1950|loc=p. 1 (sect. 2)}} He taught summers at North Texas from 1939 to 1942.  The song, "Fight, North Texas," has endured for {{Cardinal to word|{{age|format=raw|1939|09|01}}}} years and the lyrics have changed minimally to reflect the name changes of the university.  While serving as an associate professor at the [[University of Wyoming]] from 1946 to 1950, Stroup rewrote the lyrics for the chorus to "[[Ragtime Cowboy Joe]]," which was adopted in 1961 as the university's fight song. After serving as head of the Physical Education Department at [[Southern Arkansas University]] from 1950 to 1959, Stroup became Professor of Physical Education at [[Northern Illinois University]]. While there, Stroup rewrote the lyrics to the chorus of Alonzo Neil Annas' (1882–1966) NIU "Loyalty Song" (1942), which was informally adopted in 1961 and officially 1963 as the "Huskie Fight Song."{{Sfn|''Daily Chronicle'', Herra, Sep. 7,|2009|p=}}{{Sfn|''Daily Chronicle'', Schott, Dec. 3,|2010|loc=p. 3}}{{Sfn|''North Texan'', Fall|2008|loc=}}{{Sfn|''NIU Today'', Dec. 1,|2010|p=}}{{Sfn|Studwell & Schueneman,|2013|p=29}} Stroup also composed songs for [[Drake University]] and the [[University of Chicago]]. A collegiate academician who played piano mostly by ear and neither majored nor worked in music, Stroup lived to be 101, a number exceeding the songs he composed by one digit. Stroup was inducted in the Halls of Fame of [[Northern Illinois University]] and the University of North Texas (1987).

===Alma mater===
In 1919, [[Julia Smith (composer)|Julia Smith]] (1905–1989), while a music student, and Charles Kirby Langford (1903–1931), then a third-year letterman on the football team and an outstanding overall athlete, composed "Glory to the Green and White" which was adopted as the school's alma mater in 1922. Smith wrote the music and Langford wrote the lyrics.{{Sfn|Charles Langford (photo)||p=}}{{Sfn|Smith (Alma Mater Song),|1969|p=}}

===Other traditions===
The Spirit Bell—a {{convert|2000|lb|kg|abbr=on}} bell brought from [[Michigan]] in 1891—was a curfew bell from 1892 to 1928. The Talons, a spirit and service organization formed in 1960, acquired it in the 1964, mounted it on a wagon, and began the tradition of running it around the football field to rally fans.{{Sfn|''DRC'', Aug. 7,|1977|loc=p. 12 (sect. I)}} It was retired to the University Union in 1982 after it developed a crack. A similar {{convert|1600|lb|kg|abbr=on}} Spirit Bell is currently in use at games.{{Sfn|"Traditions," "Bell"||p=}}{{Sfn|"Traditions" (archived ed.),|2011|p=}} A different organization by the name "Talons" was founded in 1926 as the first social fraternity at North Texas.{{Sfn|''DRC'', Edwards, Apr. 17,|1949|p=1}} On Homecoming Fridays, the Talons light a bonfire built from wooden [[pallets]], typically in a 40-by-40-by-25-foot-height structure. The tradition has endured since the 1930s.{{Sfn|"Traditions," "Bonfire"||p=}}{{Sfn|"Traditions" (archived ed.),|2011|p=}}

"Boomer" is a cannon fired by the Talons at football games since the 1970s. It is a 7/8th scale [[M1841 Mountain Howitzer|M1841]] 6 pound, smooth bore [[muzzleloader]], resting on hand-crafted solid oak from the campus. Talon alumni have restored it three times, the most recent being in the fall of 2007, adding a custom {{linktext|limber}} for transport and equipment.{{Sfn|"Traditions" (archived ed.),|2011|p=}}

The Mean Green Machine, a green and black 1931 [[Ford Model A (1927–1931)|Ford Model A]] Tudor Sedan, is driven by the Talons Motorpool Committee at football games and special events. It was donated by alumnus [[Rex Cauble]] in 1974.{{Sfn|"Traditions" (archived ed.),|2011|p=}} In 2012, a team of engineering students installed a NetGain WarP 9 electric engine. {{as of|2016}}, the Mean Green Machine has been re-equipped with a modified Model A engine after complications with the electric engine.{{Sfn|''North Texan'', May 11,|2012|loc=}}

McConnell Tower, the clock tower atop the Hurley Administration Building at the center of campus, is bathed in green light for victories. The clock is depicted on the official class ring with two different times on its faces: 1:00 (for the [[One O'Clock Lab Band]]) and 7:00—the curfew initiated in 1892.{{Sfn|"Traditions" (archived ed.),|2011|p=}}

The eagle talon hand signal is formed by curling the thumb and index and middle fingers forward—the ring and pinkie fingers stay closed against the palm.{{Sfn|"Traditions" (archived ed.),|2011|p=}}

"In High Places" [[File:UNT Eagle statue.jpg|30px|link=File:UNT Eagle statue.jpg|alt=In High Places]] is a {{convert|22|ft|m|abbr=on}} tall bronze statue of a flying eagle created by Gerald Balciar and dedicated during the university's centennial in 1990.{{Sfn|"Traditions" (archived ed.),|2011|p=}}