AJ Media Editorial Board
There is no mistaking the importance of the Masked Rider as a Texas Tech tradition, tracing its roots to the 1954 Gator Bowl and setting the stage for the Red Raiders’ upset of Auburn that New Year’s Day in Jacksonville, Florida.
Former football coach DeWitt Weaver historically has been credited with the idea in the years prior to Tech’s entrance into the Southwest Conference, although a horse and rider leading the football team onto the field has unofficial roots in the 1930s. That said, Joe Kirk Fulton literally took the reins of the idea as Tech’s first Masked Rider.