What is the history behind your (main) cowbell?

[Indndawg]

My #1 CB was bought in fall of 82 on campus and has been through 7 moves, 1 flood, and numerous drops from significant heights.

#2 CB was obtained from a stranger in 03 who sat it down and walked off after saying something like, "Im done with this 17 ****"

 

[DerHntr]

Can I have my cowbell back please?**

 

[121Josey]

#2 CB was obtained from a stranger in 03 who sat it down and walked off after saying something like, "Im done with this 17 ****"

He saved himself a lot of heartache over the next 5 years.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

I bought a crappy little dinky cowbell at the MSU Bookshop when I first got to campus in 1981. In 1982, I decided to get a bigger cowbell so I bought a rather large one before the Herschel Walker game.

That Christmas, my parents bought me my #1 cowbell...it's welded all the way to the top so the sound carries. Gave my Herschel Walker cowbell to my then-girlfriend...don't know if she still has it.

During the 1987 Egg Bowl, the eye ringlet on clapper busted and lead weight hit this little old lady in the head right ahead of us. When we got back home, dad drilled a hole through the lead weight and it's been on the cowbell like that to this day.

 

[mcdawg22]

Mine was given to me when I was awarded the Warren County Alumni scholarship. It was presented to me by Richard Williams. I rang it at the banquet and told him that's gonna be loud at the hump next year. He smirked.

 

[rem101]

I have my dad's from when he was in school. It sits on my book shelf and doesn't move.

I also have another that I used to bring to games, but after losing 4-5 of them in school, just decided it wasn't worth it to keep toting around. I hardly ever bring one into a game anymore.

 

[aTotal360]

Bought mine at Orientation and I still take it to every game.

 

[dawgstudent]

My dad bought it from the bookstore at a game when I was in the 2nd grade.

 

[thekimmer]

Used one when I was in school that my brother bought in about 72.....

Made on campus. Very solid. My brother used it, I used it, his son used it, and it has been passed around to several other family members over the past 40+ years. Never one issue with it. Never been refinished. Chipped paint and covered in vintage decals including the old flying M.

I have used several since then none of which seem to last more than a couple of season before needing repair almost always to the clapper. They don't make em like they used to.

 

[BertleTheTurtle]

My dad and I built my #1 the summer before I started my freshman year. We went to the local market and bought the bell, drilled a hole in the top of the bell, and welded a piece of pipe into the frame. Then we reinforced the bell by running a weld along the sides and top of the bell and replaced the traditional clapper with a 1/2 inch bolt and stuck a bicycle grip on the pipe for comfort. Painted it maroon and slapped some sweet decals on it. The thing is a beast to carry around, but spending those few days with my old man hearing stories from when he was in school makes it all worth it. He and my grandfather did the same thing with his first bell, and its definitely a conversation piece on game days. People outside of the Mississippi State Community don't understand our bells, but it truly is one of the best traditions in all of college football.

 

[AFDawg]

I bought mine along with a ball of Edam as my first purchase on campus. The Edam lasted a few weeks; the cowbell is still with me.

 

[BiscuitEater]

First and 'main' cowbell ...

was purchased while still in high school; still have it, and it only takes a glance to bring memories flooding back.

Vividly recall three of us going to Oxford for a baseball game in 1970 ... and we all brought our bells.

Memories have a way of morphing over the years but some things I recall ...

Both OM and State were battling each other for the SEC lead. Brantly Jones was on the mound. State has had some great hurlers over the years but few approach the line-up of ... Dennis Hall, Mike Proffitt and Jones.

Pretty good crowd and we were four or five rows up on the first base side. OM fans were 'whooping' every time Brantly swung his glove. He would bend at the waist, stare in for the sign while swinging his glove forward and back.

Archie was playing short .. Steve Dillard was at third ... their infielders were wearing batting helmets in the field ... guess they thought it made them look cool.

Brantley was absolutely mowing them down, when out of nowhere, my cowbell just disappeared. 12-13'ish kids had snuck under the 'high school' style bleachers and just yanked it away. Was not too happy to say the least but didn't feel like leaving the game to chase after them. Besides, they had a good head start.

State won the game and we headed back to the car ... rounded a corner and there 'he' was, same blue shirt, with "my" cowbell in his hand. Think his first instinct was panic but instead ... he just dropped the bell and ran.

* Same bell made a return trip to Oxford in November. Bell rang long and hard 'before' and 'after' the Egg Bowl but I didn't risk losing it inside VH.

 

[GhostOfJackie]

I've never been able to keep up with a cowbell for more than a few years. All the ones I had in school are gone, all the ones I have now are either found or "inherited". I have a few cowbells that are most likely very special to other people. And other people have cowbells that are special to me. Socialism at it's finest.

 

[Big Sheep81]

Built mine myself while working a summer job in a sawmill. Birthday June 1979.

Built a couple more for friends and also a double handle model for myself used in self defense after getting beat by Bama in fall 1979 in Tuscaloosa.

Strongly considering retiring it this year.......

 

[FlyMaroon]

View attachment 1021View attachment 1020
#1 bell is an old-school bell that was a gift from my brother bought the weekend in '92 when our D made Shane Matthews look like Mike Henig. The majority of the nicks and dings were from the play where Cam threw a gift swing pass to Broomfield(?) and he dropped the easiest pick 6 ever seen in DW. I swore and beat that bell on the concrete, knowing the game ramifications, and scared the family beside me. Game lost, got to hear "It's great. To be. An Au-burn Ti-ger." all the way down the post-game walkway. 17 Auburn. It also made the 1st Gator Bowl and snagged a sweet sticker. I figured that was a great game to go out on and retired it. Other bell is a beater someone left at our tailgate so...thanks!

 

[512taylor]

I got mine as a sophomore in 1969.

It survived Camille and 74-0 beatdown at the hands of U. of Houston.

I have it on a bookshelf at home, and there it will remain.

 

[nashdog]

Gift for my then girlfriend (now wife) -- so technically now my first/main

Was a student football manager from 93-96. Bought a cowbell for my then girlfriend and decorated it with helmet stickers from the locker room, including the famous MSJ logo.

She's now my wife, so I guess technically that makes the cowbell mine...right? We have two other plain maroon cowbells for ringing, but she won't let me remove that one from the house.

 

[1msucub]

Bought a large white one as soon as I got to campus in the fall of 91. Actually wrote a few of the scores from the Egg and various other bowls on it but stopped because it looked stupid. It has various stickers on it and has been TO numerous stadiums (IN much fewer). It has been beaten unmercifully but has never malfunctioned. Been to Oxford more times than I can count, but I've never been stupid enough to take it in. Retired it for a few years thinking it would break us out of the Croom disaster but to no avail.

I bought five new ones a few Christmases ago for the kids, wife, and myself, but Old Main still makes all of the bigger trips, the few times I get to go each year now.

Pretty amazing what that bell really means to me; It debuted at State when I did, and those were seven of the best years of my life.

 

[Shamoan]

the scratches and/or dents were 100% either BYU or maine

 

[VET]

Bought in the mid 90s. Solid welds. Every other bells has cracked and gone dead.

It's side are all bowed out from years of clanging.

The weight fell out a few years ago and went right off the top deck.

I slipped my keys inside and carried on.

Couldn't get into my apartment that night. Worth it.

 

[Drebin]

My first one was given to me by my grandfather. It's very old...white, with really old stickers on it, including the old "flying M" logo. It still sounds good, but I have it on my mantle at the house, and that's where it stays.

I have a large bell that I bought in the late 80s that I still bring to games, but I don't bring it to every game. In my old age, sometimes I just don't feel like carrying it. My son has a bell I bought for him last year and he brings it everywhere. He got in trouble last year for taking it to school.

 

[coackjek]

Received mine as a Christmas gift before the NCST Peach bowl from older brother. Used it ever since. Wields are cracked, lost clanger(found and replaced), bowed out from years of use. Thinking of retiring it and replacing it with a larger one.

 

[aspendawg]

My PaPaw was a section foreman for GM&O and Southern (Rail Road) in Shubuta, MS. Growing up we had about 3-4 actual cowbells that had come about as a result of trains taking out cows with the "cow catcher". PaPaw collected the cowbells. These aren't any lightweight cowbells either. These 17ers will have your forearms looking like Paul Bunyan after ringing it for a quarter. They're thicker than anything I've ever seen made by a third-party vendor.

I don't have any up here in bum 17 alaska, but my sister and bro-in-law have them in Jackson.

He loved some football. Would be glad they're getting used to cheer on the Dawgs.

 

[Mr. Chen]

Mine was passed down to me from my grandfather. My mother made it for him in the 70's when she was at MSU and when I was a freshman he passed away and it was left to me. He was a true maroon bulldog. Gave so much money to the university they named a premed scholarship after him. I was the first grandchild to go to state on that scholarship. He was alumni of the year in the 80s and I've say in the same seats he owned watching the bulldogs for 25 years. That is until the reseating this year...

 

[gymdawg.sixpack]

Great topic. A lor of fans have commented on mine thru the yrs. Its large, really thick! And a completely different kind of loud.
Recieved it from my uncle at birth. Played wirh it in the backyard when i was like 6. He came over and saw it rusting in the grass and dirt. So he took it, had it restored and painted. I was one of the crazier fans in the late 90s thru 2000s and would sometimes hit it against the bleachers and made my own head bleed a few times. Yeah, cocaines a hell of a drug. Its bowed out. The bell was lost and replaced with a 3/4" bolt. I feel like ive gone to war with that thing. It looks the part. Nobody will ever take it from me!