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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/IEatBones2230 on 2025-08-14 04:04:37+00:00.
On January 16, 1917, Texas A&M beat Rice in basketball for the first time in Houston, 21–13. After the game, Aggie students noticed that Rice had left behind their mascot, a 200-pound, man-sized stuffed owl made of canvas and sawdust. J. Percy Street Thompson and Sidney F. Mitchell, Aggies from the Corps of Cadets, saw their chance.
They “inducted” the owl into the Corps, promoted him to the rank of General, and carried him out of the auditorium. When questioned by security, the Aggies said they were returning the mascot to Rice. Instead, they packed him up and shipped him to College Station via train.
Once there, the Aggies treated the owl like royalty. They housed him in Milner Hall, where he welcomed visitors, attended lectures, and reviewed cadets. The Battalion, A&M’s student newspaper, dared Rice to try to get their bird back: “If Rice wishes to claim their bird… they can find him at 37 Milner Hall.”
Rice, embarrassed but determined, denied the owl had been stolen and quickly created an identical copy. The Aggies weren’t having it. They vowed to bring the real mascot back to Houston in the fall parade before the A&M–Rice football game.
Thirteen Rice students formed the Owl Protective Association (OPA), dedicated to recovering the kidnapped mascot. On January 19, they hired a detective to search for the owl at College Station. When he failed to send word back, they set out themselves.
Disguised in army uniforms, they arrived at College Station at 1:30 a.m. in the rain. They met the detective, he hadn’t found the owl. The students searched buildings across campus, pretending to be freshmen trapped by hazing rituals. Despite clever lies, they found nothing.
Two members of the OPA, former A&M students, split the group in half and posed as drill sergeants inspecting dorm rooms. They searched every room on the first floors but again came up empty. They returned to Houston empty-handed.
Still undeterred, they hired another detective, this one known only as “Snowball.” On January 29, Snowball pretended to be a reporter and somehow made contact with the only four men who knew where the owl was being kept: the third floor of the U.S. Armory, the most secure building on campus. Snowball sent a coded message back:
“Sammy is fairly well and would like to see his parents at 11 o’clock.”
This line gave the Rice mascot a name that remains to this day: Sammy.
The Break-In at the Armory
OPA added four new conspirators to their team. On the night of January 30, two Fords and a Hudson Super Six rolled into College Station. Snowball warned them that the owl was in a near-impenetrable location, but the OPA wasn’t backing down.
Four scouts—Fulweiler, Billups, Moore, and Waters—were sent to the armory. Billups stayed outside to signal. The other three climbed three floors but found the door locked. As they tried to cut through it with knives, a night watchman approached.
That’s when Jimmie Waters made his legendary move. Seeing the guard, he climbed out a third-story window, scaled the building, and ran off, distracting the guard long enough for his friends to hide. Waters successfully evaded the guard and returned.
Soon, the building was swarming with sergeants. Fulweiler was spotted, fled to the train station, and escaped. Moore was also spotted and escaped off-campus. Fulweiler returned but was chased again and repeated his escape trick.
The OPA regrouped at Kyle Field. Waters again served as decoy, racing across campus and outrunning two more guards.
Deciding stealth had failed, the OPA initiated a full assault. Five football players with crowbars and fire extinguishers filled with ammonia stormed the armory. Cars blocked exits. The door was broken by three players ramming it together, and Sammy was secured.
As they fled, a guard fired his .44 pistol into the air, raising the alarm. The OPA painted “20–0” on buildings (Rice had beaten A&M in football that season) and honked horns in celebration.
Then disaster struck.
The headlights on both Fords failed. One crashed, and the other rear-ended it. The Hudson developed a gas leak. As they scrambled to patch the tank, the night train to Houston passed by, full of angry Aggies who had seen everything. Soon, the roads were crawling with cadets.
The Manhunt
The OPA stashed the cars and Sammy in the woods. Nine members took the Hudson and Ford into Milliken for repairs. But A&M had mobilized.
800 cadets in cars, wagons, and trains blanketed the area between Bryan and Navasota.
All telegraph and telephone lines were seized and being actively monitored
They raided Milliken, seized the cars, and captured nine OPA members.
Before their capture, the nine managed to get word to the guards still with Sammy. The guards realized they couldn’t transport the full 200-pound mascot, so they burned the sawdust stuffing in a low-smoke fire and hid the owl’s canvas skin.
But a search party spotted the flames. The guards handed the skin to their four fastest runners, including the legendary Jimmie Waters, and ran in the opposite direction to mislead pursuers. They were captured. The runners eluded multiple search parties across the woods, but were exhausted, dehydrated, and at their limit.
Enter the hunters.
Four local hunters stumbled upon the fugitives and, impressed by their daring, decided to help. Two OPA members rode with a hunter into town, one hid in the car toolbox, and one disguised himself as the driver. They were stopped by Aggies but passed inspection. Ironically, an Aggie cadet even hitched a ride by sitting on the toolbox.
Meanwhile, the other two OPA runners were hidden by the second hunter. He was arrested and later released. He then called the doctor helping house the first two and said:
“Doctor, what shall I do with those capsules you gave me?”
“Have you got them with you?”
“No.”
“I’ll bring you new ones.”
That cryptic phrase activated the rescue mission. The doctor stayed behind, and the other two hunters drove full speed to pick up the last two Rice men, blasting past roadblocks. They picked up the “capsules” and returned them to the doctor’s house.
At 3:30 a.m., the doctor got another call:
“Doctor, my wife is very ill.”
“My car’s broken, but come get me.”
Thirty minutes later, the OPA members sprinted to the car and were finally driven to Houston. After dodging all patrols and roadblocks, they arrived at Rice at 7:30 a.m. on February 1, with Sammy’s skin safely in hand.
The other 13 captured members of the OPA were detained at College Station. While generally treated well, they weren’t released until Rice’s president, Edgar Odell Lovett, petitioned A&M’s president for their safe return.
Private investigator Snowball wasn’t so lucky. Aggies paraded him around campus, shaved his head military-style, and handed him over to freshmen for a few days. Eventually, they dumped him at the station, naked, and told him to catch the next train.