The Drawl - Southern Miss Alumni Association

its mark on a number of locations across the Hattiesburg campus. The
10-yard-line markers of Eagle Walk, located on the east side of M.M.
Roberts Stadium, were preceded with a “19” written on poster board.
Balloons with “1910” handwritten on them were placed outside the Ogletree
House and a 1910 banner hung across the entrance to The Hub for a number
of days following Founders’ Day.
While members are unknown, acts of these two societies quietly continue.
Secret Societies
In 2006, a pair of secret societies emerged, leaving their marks across the
Hattiesburg campus. Both “The Gold Leaf” and the “Society of 1910”
announced their presence, but kept their identities hidden.
On at least five occasions, the Gold Leaf contributed $777.77 to different
departments and for different causes across campus, noting that the number
“7” has special significance to this
organization. In 2007, the Gold Leaf
contributed $25,000 toward the
Thad Cochran Center for the naming
of Room 227 of the facility.
Notably, 227 is the exact number of
students that first attended
Mississippi Normal College, now
The University of Southern
Mississippi, when the institution
opened its doors for the first time.
The Society of 1910 (the year of
Southern Miss’ founding) was particularly
active as the University
celebrated Founders’ Day in March
2006. That month, the society left
The Blackbirds
The Blackbirds w e r e a clandestine group of students
w h o appeared on c a m p u s s o m e t i m e in 1926. Their
favorite pa s t i m e wa s defacing s i d e wa l k s, walls and
especially the wat e r t o w e r w i t h their o w n peculiar
brand of graffiti. The group once targeted three
elderly professors by s c r aw l i n g “The Walk of the
Dead” on the wa l k way leading from the dining hall.
Underneath the s ay i n g, the n a m e s of the professors
w e r e written, and the message wa s signed, “The
Blackbirds.”
On one occasion, the Blackbirds decorated the front
of College Hall w i t h the brightly pa i n t e d message,
“The Last Rose of Su m m e r,” in reference to a not-soyoung
f e m a l e instructor. At t i m e s, faculty m e m b e r s
w e r e s ta rt l e d to find notes in the pockets of their
sweaters bearing the signature of the Blackbirds.
Publications
School Newspaper: The first
school newspaper was published
on December 21, 1918, and its
title was Normal College News.
The paper was published every
Saturday while school was in
session. President Joe Cook sent
a copy of the publication to
Gov. Theodore G. Bilbo, whose
response was, “The little thing looks puny.”
President Cook countered the governor’s remark by reminding
him that since both he and the governor were of modest stature, they
should be “the last men in the world to condemn men or things because of
lack of corporeal immensity.” The governor relented and promised to “try to
be satisfied with the infinitesimal creature.”
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