Big Bertha (drum)

When the University of Chicago ended its varsity football program in 1939, the drum was stored under the school's bleachers.

It later allegedly became radioactively contaminated as a result of research for the Manhattan Project conducted at the stadium during the 1940s, though it passed a Geiger test before it was returned to Conn.[2][3] In 1954, Colonel D. Harold Byrd, a long-time benefactor of the Longhorn Band, suggested that the drum be purchased from the University of Chicago and given a new home at Texas.

Mr. Moton Crockett Jr, former student and Director of the Longhorn Band, purchased Bertha for $1.00 from Conn and transported the drum from Elkhart, Indiana, to Austin, Texas, using his own truck and trailer.

Mr. Crockett refurbished the drum during the spring and summer of 1955, and presented it to incoming Director of the Longhorn Band, Vincent R. DiNino.

[1] On October 15, 2022, during halftime of Texas' game against Iowa State in its 100th year of service, the original Big Bertha made its final appearance before entering the school's Frank Denius Family Athletics Hall of Fame, but its successor, Big Bertha II, was also unveiled as it was wheeled to the center of the field at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium alongside the original.

The original Big Bertha in fall 2018.
The original Big Bertha outside Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium before a UT football game.
The original Big Bertha with the University of Chicago 's band in October 1922.
Photo of the inside of the original Big Bertha showing the names of the Kappa Kappa Psi pledges who removed toxic lead paint in 1980.
The original Big Bertha and the Bertha Crew in front of the Palace of Westminster while in London for London's New Year's Day Parade on January 1, 2015.