[1] Jim Gaspard, a member of the Texas Tech Saddle Tramps student spirit organization, created the original design for the Raider Red costume based on a character created by Lubbock, Texas, cartoonist and former mayor Dirk West.

Around the 1971 football season, the Southwest Conference created a rule forbidding the bringing of live animal mascots to away games unless the host school permitted it.

[6] Since the Masked Rider's horse might have been prohibited from attending some games under this rule, Raider Red was created as an alternate mascot.

[7] In 2012, Raider Red won the Capital One Mascot Challenge, beating the University of South Carolina's Cocky in the final.

In 2021 Raider Red took the National Cheerleading Associations Mascot Championships stage in Daytona, Florida for the first time in his 50 year lifespan.