page_title: Texas Tech Red Raiders football
section_title: Mascots
hierarchical_section_title: Texas Tech Red Raiders football / Venue, atmosphere, and culture / Mascots
caption_attribution_description: Raider Red displaying the Guns up hand gesture
context_page_description: The Texas Tech Red Raiders football program is a college football team that represents Texas Tech University. The team competes, as a member of the Big 12 Conference, which is a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The program began in 1925 and has an overall winning record, including a total of 11 conference titles and one division title. On November 30, 2018, Matt Wells was hired as the team's 16th head football coach after former Red Raiders quarterback Kliff Kingsbury was terminated upon conclusion of the 2018 season. Home games are played at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas.
context_section_description: The Masked Rider is Texas Tech University's oldest mascot, and was the first official mounted mascot in the country. The tradition began in 1936, when "ghost riders" were dared to circle the field prior to home football games. The Masked Rider became an official mascot in 1954, when Joe Kirk Fulton led the team onto the field at the Gator Bowl. According to reports from those present at the game, the crowd sat in stunned silence as they watched Fulton and his horse Blackie rush onto the football field, followed by the team. After a few moments, the silent crowd burst into cheers. Ed Danforth, a writer for the Atlanta Journal who witnessed the event, later wrote, "No team in any bowl game ever made a more sensational entrance." In 2000, The Masked Rider tradition was commemorated with the unveiling of a statue outside of the university's Frazier Alumni Pavilion. The sculpture, created by artist Grant Speed, is 25 percent larger than life.
  Today the Masked Rider, with guns up, leads the team onto the field for all home games. This mascot, adorned in a distinctive gaucho hat like the ones worn by members of the marching band, is one of the most visible figures at Texas Tech.
  Texas Tech's other mascot, Raider Red, is a more recent creation. Beginning with the 1971 football season, the Southwest Conference forbade the inclusion of live animal mascots to away games unless the host school consented. For situations where the host school did not want to allow the Masked Rider's horse, an alternate mascot was needed. Jim Gaspard, a member of the Saddle Tramps student spirit organization, created the original design for the Raider Red costume, basing it on a character created by cartoonist Dirk West, a Texas Tech alumnus and former Lubbock mayor. Though the Masked Rider's identity is public knowledge, it has always been tradition that Raider Red's student alter ego is kept secret until the end of his or her tenure. The student serving as Raider Red is a member of the Saddle Tramps or High Riders.
caption: Raider Red displaying the Guns up hand gesture
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