7 Razorback Game-Day Habits That Confuse Everyone Outside Arkansas

A live Russian boar named Tusk shows up at every Razorback home game.

It’s one of several game-day habits that make perfect sense in Fayetteville and nowhere else.

Here are the Razorback game-day habits that confuse everyone outside Arkansas.

1. Calling the Hogs

Some accounts trace Calling the Hogs to the 1920s, when farmers began calling to the Razorbacks football team the way they’d call their pigs home.

It soon became standard practice as the cheer for the Razorbacks.

The athletics traditions page lists the steps: raise your arms overhead, wiggle your fingers, and yell Woo.

Bring your fists down for Pig, then extend your right arm for Sooie.

Repeat that twice more, and finish by yelling Razor-Backs.

Fans call the Hogs together after big plays and scores.

Many out-of-staters watch a full stadium do it and wonder what they just heard.

Woo Pig Sooie joined the University of Arkansas’s list of trademarks in 2014, according to a UA Libraries blog post.

2. Hog Hats

Fans wear hog hats, helmets with a snout, to Razorback games, and the University of Arkansas Museum says any fan who has been to a game has most likely seen one or worn one.

The museum keeps an original pressing of the hat that dates to 1964.

It is thought the helmets might have been used to bootleg liquor into the football stadium.

A hat called Uncle Heavy’s Hog Hat, created in 1969, quickly became a favorite among Hog fans.

A 2014 athletics feature said the original was hard plastic with a long snout and a pointed tail, and that modern versions are often softer.

3. Tusk the Boar

A live Russian boar named Tusk attends each home game, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

Athletics says the live-mascot tradition has been a fan favorite since the 1960s.

Out-of-staters used to a mascot in a foam suit may be caught off guard by a live boar.

Tusk is a live animal.

In 2019, a new Tusk took over as the live mascot after the previous one retired in June.

4. Running Through the A

The marching band, known as the “Best in Sight and Sound,” forms an A before each home game, and the Razorbacks take the field by running through it.

The athletics game-day page lists the Alma Mater at 10 minutes before kickoff and the run through the A at 3 1/2 minutes.

To catch it, plan to be in your seat before the Alma Mater starts.

5. Hog Walk

The Hog Walk is how the Razorbacks arrive at the stadium, on foot and through the tailgating area.

The team arrives roughly two to two and a half hours before kickoff.

Players enter at the top of Victory Village North and walk through Victory Village.

From there, they go right through the heart of HogTown before heading into Lot 44 and the stadium.

In 2015, Celebrate magazine described fans forming a long passage for the team, rain or shine.

6. HogTown

HogTown is the Razorbacks’ pregame street festival, held on Maple Street just north of the stadium.

Some out-of-staters don’t expect a full street festival before a football game.

The University of Arkansas introduced it in 2019.

It opens four hours before kickoff and wraps up 30 minutes before the game.

There’s live music on a main stage, food trucks, a beer garden, autograph sessions, and TV screens showing games from around the country.

The 2019 announcement also listed inflatables, balloon artists, and face painting, plus fireworks to show fans how much time was left before kickoff.

7. Trailgating

Fans on foot have their own pregame option this season: a parade to the stadium called Fayetteville Trailgating, which Talk Business describes as a tailgate for fans on foot.

Experience Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas set up the parade before all seven home games.

It begins two hours before game time and takes about 20 minutes.

It starts at the Upper Ramble, where West Dickson Street meets North West Avenue, follows the Razorback Greenway north, and turns west on Maple Street.

Downtown parking garages serve as starting points, and the route is under a mile.

Where the Razorback Name Came From

If you’ve ever wondered why the University of Arkansas picked a hog, the answer starts with a football game.

The team was the Cardinals until coach Hugo Bezdek compared his players to wild Razorback hogs after a 1909 win over Louisiana State University (LSU).

Razorback athletics says the student body voted a year later to make the Razorback the mascot, and the football team played as the Razorbacks for the 1910 season.

The Bronze Hogs

The Wild Band of Razorbacks monument has six bronze Hogs, and it sits along Stadium Drive at the northeast corner of the stadium.

It stands approximately 20 feet high and 30 feet wide, with custom lighting and a water feature.

The First One Hog Call