Students, staff discuss tortilla tradition ban

Some traditions are the reason Texas Tech students are so prideful – Raider Red, the Goin’ Band from Raiderland, Masked Rider, the Victory Bells, Will Rogers statue, throwing our guns up, and plenty more. However, one of the things that makes Tech so recognizable is the unofficial tradition of throwing tortillas.

Taylor Karrh, assistant director of Tech Athletics and former student athlete, said there are a couple origin stories for throwing tortillas. Students would take the lids off their stadium drinks and throw those on the field. Administration noticed that, and they stopped offering lids on the drinks.

“Tortillas were the next best thing,” Karrh said. “They were round, easy to throw, and flew kind of like a Frisbee.”

When Texas A&M came and played Tech in 1992, an announcer made a comment that there was nothing in Lubbock but Tech football and a tortilla factory. Karrh said students continued throwing tortillas from that game forward.

“Since it’s so unique and so Texas Tech, it will stay around,” Karrh said.

Morgan Hall, a sophomore accounting major from Midland, said the tradition has been around since her father attended Tech. Hall said there was a tortilla factory in Lubbock that would sell a bag of tortillas for a dollar, so students wanted something cheap to throw.

“It’s just one of the many traditions that we have carried on,” she said. “I mean students will always find a way to keep them flying. I want them to keep flying.”

Drew Ingraham, associate athletics director, said students need to start viewing it from a functionality stand point.

“They’re a food item, and they’re thrown out onto the field of play,” he said. “Any item thrown out on the field of play is a safety issue.”

Ingraham said he understands that it is a rallying point for students, and they want to keep the tradition going, but the stadium is concerned about the safety of others and the penalty that could arise.

For safety, University Archivist Lynn Whitfield, said the horse, band members, players, and students in the stands could slip and fall from the tortillas. She said she does not predict students ever stopping unless there is a terrible accident.

Whitfield said throwing tortillas is such a controversial habit because most students love it, but the university does not consider it a tradition. In addition, she said it lacks good sportsmanship.

“We don’t want to consider this a tradition,” she said. “We would rather it go away and something else take place because we want to project a positive image.”

With tortillas being thrown, Whitfield said she has seen multiple occurrences where the football game had to stop because there were too many tortillas on the field, and the team would be penalized.

“We don’t want our team to lose because of something we’ve done,” Whitfield said.

Savannah Baldwin, freshman education major from Denton, said she does not think the tradition should ever stop because no one has ever been seriously injured from a tortilla. Even as decades pass, Baldwin said she adores how it has stayed a tradition.

“Throwing the tortillas is one of the best things that we do as Red Raiders, and it gives us so much pride to participate in the tradition,” Baldwin said. “ I want my kids to be included in that tradition, so they can feel the pride we all share.”

Tech Athletics has tried to divert the tradition by offering towels for students to swirl at football games instead.

http://www.dailytoreador.com/lavida/students-staff-discuss-tortilla-tradition-ban/article_27675d24-ca81-11e8-9d56-c31ce89bc59d.html