Tell About Your Bell

[Goldendawg]

I know there are many great stories about our cowbells. I picked mine up from the local oil change business today to have it welded together again. The guy had it for about a week and knew I needed it for UMass but was afraid to start the repairs for damaging the original paint. I told him it would just add character and he fixed it with me there. My late Superdawg Dad (gone 22 years) had my bell and an identical one made for my brother-in-law for Christmas about 25 years ago. He could have bought one of the many bells available, but he went to Iuka Hardware and bought real cowbells and steel pipes to be welded for handles, painted Maroon with MSU in white, our initials in white on the inside. I'm in my 4th quarter of life and have thought about requesting it be buried with me when I "punt". but NO, it will go to my 16 year old True Maroon son! State is family and so are our cowbells. Would love to hear about yours. BTW, these two bells are really loud (you could really have really found lost cows if bought by another buyer years ago!). Hail State and our Family of Dawgs!

[3rdGen]

Nice of you to share that with us. My bell was purchased by me(I know someone is supposed to give you your first bell) in my first semester of college back in 09. It has gone through several renditions since then. I want to say 2010 was the first year we had gold on our uniforms so I cut the handle off and put a giant Miller light tap handle on it, painted the bell gold and put a silver mstate banner on it. I have the larger bell and this thing now weighed at least 5pounds(lol) Then I saw several like that with tap handles and decided that I would get rid of the miller light so I cut down the handle to fit my hand better and painted the handle maroon and white for the next season. It stayed that way until the egg bowl in 15. I had a whiskey melt on the way out of the stadium that year and all but destroyed the finishes and bent the bolt holding the handle on. 16 season it was used but not as much as I wanted to so I decided that it was time to make the bell a finished product not to be changed again. I had picked up a railroad spike off the Santa Fe railRoad while out in Nevada at a museum and decided that was going to be the handle. So I stripped it, welded the spike in and attached two pieces of red oak on it to make the handle fit my hand better. I let it rust for two months in my shop and then took a wire brush and removed a good bit of the rust and clear coated it. Now I love the look of it and I think it was what I was looking for in a bell. It is so loud with that classic cowbell sound that my wife says you can hear it clearly and with a different tone over all the other bells around us. I love it and I think I am just gonna get Leo(SA 39), Steve Robertson, Dan Mullen, and hopefully Dak to sign it and call it a wrap. That?s the ongoing saga of my bell. Thanks for asking.

[BrunswickDawg]

Got my Bell Christmas of 1992. I was a Sophomore, and being from out of state didn't really understand the tradition. My parents had decided to get season tickets that year and my future wife and I sat with them. We got to be friends with the people in front of us and he asked why I didn't bring a bell. When he found out I didn't have one, he sent it to me for Christmas - totally out of the blue. That's State - we're family...

Anyway, my bell has a habit of launching its clapper at big wins (most of those 1990s Bully Bells lose them regularly). Lost it at '96 Bama, and it became a bolt on wire with a clip. Lost and found at Peach Bowl '99, launched from the upper deck of the Gator Bowl in ?10, and launched from a North End Zone suite into the student section at 2014 Auburn game. I've gone the sticker route and it still sports the yellowing 1990s "Bully Bell" bulldog, a sticker from the SEC title game in '98, a sticker from the '14 AU game, an M over S, and a Flying M. Thought about giving it to my daughter when she got into school , but couldn't part with it and bought her one instead.

[stalkingpoon]

I got my bell in '96 when I was about 8 years old. It's the old school Bully Bell and my sticker has finally bit the dust. Its just strictly original, no game stickers or anything. The paint is peeling and I need to get it redone but its been impossible for me to find a bully bell sticker. I used it until about 2008 and put it in retirement and bought a new one. I used that one until we play Auburn in 2014. I decided to bring out the original for the game and haven't looked back since. The 08 version is in my office along with the one my wife bought me when we got married, my bell from graduation, and a couple of bells I bought that looked cool.

Edit to add: looks like campus bookmart sells them now. I'm gonna pick one up tomorrow before the game and try and restore the bell after the season is over! https://www.campusbookmart.net/cbm/shop_product_detail.asp?catalog_group_id=NDQ&catalog_group_name=QXV0bw&catalog_id=169&catalog_name=QXV0byBEZWNhbHM&product_name=Q29sb3IgU2hvY2sgU3RhbmRpbmcgQnVsbHkgQ nVsbHkgQmVsbCBEZWNhbA&pf_id=73193&type=1&target=shop_main.asp

[Howboutdemdogs]

My first bell was given to me when I was a freshman in '82 by my parents. It is also the one used to land me in jail in Tuscaloosa in '85 by hitting a drunk Bama student in the head at the game. It has my original fraternity crest on it and the original Bully Bell sticker. It is laden with many battle scars. It is not used too much today, but it is on display at every tailgate. (It is too damn heavy). Today, I have a huge collection of bells in my office. At games now, we bring a bucket of bells, so we can share and let them earn their "scars". My favorite is what we call the "Double Donger", which has a bell on each end.

[Bully13]

Don't know when or where my current one comes from. My previous belonged to my dad who got it in the early 60s at state. I destroyed it after game in Jackson when we got Dicked by Pace on the PI call in the end zone.

[Dawgbite]

My first bell was an actual cowbell from the dairy farm I grew up next to. I welded a piece of pipe to it and slipped a piece of rubber hose over the pipe for a handle. It is still around the house somewhere, it never developed any sentimental value for some reason. My second bell was a smaller bell without a handle that was given to everybody in my sons high school senior class by some group in town. It had his initials painted on it and sat in his room until the wife decided he wasn't coming back home and his room was redecorated into a guest room. It was small but very loud so I decided to weld a handle on it but ultimately put a plastic chain on it and made a necklace out of it that would make Flava Flave proud. It went into semi retirement a few years ago when the wife gave me a Battle Bell for Christmas. I may just bring the neck bell back out for the Egg Bowl this year.

[Bully13]

Oh, and mine also survived the egg bowl in oxfart when we went to the ATL. was ringing after the game and some big Barney fife approaches and tries to confiscate. I toss it over the rail and a Bully fan gets it and gets it back to me about 10 minutes later.

I was also hanging out later waiting for the players to emerge from the locker room to celebrate. I remember JWS being pissed off due to no highway patrol cars to escort him and his family to their vehicles. My brother and I walked along side them till they got to their cars. True story.

[DeltaDawg]

I have 3 bells. The first was given to me by my dad. It is from his Freshman year in '64. Its white and the only sticker that is really still legible says, "Rebel Rousers". My second one is from my brother's Freshman year in '94. He died in a car wreck, so it has a lot of sentimental value. Those 2 sit on my bookcase in my office. My third bell is the bell I carry to games. It is a Battle Bell with my name engraved in it. I am also engraving every year I have it with the record we had. If you have never heard a Battle Bell, you need to. IT IS LOUD. If everyone in the stadium had one you would have to wear hearing protection.

[IMissJack]

Got mine in '90. There is really no story, just that it is warped and dented from where I slammed it on the seat in front of me at the end of a loss to Memphis.

[Maroonthirteen]

I received my first cowbell as a Christmas gift in 1981 along with tickets to the Hall of Fame bowl.

It has blood shot eyes walking Bully one side and the flying M on the other.

[Liverpooldawg]

My first one was given to me by my late aunt and uncle when they took me to my first Egg Bowl back in 1980. I split it on the seat in front of me when Forcade scored at the End of the Dick Pace game. I had it rewelded a couple of times but it never was the same. I retired it after its most recent split at the Liberty Bowl during the Croom years. I still have it and I occasionally will take it out and let it click outside the house after a big win. I replaced it with one I bought somewhere in Starkville. I only kept that one a couple of years. I was a pall bearer at a funeral for a former teacher of mine. He was a very loyal MSU alum and his family had requested that a cowbell be rung at the end of his funeral. I rang mine for them and then presented it to his only grandchild at the time. I bought another one at the bookstore and rang it till the clapper went sailing down the stands at the last game I went to last year. I saw it go and it missed hitting a guy in the head about 10 rows down by a couple of inches. I still have that one and will always keep it, it was the one I rang while we were #1. I'm on my 4th one now.

[Outside Dawg]

I was a freshman in 2000, and did not come from the state or an MSU family. My freshman roommate's girlfriend's dad made me one. He welded it himself and everything. It's larger than the standard bells today and can do a number on my hand over the course of a season. By now its got a fat midsection ridge from the clapper slowly denting out the sides.

This thread is interesting though...I love the wear and tear on that bell. That's part of the pride I have in it. Its been through a lot and shows it. My hand and arm would love a new bell, but I haven't gotten over the connection to the original, and I like continue to wear the original out. Now Im thinking its time to retire it and get a new one.

[sanfordrjones]

I bought my current bell at the Lodge in '99 before the LSU game. That was the first game I made it back to after I graduated. My first bell was stolen from my room in my fraternity house during my senior year after football season. I sure do wish I could get it back. It was nothing special, just one of the old Bully Bells, but it was my first bell.

[MSUDAWGFAN]

So I grew up out of state and noone in my family had ever attended MSU, so I wasn't real familiar with the tradition. I knew about it, but didn't know anything about what it meant to us. When I first got to campus, my mom and I went to the Lodge to get some things and I got my first cowbell. It was one of the smallest cowbells, because it was cheaper and I thought it would be loud too. I didn't know. After going to a few games, I decided to get a real bell, so I went back to the Lodge and got the biggest bell they had. I lost it my junior year and got another, one that has dog paw prints on it. I held on to it through moves to Tallahassee, Arkansas and now back to where I live now. On SBW of 2016, I got Fred Ross and Bear Wilson to sign the back and Dak to sign the front. It's dinged up a good bit, but it added character. It's now in my display case at home, never to be rung again. I got a new one at the Lodge a little later. It is my current one that I ring. I still need some good games to give it character, too.

As a side note - I have a connection to a player on the team now and got a new cowbell to be autographed by about 20-30 current players on the team. I have never rung it and it is also in my display case.

All I ask is that my Walking Bulldog flag I had hanging in my window in Hightower my freshman year that was signed by the Final Four team and my cowbell autographed by Dak are placed in my casket.

[Commercecomet24]

The bell I currently have was given to me by my wife as a Christmas present. She customized it for me. My original bell was given to me by a neighbor and was made from a real cowbell. I loved that bell and rung it loudly through many games. We moved from Meridian back to Jasper county when I was 18 and somehow my bell was lost in the move. I was crushed was like losing a member of the family. Didn?t have one for awhile but my wonderful wife took care of me.