During Charles Branch’s time as a student at UT, the culture was greatly defined by its athletic success with the Longhorns winning the football national championship in his sophomore year. Now, as the assistant athletics director of marketing, Branch uses the passion he gained for UT tradition in those years to oversee the preservation of traditions such as Longhorn City Limits and Bevo Boulevard on game days, which he uniquely brought to the Main Mall on Sunday as part of the SEC Celebration.
On June 30, UT opened its doors and streets to the public for a free all-day event to celebrate Texas Athletics’ transition into the Southeastern Conference. Though the celebration aimed to recognize the athletic transition, UT highlighted everything from its gameday traditions to numerous museums, live music, underground bowling and more. In the background of the activities stood numerous UT alumni with long-held passions for the school’s traditions, and Sunday allowed them to share their passion with thousands of people.
“After we won the national championship in 2005, there was a large celebration inside of Darrell K Royal Texas-Memorial Stadium (and) we had fireworks,” Branch said. “I’d just say the scale of things and so much (else) has changed since 2005.”
Branch said he had been planning the SEC Celebration alongside his team as a creative visionary for highlighting gameday traditions for about 14 months.
“It’s funny that a small group of us last year, on June 30, were out on the South Mall at 2 p.m. just scouting out the site, feeling what the weather was going to be like and really envisioning what the event looked like,” Branch said.
While Branch focused on highlighting specific gameday traditions, another alumnus, Andy Langer, who is in charge of executing UT president Jay Hartzell’s live music initiative on campus, connected the city’s live music culture with the University.
“Once Austin grew, I think some of that separation between the city and the University, when it comes to live music, started to chip away a little just because there were so many more options for everybody on campus and for the community at large,” Langer said. “The idea now is to help bridge that gap and foster opportunities back and forth between what we do on campus and what the community does at large.”
Beyond the Main Mall events, the University gave museums and other programs across campus the chance to shine. Museums provided free admission to highlight all that they typically offer to attendees. Recent UT graduate Ashley Simmel, an events associate at the Texas Science and Natural History Museum, said she saw about 1,200 attendees at the museum throughout the day.
“I noticed a lot of people in UT jerseys … (and) Longhorn families in general coming into the museum,” Simmel said. “We were able to invite and cater to a different audience than on (any) given Sunday. (Families) getting exposure to other corners of campus was one of the coolest things.”
