October 15th: On this date....

..... in 1982, when Joe B Hall decided he needed to get some exposure for his potentially great team, he used a trick that Lefty Drissell conducted about a decade earlier by introducing “Midnight Special”. It would be a practice at midnight the first day the NCAA would let each college to start their yearly practicing. The practice would allow allow Big Blue Nation to come see player introductions and meet the team before the 1982-83 season. Just over 8,500 fans would attend the worldly event in the 12,000-seat Memorial Coliseum. Although the name would change and later be copyrighted, the “Big Blue Madness” seed had been planted and has grown exponentially ever since.

Big Blue Booyah on Tom Leach

Below is the only footage from that night.