Randolph Duke taking it to the next level.

quote:

---

A&M's claim to the trademark on "the 12th man" rests on the legendary 1922 game giving birth to the expression. But in recent years a University of Texas alumnus who writes under the pen name Randolph Duke has been poking holes in the story. He uncovered a 1912 article in The Iowa Alumnus in which "the loyal spirited Iowa rooter" is called "the 12th man on the team." And even earlier than that, in 1900, a magazine from the University of Minnesotareferred to "the mysterious influence of the 12th man on the team, the rooter."

---