Traditions Rally To Kick Off Baylor Football Season Features Pep Rally, Cory Morrow Concert, Fireworks Celebration

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Contact: Lori Fogleman, (254) 710-6275

Aug. 31 event at Floyd Casey Stadium is free and open to the public

WACO, Texas (Aug. 22, 2012) - As head football coach Art Briles and the Baylor Bears prepare for their season opener, Baylor University will kick off the 2012 football season with a community-wide Traditions Rally at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, at Floyd Casey Stadium. The event - which is free and open to the public - will feature a pep rally with members of the team and coaching staff, a performance by country music recording artist Cory Morrow and a fireworks show. Parking also is free with gates opening at 6:30 p.m.

The event - which moved from campus to the stadium this year - will precede the Bears' Bears' season-opening football game vs. SMU, which will kick off at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 2, at Floyd Casey Stadium.

"We are excited to expand this long-standing tradition to the entire Waco community as we kick off another exciting year of Baylor football," said Matt Burchett, director of student activities at Baylor. "With the move to Floyd Casey Stadium, we hope to get Baylor Nation, the Waco community and anyone else who is excited about Baylor football out to support the Bears."

Event Times (estimated times subject to change):

6:30 p.m. Gates Open (general admission seating)
7:30 p.m. Pep Rally
8 p.m. Cory Morrow
9 p.m. Fireworks

For more information, contact the Department of Student Activities at (254) 710-2371.

FREE CONCERT BY CORY MORROW

It is fitting that a South of the Border gamble nearly two decades ago would ultimately yield an acclaimed Texas troubadour. Cory Morrow's humble artistic beginnings read like the gritty lyric of an unwritten Townes Van Zandt song. This straight-shooting musician, who released his ninth solo release "Vagrants and Kings" on May 20 through Sustain Records, a branch of Universal Music, started strumming at the age of 15.

"Vagrants And Kings" finds Morrow at his strongest artistically, personally and spiritually. Morrow's rustic sound remains part singer/songwriter: poetic and acoustic. More information about Cory Morrow is available at www.corymorrow.com.

BAYLOR FOOTBALL 2012

Art Briles' 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl Champion Baylor Bears are coming off a record-setting 2011 campaign that produced just the second 10-win season in program history and saw more than 100 school records fall. With a strong core of returning starters, the 2012 Bears will take aim at a third straight bowl bid against a schedule that features nine teams that played in the postseason a year ago. The Bears will kick off the 2012 season at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 2, vs. SMU at Floyd Casey Stadium.

Baylor football season tickets, which may be purchased for as little as $95 each for Baylor's six-game 2012 home schedule, are available online at www.BaylorBears.com/tickets, in person at the Baylor Athletics Ticket Office or by phone at (254) 710-1000.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian university and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having "high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 15,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating university in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 11 nationally recognized academic divisions. Baylor sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and is a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.