HSU’s Beloved Mascot’s Collar is Coming Home for Homecoming

For generations of Hardin-Simmons students, few campus legends have captured hearts quite like Dam-it, the university’s beloved canine mascot. Known formally as Fritz on Sundays, the friendly bulldog mix became much more than a campus pet. He was a companion, a source of laughter, and ultimately a symbol of community whose memory has endured for more than a century.

From Family Pet to Campus Celebrity

The story begins in 1916 when an off-white bulldog mix named Fritz arrived on the Simmons College campus. Fritz belonged to the family of President Jefferson Davis Sandefer Sr., who would later become the first president of Hardin-Simmons University when Simmons College officially adopted its new name in 1934.

It did not take long for Fritz to win over the campus. With free rein to roam the grounds, he wandered in and out of classrooms, offices, and residence halls, greeting students and faculty alike. His favorite destinations were the kitchen and dining hall, where he was always hopeful someone might share a snack.

Fritz was especially known for his love of fetch. He often carried rocks in his mouth and would drop them at the feet of unsuspecting students, inviting them to join in a game. His playful personality and easygoing nature made him a recognizable fixture of campus life.

At some point, the dog acquired a second name: Dam-it. As legend would have it, no one seems entirely certain how the nickname originated, but it stuck. Before long, the campus mascot was known affectionately as Dam-it.

A Friendship Forms

One of the most enduring stories about Dam-it comes through the memories of Billy Bob Neff (’62, ’67), who recounted stories shared by his uncle, Nim Teaff.

In the summer of 1960, Neff was helping his uncle in a farm equipment shed when he noticed an old leather dog collar hanging from a nail.

When he asked about it, Nim smiled and explained that it had once belonged to Dam-it, the Hardin-Simmons mascot.

Neff later recalled his uncle’s firsthand account of their friendship.

While driving his sister Selena Teaff to classes at Simmons College during the 1919-20 academic year, Nim often spent his days on campus. One morning he noticed a white bulldog following him. After a whistle and a tossed rock, a friendship was born.

“Each day I was on campus, I would start walking and whistling. When Dam-it would hear me, he would come running.”

The two became constant companions whenever Nim visited campus. They played fetch with rocks and sticks, roughhoused around the grounds, and spent countless hours together. What began as a chance encounter developed into a genuine bond.

Saying Goodbye

By late 1919, Nim noticed changes in his friend.

Dam-it was growing older and slowing down. Their games of fetch became shorter and less frequent, and the dog’s health appeared to be declining. Fearing the mascot might not survive the upcoming Christmas break, Nim quietly removed Dam-it’s collar and took it home as a keepsake.

In the final weeks they spent together, the two often sat quietly in the shade instead of playing.

Years later, Nim reflected that both he and the dog understood the value of their friendship.

A Funeral Unlike Any Other

On January 20, 1920, students gathered for one of the most memorable events in campus history: the funeral of Dam-it.

According to family stories passed down to Neff, preparations for the ceremony were extensive. Selena Teaff even remembered walking across campus and encountering a weary student digging the mascot’s grave. The humorous exchange became one of her favorite memories from her college days.

The funeral itself drew much of the student body and faculty. The Cowboy Band led the procession, pallbearers carried out their duties, and students gathered to mourn the loss of a dog that had become a campus institution.

Senior Class Chaplain Ira Harrison delivered a message titled Every Dog Has His Day, and news of the unusual ceremony received national attention through Associated Press coverage.

A marble headstone was placed at the gravesite bearing a simple inscription:

Dam-it

He Is Dead
Campus Mascot
1916-1920

Over time, souvenir-seeking students chipped away pieces of the marker until much of it disappeared. Today, the remaining portion of the stone is preserved in the university library, while a later memorial marker stands near the campus pond.

The Lost Collar’s Journey Home

For decades, Dam-it’s collar hung from a nail in Nim Teaff’s farm shed, serving as a reminder of their friendship.

After Nim’s death in 1978, the collar’s whereabouts became uncertain. While serving on the Alumni Board from 2005 to 2008, Billy Bob Neff asked university staff about the artifact, believing it had already been returned to Hardin-Simmons. No one could locate it.

The mystery remained unsolved until recently.

While researching Dam-it’s story, Neff contacted a member of the Teaff family and asked whether the collar still existed. A search through a box of family keepsakes uncovered the long-lost relic.

More than a century after Nim first removed it from the mascot’s neck, Dam-it’s leather collar was finally found.

The discovery brought closure to a story that had stretched across generations. Along with the original nail from the farm shed where it hung for decades, the collar returned to Hardin-Simmons as a tangible connection to one of the university’s most beloved traditions.

A Homecoming More Than a Century in the Making

The rediscovery of Dam-it’s collar is more than the recovery of a historical artifact. It represents the return of a treasured piece of Hardin-Simmons history and a tangible connection to one of the university’s most beloved traditions.

After spending decades hanging in a farm shed and later resting among family keepsakes, the collar has finally made its way back to the campus where its story began. More than 107 years after Fritz Dam-it first became a fixture at Simmons College, the collar serves as a reminder of the friendships, memories, and traditions that have shaped generations of HSU students.

Visitors will have a rare opportunity to see this piece of campus history during Homecoming, October 15-18, when Dam-it’s collar will be on display in Richardson Library. Alongside the collar, visitors can view the original nail from the Teaff family shed where it hung for decades, preserving the remarkable journey of a keepsake that traveled from campus to a West Texas farm and, ultimately, back home again.

For alumni returning to campus and students learning the story for the first time, the collar’s return marks a significant moment in the preservation of Hardin-Simmons history.

More Than a Mascot

Dam-it’s story is ultimately about more than a dog.

It is a story of friendship, belonging, and the unique bonds that form within a university community. For students who knew him, Dam-it was a daily companion. For Nim Teaff, he was a loyal friend whose memory remained strong throughout a lifetime. For Billy Bob Neff, preserving these stories ensured that future generations would know the legacy of the four-legged mascot who left an outsized mark on his beloved uncle and the history of Hardin-Simmons University.

Now, with Dam-it’s collar returned to campus and on display for a new generation to experience, that legacy continues. More than a century after Fritz first trotted across campus, the affection people still feel for Dam-it proves that some campus legends never fade. In this case, one of them found its way home.