By Hannah Webb | News Editor
The Baylor Line’s claim to fame has always been that it is a “tradition like no other.” College football fans gave Baylor another reason to make that claim, as the Line was named the best walk-out tradition in college football.
The tradition, which began over 50 years ago, received the most votes in USA Today Sports’ 2026 Readers’ Choice Awards, beating out 19 other traditions to claim the top spot. The award was announced Wednesday.
The fan-voted competition included traditions such as Auburn’s Tiger Walk and War Eagle flight, Penn State’s “White Out” Walkout, Iowa’s Swarm and Texas A&M’s “Power.”
The tradition’s appeal, however, may be less about the spectacle and more about what it gives Baylor freshmen: an immediate place in the university’s football culture.
Boerne junior Keaton Shindler said the Baylor Line was one of the traditions that stood out to him when he first came to Baylor.
“I wanted to run because, coming to Baylor, I heard it was the thing to do,” Shindler said.
Shindler said he ran the Line whenever he could, describing it as one of the traditions that makes Baylor distinct.
“I don’t think there’s any other tradition that comes even close to Baylor,” Shindler said.
The Line also gives freshmen a direct role in game day. Each incoming first-year student receives a gold jersey displaying their graduation year and a chosen nickname before rushing onto the field. They then make a tunnel for the football team to run through. After the team takes the field, students move to an exclusive section behind the opposing team’s bench to cheer on the Bears.
For Flower Mound senior Isaac Points, the Baylor Line chair in the Chamber of Commerce, the tradition’s ability to connect freshmen and football players is part of what makes it significant.
Points first saw the Baylor Line at a Baylor football game before attending the university. The sight of freshmen rushing the field convinced him that he wanted to experience the tradition himself.
Four years later, he oversees the event.
“I think just the football players being able to see the passion of the fans and especially the freshman fans, they want to be there,” Points said. “And being able to see the students that they’re representing as a team definitely motivates them.”
Shindler agreed, saying the energy from the Line can carry onto the field.
“I think it really motivates the football team,” Shindler said. “They’ll play better if they know that their fans care more to come out to games.”
The spectacle that lasts only minutes on game day is a “year-long process that all falls into place on the first game,” Points said.
Points said planning begins in January, when the next Baylor Line chair is selected and a committee is assembled.
From there, the group works with Baylor administration to coordinate logistics. The committee also designs the Traditions Box, which allows students who do not attend Line Camp to receive a Line jersey.
According to Points, “dozens and dozens of hours” go into preparing for each game.
The result is a tradition that has remained recognizable while evolving with each class of freshmen who runs it.
“It’s so amazing to be voted the No. 1 [walkout] tradition,” Elko, Nevada, freshman Faith Pongrekun said. “I think the Line helped facilitate my decision to come to Baylor.”
Pongrekun said that the Baylor Line tradition shows how committed Baylor is to ensuring a good first-year experience.
“I just think it’s amazing that Baylor cares enough about the freshmen to give us this unique experience,” she said. “Even the personalized jerseys themselves speak to how much Baylor cares about its students and our experience as a freshman.”
The tradition’s uniqueness comes from giving every Baylor freshman a place on the field before the game begins.
“There’s no other tradition in college football that allows students onto the game, especially every single freshman student,” Ponts said. “There’s a reason that the Baylor Line motto is ‘a tradition like no other,’ because there’s quite literally nothing like it.”
