Texas A&M and Seattle Seahawks Settle Lawsuit on 12th Man

Posted on May 9th, 2006 by Chuck

The Seattle Seahawks and Texas A&M University have settled a lawsuit over the 12^th Man moniker. The Aggies sued the Seahawks days before their 2006 Super Bowl match against the eventual champion Pittsburg Steelers.

The agreement, announced by both entities Monday, allows the Seahawks to use the 12th Man slogan within a seven-state area in the Northwest region of the United States. The team must publicly state that A&M owns the phrase each time it is used, according to A&M officials.

The Seahawks also will pay a licensing fee to A&M, though A&M representatives refused to release how much, saying the final documents haven’t been filed in court yet.

A&M has used the 12th Man slogan for decades, but the Aggies made it official in 1990 when they received the licensing trademark, which is a step the Seahawks never took.

The Seattle Times has a little bit more on the Seahawks conditional use of the 12^th Man name.

The Seahawks can essentially use the 12th Man anywhere, but have to acknowledge that the slogan is being used under copyright of the school when mentioning it in print or on a team-sponsored broadcast.

The Aggies have been using the name, 12^th Man for decades going all the way back to a 1922 football game against Centre College.

The tradition of the Twelfth Man was born on the second of January 1922, when an underdog Aggie team was playing Centre College, then the nation’s top ranked team. As the hard fought game wore on, and the Aggies dug deeply into their limited reserves, Coach Dana X. Bible remembered a squad man who was not in uniform. He had been up in the press box helping reporters identify players. His name was E. King Gill, and was a former football player who was only playing basketball. Gill was called from the stands, suited up, and stood ready throughout the rest of the game, which A&M finally won 22-14. When the game ended, E. King Gill was the only man left standing on the sidelines for the Aggies.

To this day, the student body of Texas A&M will stand during the entire football game showing their willingness to enter the game if needed. The 12th Man tradition might have been born in 1922, but the gained national prominence when Head Coach Jackie Sherrill instituted the 12th Man kickoff squad made of eleven non-scholarship players. For those unfamiliar with the school, the tradition of the 12th Man is a very big part of the University.