LEADBELLY UPDATE:

Final roster has been set. Click here to view.

Leadbelly was started in the late 1970's by some Kappa Sigs. It was then passed on to a man named Bob McSheffrey. He played ultimate for about thirty years until around 1992, Back then we were still playing five on five at practice playing co-ed disc. We needed a team name and everyone was throwing out ideas while doing a come to drill. Someone was taking music appreciation and had heard about a bad-ass named Huddie Leadbetter. This man was so cool that he got pardoned for murder after writing a song appealing to the governor for his freedom. He was also so tough that once, when a man was trying to cut off his head, he took the knife and stabbed the guy who was trying to kill him with it. This name seems to fit well for a team like ours. The idea of a metallic belly that is tough for laying out is synonymous with our gritty athletic and defensive play. Leadbelly was convicted of murder and played for his freedom. We are stuck in the jails of higher education and play ultimate for freedom of mind and body. We haven't strayed far from our original ideals, but have advanced in the ranks of the ultimate world, making it all the way to nationals three times in the twenty-first century.

Huddie Ledbetter, aka Leadbelly

Huddie Ledbetter was the world's greatest cotton picker, railroad track liner, lover, and drinker as well as guitar player. This assertion came from no less an authority on the matter than Huddie himself. Since not everyone agreed with his opinion Huddie frequently found himself obliged to convince them. His convincing frequently landed him in jail. In 1916 Huddie was in jail in Texas on assault charges when he escaped. He spent the next two years under the alias of Walter Boyd. But then after he killed a man in a fight he was convicted of murder and sentenced to thirty years of hard labor at Huntsville, Texas' Shaw State Prison Farm. After seven years he was released after begging pardon from the governor with a song:

Please, Governor Neff, Be good 'n' kind Have mercy on my great long time... I don't see to save my soul If I don't get a pardon, try me on a parole... If I had you, Governor Neff, like you got me I'd wake up in the mornin' and I'd set you free...