Jennifer Shifflett: Behind the purple mask

BY JACOB BACK

Contributing Writer

A grandma mask, bowling shoes and a purple robe. These are all items you would see Jennifer Shifflett, a Tarleton State and Purple Poo alumna, wearing to raise the spirit of Oscar P.

However, you wouldn't quite know it was her if you saw her.

Shifflett graduated from Tarleton State University in 1994 while being a Purple Poo. Shifflett is now in her seventh year at Poolville ISD, where she serves as the junior high school principal.

The Purple Poo is a spirit organization on campus established in 1921. The organization consists of ten men and ten women, who are known as the Ten Tarleton Peppers and Ten Tarleton Sisters, respectively. Traditionally, each member put on a purple robe and masked every part of their body, hiding their identity. It is also known as “the best kept secret in Texas.”

Shifflett remembers participating in making “Poo Signs.” The signs are made by the Poo themselves for events on campus, saying things like “Poo say: go to the basketball game” or “Poo say: on Thursdays we wear purple.”

“It was very secretive, we used to make signs every Monday night,” Shifflett said. 

These signs are now given out by the Poo at events to students who show spirit and enthusiasm for Tarleton. However, they haven't always been given out to students in this fashion.

Shifflett remembers when signs were nailed to trees on Monday nights and were not taken down by students until Wednesday morning. Though still around on campus, this tradition seemed to hold more significance at the time. She said it was their way of letting students know what was happening on campus and when. 

“When you woke up Tuesday morning, all the signs were there,” Shifflett said. “It was just like magic.”

Shifflett said that initially she had no idea what the Purple Poo were and had no intention of joining. She worked tirelessly on her schooling and job. She never socialized much. 

Shifflett said the only reason she was chosen to be a Poo was due to one of her good friends already being one, and she chose her to carry on the tradition. 

“I called [my parents], telling them everything, and that it's a secret and nobody's going to know, and that we dress up in these robes and masks,” Shifflett said. “My mom immediately said, ‘Oh my gosh, are you in a cult?’”

This was during the time of David Koresh and the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, causing her mother to question what exactly she was involved in.

After Shifflett was inducted, so to speak, she had to come up with a signature costume. 

“We would go during Halloween, find masks and come up with whatever,” Shifflett said. “I had an old lady mask and also I had one that was a witch's mask.” 

With current rumors that the Poo raid the drama closets for their costumes, Shifflett quickly shut the hearsay down, at least for her generation.

“Nope, I took a pair of bowling shoes from the bowling alley in Stephenville,” Shifflett said. “I had a lot of my old shoes, old bandanas and costume jewelry. Anything you could find to make yourself look gaudy, that's what we did.”

Shifflett reflected on how unique the costumes used to be.

“We didn't have names, only masks; we had a Ronald Reagan, and we had a Bart Simpson,” Shifflett said. “It was before everybody had the ‘Scream’ mask; we were all very individualized.”

While it is unknown where the Purple Poo meet now, Shifflett said their old meeting spot was especially interesting.

“There was an attic in the Trogdon House, where Dr. Hurley lives,” Shifflett said. “We would meet up there, but nobody lived there. It was an office building when I was there.”

Shifflett said she doubts they meet there now due to the President and his family living there. She also said the Poo reveal process used to be different.

“We gave a pig at graduation, the president would hug us and we would take a picture,” Shifflett said. “We would have on our robes, our masks would be off and everyone else would turn around so you couldn't see our faces. Then it came out in the yearbook.”

Shifflett’s Purple Pig is on display in the Barry B. Thompson Center, located in a display case across from the circulation desk on the bottom left shelf. It is labeled “Jennifer Morris” and has her unique Poo signature.

Although the reveal tradition has changed, she did say that the new way of revealing the Purple Poo was neat, with parents involved and other students realizing who was behind the mask the whole time.

With that, she never recalled a time when her mask almost came off and revealed her identity before the reveal in the yearbook. However, she said that you could see her distinct blue eyes while wearing the mask, and that a group of her friends became suspicious. 

During the basketball games, she would mess with the student body. When she saw her friends, she tried not to make direct eye contact with them. One of them tried talking to her, but she didn't talk back. Instead, she shook her head and turned away so they couldn't see her eyes.

“Whenever I revealed myself, they were like, ‘I knew it was you,’ but I never would confirm that they picked that out,” Shifflett said.

Shifflett said it was hard at times when friends wanted her to participate in something, and she couldn't. She also said she recalls a time when her own roommate started to become suspicious of the excuses she made to hide her Poo identity.

Developing new friends, unknown to current friends, was a hard thing to mask for Shifflett.

“You hang out with your normal crowd, and then you develop this whole secret group of friends. And everybody is like, ‘How do you know them?’” Shifflett said.

Even though keeping “the best-kept secret” in Texas came naturally for Shifflett, it was tough at times, but she never let anything slip.

According to Shifflett, one of her fondest memories of being a Purple Poo was rallying the crowd at Texan football and basketball games.

“We had so much fun because they would mess with us and we would mess with them,” Shifflett said.

Once a spirit organization she knew nothing about, it quickly became a huge part of her journey.

“I bleed purple. It’s been one of my favorite windows of my life, aside from my kids and my marriage. The pride is a real thing,” Shifflett said. “It’s one of the top achievements in my educational career.”

The Purple Poo continue to raise the spirit of Oscar P to this day. With new generations coming in and with past ones proudly representing the title, some Purple Poo traditions may change, but the secret will always stay. 

“Make friends and show up to everything, because you never know who you're talking to,” Shifflett said.