The 12 most BaylorProud cities in America
Raise your hand if this has happened to you: You’re walking through the grocery store (or the airport, or Disney World, or the Great Wall of China…), and you spot that unmistakable Baylor green and gold on a shirt or cap. Then comes the universal nod of acknowledgement, if not the all-out “SIC ‘EM!” and “You went to Baylor too?!”
Those don’t have to be the only times you meet fellow Bears. The Baylor Alumni Network hosts hundreds of events across the globe, where alumni meet old and new friends, network, discuss Baylor news, and of course, cheer on the Bears. Naturally, the more Baylor people live in an area, the more events like these that city is likely to host — and not surprisingly, the top six metropolitan areas for Baylor alumni are all in Texas:
1. Dallas-Fort Worth (~30,000 Bears). Just 90 miles up I-35 from Waco, the DFW metroplex takes the crown for the most Baylor alumni in a single metro area. And in such a business-minded region, networking events and job inquiries are pretty common among this group.
2. Houston (~15,100 Bears). The biggest city in the state is home to the second-largest number of Bears. In fact, it’s so big, the Baylor Alumni Network has to split events into Houston and North Houston — because any Houstonian knows that getting to the other side of town after 5 p.m. is just laughable.
3. Waco (~14,500 Bears). Baylor’s own city certainly has the biggest percentage of Bears — nearly 9% of Wacoans are Baylor grads. That number has been steadily increasing over the past few years, as more and more BU graduates decide to stay and invest in Baylor’s hometown.
4. Austin (~7,100 Bears). Just 90 miles south of Baylor, many Bears choose to settle in our state’s capital (even if means living in UT territory). Austin Bears meet for lunch, welcome recent and older Baylor grads to the area, and watch football games at the Mean Eyed Cat (now famous as a haven for Bears in a sea of burnt orange).
5. San Antonio (~5,200 Bears). If every single San Antonio Bear stood fingertip to fingertip in one big line, they’d stretch the entire length of the Riverwalk. (If anyone can get that to happen, let us know. For real. We want pictures.)
6. Tyler (~2,600 Bears). Compared to the first five cities on this list, Tyler may seem like a bit of a curveball. But many Bears have made the Rose Capital of the World their home after graduation, perhaps because it’s comparable to Waco in size and pace.
Of course, there are plenty of Baylor alumni who live outside the Lone Star state, too. These are the six cities outside of Texas with the most Bears:
1. Denver (~1,400 Bears). These “Mile High Baylor Bears,” as they’ve dubbed themselves, love getting together for Baylor watch parties. The area’s last volunteer organizer managed the Denver watch parties for nine years!
2. Nashville (~900 Bears). The connections between Texas and Tennessee run all the way back to Sam Houston and Davy Crockett, and today you’ll find a big Baylor family in the Country Music Capital of the World.
3. Oklahoma City (~800 Bears). The solid group of Bears boasting the green and gold in OKC traditionally offers Baylor strong support at Big 12 Conference tournaments and championships north of the Red River.
4. Atlanta (~700 Bears). Peaches, southern drawls, verandas, Spanish moss, historical sites… Hopefully we’ll soon be adding “Baylor Bears” to the list of things Georgia is famous for!
5. Kansas City (~700 Bears). In the land of Royals, Chiefs, Jayhawks and Wildcats fans, there are some Bears in the corner, cheering on Baylor football each Saturday!
6. Washington, D.C. (~700 Bears). If you’ve ever been to our nation’s capitol, you know what it takes to brave the traffic and D.C. Metro just to meet up with friends. But these Bears do it regularly to support their alma mater and keep in touch with their Baylor family.
Cities like these benefit from having hundreds of Bears nearby, but it doesn’t take huge numbers to have regular family gatherings, even hundreds or thousands of miles from Waco. For instance, there are small (but fiercely BaylorProud) Alumni Network groups in Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle (pictured above) and New York that meet regularly for Baylor Watch Parties, Send-Off Parties, service events, or even just for lunch to chat about the latest Baylor news.
If you haven’t found the Baylor family in your area yet, there’s no better time than football season. Find (or start) a watch party or other Baylor Alumni Network events near you — and, as you watch BU, be sure to share photos with us on Twitter and Instagram using the #WatchBU hashtag!
Sic ’em, Baylor alumni!