The 10-acre oasis in the middle of the University of Mississippi campus has become the most notable symbol for Ole Miss Football. Just about every college football fan has heard about the Walk of Champions and the Grove.
When tens of thousands of fans flood the Grove on Saturday mornings, it transforms from a beloved study spot to the epicenter of Rebel football. Tents fill the land as far as the eye can see as the buzz of the Ole Miss fandom grows until its climax in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
The Walk of Champions. Photo by Alana Brown-Davis
When Billy Brewer returned to Ole Miss to coach the Rebels in 1983, he knew that the Grove could mean so much more to his team than it had before. Brewer was a player under legendary head coach and stadium namesake Johnny Vaught.
Brewer knew what life in Oxford was like, and more so, how much that simple plot of land meant to all Rebel fans. He wanted his players to feel the passion of the Ole Miss faithful, so he paraded them through the most iconic 10 acres in all of college football.
Initially, Brewer and his team took a different journey each week, often beginning at the former athletic dormitory Kinard Hall, quite a bit farther from the stadium than where the walk begins today. When Brewer realized just how much this walk did for the morale of his players and fans alike, the experiment became a cemented part of Ole Miss game day lore, leading to the set path fans know today.
Beginning at the Gertrude C. Ford Ole Miss Student Union, the Rebels walk under the iconic “Walk of Champions” arch, erected by and in honor of the 1962 undefeated Ole Miss Rebels. Cutting through the heart of the Grove, fans battle for the chance to get high fives from their favorite Rebels.
Brewer led the Rebels well, bringing a struggling program with a lack of identity back to competition in the SEC, although no legacy left by Brewer is greater than the walk he and his team started.
Some of the greatest Rebels have set foot on the very bricks Ole Miss students stroll down on the way to class. It is certainly nice to know that on the way to an 8 a.m. math lecture, a student could be walking where the likes of Patrick Willis, Eli Manning and A.J. Brown once began their journeys to the stadium.
The Grove is not just a beautiful plot of land at the center of the Ole Miss campus — it is the center of what it means to be a Rebel: showing out to the Grove with pride and supporting your team, regardless of the outcome, in rain or shine. If you want a good view of the Walk of Champions, get your tent set up early.
