Question: What university in Texas claims it has the largest bass drum in the world?
Answer: The University of Texas at Austin. Named Big Bertha and known as the “Sweetheart of the Longhorn Band,” the drum is said to be over 9.5 feet in diameter and 55 inches wide. In 2022, a new version of the drum replaced the original, which was built in 1922 for use at University of Chicago football games.
When Chicago retired its football program in 1940, the drum was abandoned beneath the stadium and later contaminated by radioactivity caused by the first nuclear chain reaction, a Manhattan Project experiment overseen by scientist Enrico Fermi. UT purchased the drum for $1 in 1955 and refurbished it. Before its retirement, it was featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and an episode of the A&E show Shipping Wars.
