For These Lifelong Friends, Hotty Toddy Is More Than a Cheer

It began in the early 2000s when Jordan (BSPh 72, PharmD 98), working at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Mississippi State University, was nicknamed "Miss Hotty Toddy" by an MSU alumnus.

"He started calling me, Miss Hotty Toddy," said Jordan, who lives in Biloxi. "I'd see him out and he'd yell, 'Here comes Miss Hotty Toddy.' Then it just kind of shortened it to, 'Here comes Miss Hotty.' And then everybody just started calling me Hotty."

Several years later, Jordan's first granddaughter, Lily, was born.

"My son said, 'Well, what is going to be your grandmother name?'" Jordan said. "I said, 'Hotty.'"

It followed that Barnes (Accy 71), of Oxford, was to be Toddy.

"My two granddaughters, Lily and her younger sister, Anna Claire, think of her as a grandmother, too," Jordan said.

The granddaughters make it known that Hotty and Toddy are theirs.

"Yes, Lily gave me a Kappa Delta grandma button and she'll say, 'These are my grandmothers,'" Barnes said.

But before they were known as Hotty and Toddy, the two have been friends since birth. Their mothers, who were friends, were pregnant with Barnes and Jordan at the same time. Off they went to Ole Miss, where they were roommates, joined sororities and decided upon majors.

"We started in fall of '67," Barnes said. "We were roommates and we had a third because that year, it was really crowded in the dorms, and we were in Brown dormitory.

"We've been best friends since birth and nobody knew how that was going to work with the third one, but it worked. We were in her wedding and everything."

The two had a great time while at Ole Miss.

"We were freshmen with Archie Manning, so we had some really fun years of football," Jordan said. "And, memorable, like the Tennessee game, 38-0 in Jackson, where we stood the entire game and threw oranges.

"Then we had the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas while we were in school. There was a woman that walked up the aisles at the Sugar Bowl with a live pig in her hand. I thought that was really weird."

Now that the two have been retired for several years, they are making up for lost time in supporting Ole Miss athletics.

"I tell everyone if Ole Miss plays tiddlywinks, Toddy's there," Jordan said.

When it comes to women's sports, they are enthusiastic supporters.

"I do like going to volleyball and softball, and we're big supporters of Coach Yo and the women's basketball," Barnes said. "We just love those girls."

The two women and the Hotty Toddy cheer itself are legends to the grandchildren in their lives.

When Barnes' niece, an MSU alumna, called with news that she was expecting a baby, she was shocked to know that Barnes' grandmother name would not change.

"It's just Toddy," Barnes said. "It'll be OK. And sure enough, I'm Toddy to them."

The cheer is taught early in both families. Jordan's granddaughter attended an Ole Miss cheer day camp when she was 4 years old and came home confused.

"I said, 'Well, Lily, did you have a good time?'" Jordan said. "And she said yes, but she had this funny look on her face. And I said, 'Well, what is it?'

"She said, 'Hotty, the cheerleaders don't know the words to the cheer. They said, "Are you ready?" And then they told us to say, "Yes, ma'am." They didn't say "Hell yeah." They don't even know the words.'"

Barnes's great nephew had a realization at 6 or 7 years old that led to a question.

"He asked his mother, 'Did they name the Hotty Toddy after Toddy?'" Barnes said.

Through their more than three-quarters of a century, Hotty and Toddy have done all things in life together except for two.

"We're in different sororities (Barnes is a member of Delta Gamma and Jordan a member of Zeta Tau Alpha)," Barnes said. "Between that and our going into separate careers, it's the only time we've not done everything together."

They have experienced life and continue to live it to the fullest, living by their own advice to others.

"While you're at Ole Miss, work hard and play hard," Jordan said. "You'll be successful if you balance your time and take care of business, but then enjoy yourself.

"Life is short. Enjoy every day and appreciate every day that God gives you. Every morning, get up and say, 'Thank you for another day, and it's my choice whether I have a good day or not. I'm not going to let anybody ruin my day.'"

The 77-year-olds' friendship has endured almost as long as the cheer itself.

"That's what I love about Hotty Toddy: it's Ole Miss," Jordan said "I was even in Europe and saw somebody; we had Ole Miss on and we said 'Hotty Toddy.' He didn't say hi, he said 'Hotty Toddy.'

"To me, that's just Ole Miss – uniquely ours."

Top: Oxford residents Carol Jo Barnes (left) and Dinah Jordan celebrate more than 70 years of friendship and rooting for the Rebels. Jordan, known as Hotty, and Barnes, as Toddy, have become fixtures at Ole Miss sporting events since their time as roommates in Brown dormitory in the fall of 1967. Photo by Srijita Chattopadhyay/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services