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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Tony Fein: The Originator of Fins Up
9/13/2018 | Football
How a Practice Celebration Ignited Rebel Nation
By Davis McCool, OleMissSports.com
This story originally appeared in the Sept. 8 edition of Rebel, the official magazine of Ole Miss football gameday.
The Ole Miss defense of 2008 was stout, stacked with Rebel greats like Peria Jerry, Kentrell Lockett, and Kendrick Lewis. Finding a spot among all that talent was no easy feat, but standing at 6-foot-3, and playing with more heart than anyone on the field, Tony Fein was destined to make his mark.
After fighting on the practice field to take his game to the next level, Fein had his moment. One summer practice before the '08 season, the Rebel linebacker swarmed the quarterback at the time, Jevan Snead, and landed a few big hits in the backfield. He threw his hand over his head in excitement, ignited his teammates, and became forever immortalized as the Landshark.
The "Fins Up" movement began on that day on the Ole Miss practice field in 2008, yet its leader and founder would be no more in just over a year. Fein died unexpectedly in 2009, just hours before his lifelong goal of reaching the NFL would become a reality. Although he would never see it come to fruition, the movement he began would overtake Ole Miss Athletics, becoming a staple of Rebel athletes across all playing fields, and finally, the official on-the-field mascot.
"He was such the uniter," Fein's mother said. "He was just a lover. And to find out that something he started, a legacy that he left his family, is something that unites people of all backgrounds, no matter if you're rich, poor, black, or white… It's something that everybody can embrace. When I saw the mascot, I really was taken back a little bit."
Anthony, to his family, and Tony, to his friends, had a different path than most to the gridiron. Under-recruited out of Port Orchard, Wash., the athlete turned first to the United States Army, where he served in Iraq as a Delta Reconnaissance Scout for nearly four years.
Twenty six, and out of the game, he used his most valuable asset, determination, and worked his way back from the battlefield to the SEC.
"He was a little older than all the fellas around at the time, and he was looked up to, especially being an Army veteran and having life experience," his brother Richard said. "I do feel like he rubbed off on the team and the players, and helped change the atmosphere."
The Army veteran immediately made an impact on the field, and helped oversee a transformation that took the Rebels from a three-win team in 2007 to a nine-win, Cotton Bowl Champion 2008 season.
The crowning jewel of that 2008 Ole Miss team was the defense, and Fein's teammates and friends on that side of the ball fell in love with his passion for the game.
"You had to reach Tony's competition level on the field in order to throw up the Landshark," Lockett said. "The reward for making a big play, the light at the end of the tunnel, if you will, was throwing up the Landshark. It turned into more of the ultimate celebration. It was like Miami throwing up the 'U,' or Oregon throwing up the 'O.'"
That year, the Landshark became a rallying cry for the Rebels en route to a year of national prominence that included an upset win over the National Champion-to-be Florida Gators. The fin made appearances sporadically throughout the season, but none more memorable perhaps than Fein's third-down, game-saving stop on a Tim Tebow quarterback run to force the deciding fourth-down play of the game.
From there, the movement only grew.
"The Landshark just grew so much," Former Rebel defensive coordinator Tyronne Nix said. "I remember one time in its early years, I looked back at church one day and my daughter was doing the fins up, and she just said 'Daddy, the sharks are coming into church.' We would laugh."
"Fins Up" became the mantra of a tenacious Ole Miss defense, and Fein's successors ensured his legacy remained intact. Players such as Robert Nkemdiche, Marquis Haynes, and so many more elite defenders over the decade carried the Landshark with them, but its meaning soon grew to encapsulate the entirety of Ole Miss Athletics.
Other outstanding Rebels such as Marshall Henderson and Caitlin Lee helped spread the Landshark from the boundaries of the football field to the entire campus. The "Fins Up" movement transcended football, and Fein's little gesture had grown from a symbol of frustration on the football field to the pride of Ole Miss.
"I think Tony Fein will go down in school history as probably the third most prominent player to play besides Archie Manning and Chucky Mullins, history-wise," Nix said. "He's made an unbelievable impact on the Athletics Department at Ole Miss."
In 2009, Fein, an undrafted free agent trying to carry over his collegiate success to the NFL, flirted with a few professional teams with stints in mini-camps and such, until his would-be dream call in early October. The Baltimore Ravens' depth at linebacker was limited due to injuries, and their staff set out to get Fein to Baltimore immediately. Unfortunately, the Rebel never received the call.
"Even though he was a big, tough linebacker and Army veteran, he had a lot of love," Richard said. "He loved his family, extremely loyal to his friends, everyone who he grew up with."
Fein's love and loyalty came full circle when, in 2017, a student-led ballot initiative voted to make the Landshark the official on-field mascot. Ole Miss unveiled Tony the Landshark at the 2018 Meet the Rebels, and in September, fans will catch a first glimpse of Tony on the gridiron for the first time in a decade.
"The Landshark that you guys embrace, that you guys brought to life, there was something about the eyes," Fein's mother said. "I know that sounds real funny, but I really saw the character of my child in that mascot, because it's going out there to get the job done with purpose."
This story originally appeared in the Sept. 8 edition of Rebel, the official magazine of Ole Miss football gameday.
The Ole Miss defense of 2008 was stout, stacked with Rebel greats like Peria Jerry, Kentrell Lockett, and Kendrick Lewis. Finding a spot among all that talent was no easy feat, but standing at 6-foot-3, and playing with more heart than anyone on the field, Tony Fein was destined to make his mark.
After fighting on the practice field to take his game to the next level, Fein had his moment. One summer practice before the '08 season, the Rebel linebacker swarmed the quarterback at the time, Jevan Snead, and landed a few big hits in the backfield. He threw his hand over his head in excitement, ignited his teammates, and became forever immortalized as the Landshark.
The "Fins Up" movement began on that day on the Ole Miss practice field in 2008, yet its leader and founder would be no more in just over a year. Fein died unexpectedly in 2009, just hours before his lifelong goal of reaching the NFL would become a reality. Although he would never see it come to fruition, the movement he began would overtake Ole Miss Athletics, becoming a staple of Rebel athletes across all playing fields, and finally, the official on-the-field mascot.
"He was such the uniter," Fein's mother said. "He was just a lover. And to find out that something he started, a legacy that he left his family, is something that unites people of all backgrounds, no matter if you're rich, poor, black, or white… It's something that everybody can embrace. When I saw the mascot, I really was taken back a little bit."
Anthony, to his family, and Tony, to his friends, had a different path than most to the gridiron. Under-recruited out of Port Orchard, Wash., the athlete turned first to the United States Army, where he served in Iraq as a Delta Reconnaissance Scout for nearly four years.
Twenty six, and out of the game, he used his most valuable asset, determination, and worked his way back from the battlefield to the SEC.
"He was a little older than all the fellas around at the time, and he was looked up to, especially being an Army veteran and having life experience," his brother Richard said. "I do feel like he rubbed off on the team and the players, and helped change the atmosphere."
The Army veteran immediately made an impact on the field, and helped oversee a transformation that took the Rebels from a three-win team in 2007 to a nine-win, Cotton Bowl Champion 2008 season.
The crowning jewel of that 2008 Ole Miss team was the defense, and Fein's teammates and friends on that side of the ball fell in love with his passion for the game.
"You had to reach Tony's competition level on the field in order to throw up the Landshark," Lockett said. "The reward for making a big play, the light at the end of the tunnel, if you will, was throwing up the Landshark. It turned into more of the ultimate celebration. It was like Miami throwing up the 'U,' or Oregon throwing up the 'O.'"
That year, the Landshark became a rallying cry for the Rebels en route to a year of national prominence that included an upset win over the National Champion-to-be Florida Gators. The fin made appearances sporadically throughout the season, but none more memorable perhaps than Fein's third-down, game-saving stop on a Tim Tebow quarterback run to force the deciding fourth-down play of the game.
From there, the movement only grew.
"The Landshark just grew so much," Former Rebel defensive coordinator Tyronne Nix said. "I remember one time in its early years, I looked back at church one day and my daughter was doing the fins up, and she just said 'Daddy, the sharks are coming into church.' We would laugh."
"Fins Up" became the mantra of a tenacious Ole Miss defense, and Fein's successors ensured his legacy remained intact. Players such as Robert Nkemdiche, Marquis Haynes, and so many more elite defenders over the decade carried the Landshark with them, but its meaning soon grew to encapsulate the entirety of Ole Miss Athletics.
Other outstanding Rebels such as Marshall Henderson and Caitlin Lee helped spread the Landshark from the boundaries of the football field to the entire campus. The "Fins Up" movement transcended football, and Fein's little gesture had grown from a symbol of frustration on the football field to the pride of Ole Miss.
"I think Tony Fein will go down in school history as probably the third most prominent player to play besides Archie Manning and Chucky Mullins, history-wise," Nix said. "He's made an unbelievable impact on the Athletics Department at Ole Miss."
In 2009, Fein, an undrafted free agent trying to carry over his collegiate success to the NFL, flirted with a few professional teams with stints in mini-camps and such, until his would-be dream call in early October. The Baltimore Ravens' depth at linebacker was limited due to injuries, and their staff set out to get Fein to Baltimore immediately. Unfortunately, the Rebel never received the call.
"Even though he was a big, tough linebacker and Army veteran, he had a lot of love," Richard said. "He loved his family, extremely loyal to his friends, everyone who he grew up with."
Fein's love and loyalty came full circle when, in 2017, a student-led ballot initiative voted to make the Landshark the official on-field mascot. Ole Miss unveiled Tony the Landshark at the 2018 Meet the Rebels, and in September, fans will catch a first glimpse of Tony on the gridiron for the first time in a decade.
"The Landshark that you guys embrace, that you guys brought to life, there was something about the eyes," Fein's mother said. "I know that sounds real funny, but I really saw the character of my child in that mascot, because it's going out there to get the job done with purpose."
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