Live animal mascots

[dtilque]

When I first went to college at Washington State, they had an actual cougar as the school mascot. But when he died, they decided (correctly, in my opinion) that keeping a cougar in that small cage was cruel, so they didn't changed the mascot to a person in a cougar suit.

It seems to me that getting rid of live mascots is an ongoing trend for colleges. At least, Navy didn't seem to have their goat at the recent game with Notre Dame. Instead they had a guy in a goat outfit.

USC still has Traveller, the Trojan Horse; Colorado still has Ralphie the buffalo and Georgia has their bulldog. Does Army still have mules and Air Force have the falcon?

What other schools still have live animal mascots?

[yabob]

I wonder if anybody at UCSC would WANT to have a live mascot.

[racinchikki]

Mississippi State has a live bulldog as their mascot. I'm pretty sure his name is Bully.

[jimmmy]

Georgia has UGA the bulldog (currently 6th in the line)
http://georgiadogs.ocsn.com/traditions/uga6.shtml

I am surprised at the OP Navy comment -- maybe it was an away game? because they most certainly do have a live Ram that is trotted out on the feild at sporting events.
Currently his name is Bill the 30th. He is taken care of by middies who are trained and honored to do it
(top of the 3rd pg)
http://www.navysports.com/sports/wvball/mediaguide/part-2.pdf

[BobT]

Isn't that a goat and not a ram? Or are male goats called rams and I'm just ignorant of particular barnyard conventions?

My family never raised goats.

[yabob]

jimmmy should feel sheepish about that statement.

[TV time]

Air Force does indeed still have its falcon.

[dtilque]

Well, apparently Navy has both live goats and the guy in the suit. I didn't see the entire game (which was a home game for Navy), so perhaps I missed the goats.

[kniz]

The number one mascot in the nation for the last two years has been Aubie (http://www.auburn.edu/administration/univrel/news/archive/12_96news/12_96aubie.html) the guy in a tiger suit for the Auburn Tigers.

Auburn also has a live eagle (http://www.auburn.edu/administration/univrel/news/archive/12_96news/12_96aubie.html) mascot at games.

WARDAMN EAGLE !

[Tangent]

Texas A&M, though we are "The Aggies," has a collie that is sort of a mascot.

Baylor University used to have a real bear, but I think they had to get rid of it. They used to let it drink Dr. Pepper.

And the University of Texas has Bevo, a longhorn. I'm told they keep it drugged during football games.

[DAVEW0071]

I seem to remember that Army still has a mule kicking around somewhere heh.

Where's Gorgon Heap? He'd know. I've been to a couple football games at the Point, and I'm sure they had the mule in the end zone.

Unless that was the defensive co-ordinator.....

[Khan]

Yale has kept the tradition of Handsome Dan by having someone involved with the university take care of a bulldog with that name that is endorsed by the university or some such. However, I don't know if the current Handsome Dan is descended from the original or not.

I did, however, get to pet the current Handsome Dan at the Yale-Harvard game last year. It was either that or the tercentennial celebration they had earlier in the year, I forget.

(The story of Handsome Dan, and the origin of the Bulldogs as Yale's mascot is as follows: some time before the turn of the century, a Yalie got a bulldog from a blacksmith who no longer wanted to keep him for whatever reason. The dog had been stained black with soot, but when the guy took him back and gave him a bath, the guy found that the dog had a nice brown and white coat. The guy marveled, "Well you're a regular handsome dan, aren't you?" and began to take the dog with him to football games and such. The dog became a fixture, and thus Yale's mascot was established.)

[OxyMoron]

Originally posted by Tangent
Texas A&M, though we are "The Aggies," has a collie that is sort of a mascot.

Baylor University used to have a real bear, but I think they had to get rid of it. They used to let it drink Dr. Pepper.

And the University of Texas has Bevo, a longhorn. I'm told they keep it drugged during football games. Funny, I was at the Baylor game last weekend (a far better outcome than TT yesterday :() and I saw no live Bevo. Not sure what the explanation is - he's still on the Website.

As for the Aggies...well, now I don't much like to dwell on the subject, because A & M is not so much a university as it is a cult. (How else are they going to get anybody to spend for years in...College Station? BTW, it really is eerie to watch to watch 100,000 fans swaying in unison...)

Anyway, the collie referenced is called Reveille. The current is Reveille VII; Reveille VI retired last year but is still living. What happens to dead Reveilles is truly bizarre.

From www.aggiesports.com, a commercial website of the Bryan/College Station Eagle: When Reveille died on Jan. 18, 1944, she was given a formal military funeral in the center of the gridiron of Kyle Field. She was buried at the entrance to Kyle Field near a memorial in her memory. Four other Texas A&M mascots, Reveille II, Reveille III and Reveille IV and Reveille V were buried beside her.

Due to the expansion of Kyle Field over the past two years, the Reveilles were buried in Cain Park, which is across the street from Kyle Field, at the intersection of Clark Street and Joe Routt Blvd.

With the completion of the Kyle Field expansion this year, they were moved back to a site just outside the north end of Kyle Field. The Reveilles will face Kyle Field and an outside scoreboard in a plaza area, near where they were originally buried.

:eek:

[Troy McClure SF]

Originally posted by yabob
I wonder if anybody at UCSC would WANT to have a live mascot.

I think there is/was plenty in the area. And given how much of the campus is open space, they probably have a bunch.

[yabob]

Originally posted by jjtm


I think there is/was plenty in the area. And given how much of the campus is open space, they probably have a bunch.
Observing that they're indigenous, and wanting to make a pet out of one are two separate issues. It would probably get asaulted by fans from the other schools, anyway. With real salt.

[mobo85]

There was at least one professional sports team that had a live animal as a mascot: the short-lived World Football League's Memphis Southmen. The mascot was a live bear. He once caused a power outage by chewing through the wires.

[Johanna]

I was hoping someone could explain what on earth is the whole POINT of having an animal mascot at at football game. What purpose does it serve? What the heck is a mascot, anyway?

[Mehitabel]

Report from the Northeast:

Fordham University in the Bronx (My mom and three uncles went there) has a ram as its mascot, and all its teams are named the Rams. When I was a kid I was taken to see Ramses the VII, and there's also a tape of him bleating anxiously on the last trip of the Third Avenue El in the Bronx in 1973.

I don't know what ram they're up to now, but there was still one as of 1999. There's plenty of room for him up on the pastoral Rose Hill campus, and it's not like there's not plenty of animals up here already--the Bronx Zoo is half a mile away.

[mobo85]

Another pro team with a live mascot:

The Denver Broncos have a horse that parades around the field, IIRC.

[ScoobyTX]

Originally posted by OxyMoron
Funny, I was at the Baylor game last weekend (a far better outcome than TT yesterday :() and I saw no live Bevo. Not sure what the explanation is - he's still on the Website.
I was at the game, too. Bevo was in between the south end zone and the fieldhouse, with a head full of valium (or whatever they use) as usual.

[HeyHomie]

Originally posted by Jomo Mojo
I was hoping someone could explain what on earth is the whole POINT of having an animal mascot at at football game. What purpose does it serve? What the heck is a mascot, anyway?

A mascot is a person/animal/person-in-an-animal-suit/something else that personifies the team's name. If your team is named the Bulldogs, then a live bulldog, or a guy dressed as a bulldog, is your mascot.

A mascot serves the purpose of being a sort-of emotional touchstone for the fans. When the bulldog is led on his walk in front of the home team cheering section, the crowd goes wild.

[SuperNelson]

Peruna (http://www.smu.edu/recsports/spirit_peruna_history.htm) still attends all the SMU games:
Pictures (http://www.smu.edu/recsports/spirit_peruna_pictures_2000_gal1.htm)

[BobT]

USC (Southern California not South Carolina) still has a guy riding around the field on a white horse called Traveker

The horse is quite popular with USC fans and quite unpopular with everyone else. USC does like to bill Traveler as "College Football's Greatest Mascot", but they are given to hyperbole.

The most annoying live animal mascot is undoubtedly the Notre Dame Leprechaun.

Oh, that's a human being.

Sorry.

[XJETGIRLX]

http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/sport/FSUc.html

Florida State University has two 'live' mascots:
Cheif Osceola and his stallion, Renegade

From the site:
'The highlight of every home game occurs right after the
coin toss, when Chief Osceola and Renegade gallop to
midfield and plant the flaming spear. For the Florida
game only, the Chief will dismount and brandish the
spear at the opponent, (Gators), before planting it. '

[racosun]

I find it hilarious that many schools have replaced live versions of their respective mascots with people in suits. I wonder if any of the Native American mascots are really Native American? Does anyone know?

[Jerrybear]

The University of Michigan had a couple of live wolverines as mascots at one time (1920s or 30s, I think). Unfortunately, wolverines are pretty nasty animals, so they ended up having to stop bringing them to games.

[TexasSpur]

I was one of the caretakers for the UT mascot, Bevo, while I went to school there. It is not drugged.

[neutron star]

LSU still has a live bengal tiger (http://appl003.lsu.edu/unv002.nsf/PressReleases/PR1511) as its mascot. According to the linked article, they are trying to make the tiger's living quarters more like a tiger's natural habitat.

[screech-owl]

University of Central Florida (UCF) has the Knights. Live knight on horseback, hanging around the endzone.

Horses (home games only) were provided by Medieval Times dinner show, but are provided now by Arabian Nights dinner show. I think the rider is provided by the show, not the college.

[mobo85]

Originally posted by racosun
I wonder if any of the Native American mascots are really Native American? Does anyone know?

At one time, the Atlanta Braves had a live Native American mascot, Chief Nocahoma. He was eventually removed to add more seats where his teepee was.

[Moirai]

Ralphie is an awesome mascot, although it takes half a dozen guys to control her on her big run around the field.

She isn't drugged, but they do run her straight into the back of a truck so that she can't get loose and make mischief, because no-one could stop her! Bison weigh a ton and aren't particularly nice.

I don't remember what kind of living arrangement she has at CU.

[auRa]

Originally posted by SuperNelson
Peruna (http://www.smu.edu/recsports/spirit_peruna_history.htm) still attends all the SMU games:
Pictures (http://www.smu.edu/recsports/spirit_peruna_pictures_2000_gal1.htm)

Hee hee hee.... I'm sorry, it's late and I'm tired, but I'm just finding it increasingly hilarious that SMU has a mascot whose name means "Potato" in Finnish. :D

[lionel]

Texas Tech has a student on a black horse that circles the field after every touchdown at home games.






Like all those made against UT. Go Tech! :D

[Chronos]

Colleges? Pro teams? Heck, my old high school had a live animal mascot. The Bengals. And yes, it actually is. Every few years, when it starts getting too big, they give it to the zoo and get a new one.

[racosun]

Originally posted by mobo85
At one time, the Atlanta Braves had a live Native American mascot, Chief Nocahoma. He was eventually removed to add more seats where his teepee was.

I think I heard about the Big Chief. They keep him in the opposing teams clubhouse now, drugged of course. Wouldn't want a wild indian running around, causing mischief.

[El Zagna]

Originally posted by yabob
I wonder if anybody at UCSC would WANT to have a live mascot. OK. I'll bite. Who is UCSC and what is their mascot?

[yabob]

University of California Santa Cruz. The Banana Slugs. Points to the student body back in the 60's for coming up with it, and later generations for managing to keep the school administration from changing it to The Sea Lions. Regularly voted the funniest team nickname in the country.

[Elmer MuD/PhuD]

My school, Loyola College-Maryland has a Greyhound for its mascot. We rescued it from a Greyhound rescue program and it lives with one of the Jesuit/Professors in the Jesuit quarters. He brings "Alexander" with almost every where, including classes.

[dtilque]

Originally posted by yabob
University of California Santa Cruz. The Banana Slugs. ...Regularly voted the funniest team nickname in the country.
Seems to me that Evergreen College (Olympia WA) with their Geoduck mascot would be right up there. Perhaps the college is too small to make the ballot.

For those unfamiliar with the name, a geoduck (pronounced gooey-duck) is a large, phallic-shaped, clam that inhabits the shorelines of Washington state.

[MrLegge]

Since the teams marching band is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their famous kick return defense, I have to ask the question....what's up with Stanford and its mascot......a tree. I know they are the Stanford Cardinal....the color not the bird...but whats up with the tree???

[Sternvogel]

Originally posted by MrLegge
Since the teams marching band is celebrating the 20th anniversary of their famous kick return defense, I have to ask the question....what's up with Stanford and its mascot......a tree. I know they are the Stanford Cardinal....the color not the bird...but whats up with the tree???

Don't know if either fact went into the marching band's decision to create an arboreal mascot, but the campus is adjacent to the city of Palo Alto (Spanish for "Tall Piece of Wood"), and the basketball teams play at Maples Pavilion. Here is some background from, ironically enough, a publication of one of the Pac-10 rivals of "The Farm":

http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/db/issues/97/10.31/sports.tree.html

[Pythagras]

Seems like the recurring themes for those teams still with live mascots is that the animals are domesticated in the first place.

[FisherQueen]

My high school team was the Colts. We had a real live colt at every football game.

I was in the marching band. Before every game, we would make a tunnel in front of the field house, and the colt would lead the football players through the tunnel and onto the football field.

I was the first flute, which means I stood at the very end of the tunnel, and on the side where the whole ensemble would turn to run to their warmup area.

I was always convinced that I was going to die under the hooves of that stupid horse, which would always cut that corner as close as it could.

The horse never hit me, but I invariably got slammed by at least one football player.

I wouldn't dream of making any perception/ IQ comparisons based on that experience. I'm just saying.

[Munch]

<insert Michigan St. cheerleader joke here>

[Neidhart]

Wouldn't an "Aggie" mascot have to be a guy in a plastic bubble representing a huge marble?

[HeyHomie]

Originally posted by FisherQueen
... I invariably got slammed by at least one football player...

Before or after the game? :D

:: rimshot ::

[Spavined Gelding]

Years and years ago the Air Force Academy brought their falcon to a football game at the University of Iowa, then the State University of Iowa. The bird was brought out at halftime for an exhibit of falconry. When released by the cadet handler the bird circled high above the stadium and then flew straight north never to be seen again. For all anyone knows the bird’s decedents are flapping around on the Mississippi River bluffs around Dubuque. This is true, I was there.

Incidentally, one of the delights of college football is seeing the buffalo drag a dozen strapping undergrads up and down the field at Colorado games.

[Lamar Mundane]

EJ'sGirl, Ralphie lives near me and she is extremely well taken care of. And from the looks of things, tht's not going to change anytime soon.

Woman's life savings to benefit CU mascot (http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E991874,00.html?search=filter)

[dtilque]

Originally posted by Pythagras
Seems like the recurring themes for those teams still with live mascots is that the animals are domesticated in the first place. Good point. Are there any other examples of schools that gave up having live animal mascot, especially non-domesticated ones such as WSU's cougar?

[racosun]

Originally posted by Pythagras
Seems like the recurring themes for those teams still with live mascots is that the animals are domesticated in the first place.

Is the Washington Redskins mascot domesticated yet?