April 22, 2024

TRX | S5E04 | MASCOTS

According to Wikipedia, a mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity. I’m your host, Leah…I’m Phil…and I’m Steve. Today we’ll be talking about all kinds of mascots from the lovable, the hated to the downright weird. This is Season Five, Episode 4: MASCOTS

Like I said in the teaser, Wikipedia defines a mascot as any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, society, military unit, or brand name.

Still drawing from Wikipedia, the word 'mascot' originates from the French term 'mascotte' which means lucky charm and was used to describe anything that brought luck to a household. The first recorded instance of the word in French was in 1867 and then popularized by an 1880 French opera. The word entered the English language in 1881 with the term coming to mean a specific living entity associated with a human organization as a symbol or live logo.

But before all that the term was familiar to the people of France as a slang word used by gamblers. It is a derivative of the word 'masco' meaning sorceress or witch. Before the 19th century, the word 'mascot' was associated with inanimate objects thought to bring good luck such as a lock of hair or a figurehead on a sailing ship. From then to the twentieth century, the term mascot came to be more widely used for anything seen as a good luck charm and from there came to its current meaning and usage that includes human caricatures and fictional creatures created as logos for sports teams or corporate brands.

And just like advertising in general, mascots are all around us! Many of them have come to be ingrained in our pop culture here in America and I’m sure it’s the same around the world. And so we’ll be talking about some of the most popular mascots, the most annoying mascots and even some controversial ones.

Minor League Baseball

For more than a century baseball was the most popular sport in The United States. In the past forty years or so it has been passed up by football, but nevertheless baseball is still very popular here. And not only in the U.S. and Canada, but throughout Latin America as well as Japan and South Korea.

In the U.S. and Canada there are thirty major league teams. Here in the greater Cut N Shoot area, we have been spoiled as of late as the nearby Houston Astros are having a good decade. There’s something about having a team in the playoffs that really unites a city! So, here’s a trivia question for you. What was the original name of the Astros? When they began play in 1962, they were the Houston Colt 45s as in the pistol that won the old west. But in 1965 they changed their name to the Astros as a nod to Houston’s prominent role in the Space Race of that era. The Astros original uniform featured shooting stars. They played in the world’s first domed stadium, The Astrodome. Ushers at the Astrodome wore space suits. Though they no longer play in the Astrodome, they have kept the Astros name. Oh yeah, they also have a stuffed mascot named Orbit. (Side discussion about the Astrodome. Astro-turf, specs and trivia)

Well, maybe you aren’t fortunate enough to live near a major league team. Perhaps you have a minor league baseball team near you. According to milb.com there are currently 124 minor league teams that are affiliated with a major league team. But rather than take on the name of their major league affiliate, the minor league teams are free to choose their own names and mascots, and this is where the fun begins! Now most of these teams have fairly normal names like the Durham Bulls which became well known due to the movie Bull Durham. But others have strange names and even stranger mascots. I will now detail my favorite seven and then list some others as Honorable Mention.

Let’s start with the Amarillo Sod Poodles. You heard that right! What is a Sod Poodle you ask? Well, it’s a nickname for a prairie dog. What’s a prairie dog? They are basically ground squirrels, and they are native to the grasslands of the Texas Panhandle. The Amarillo Sod Poodles have a large, costumed mascot named Ruckus the Black Tailed Prairie Dog. According to their website, Ruckus is a tough character who loves burrowing around the stadium, making children laugh, and throwing dirt on opposing players. In an odd note it says his ancestors were companions of Lewis and Clark.

Next, we have the Cedar Rapids Kernels. No not the military type of colonels, we’re talking corn kernels! This makes sense as Cedar Rapids is located in Iowa which is one of our great corn producing states. And yes, the Kernels do have a life-sized mascot, a man dressed up as an oversized ear of corn with a giant baseball head; Mr. Schuck. “Being a mascot is all about being a real life cartoon character!” said Mr. Shuck to a local reporter. He enjoys making kids smile and throwing popcorn at the umpires.

Out in the West Texas town of El Paso we find the El Paso Chihuahuas. And, yes, the Chihuahuas have their own living mascot, Chico Chihuahua. Chico’s favorite hobbies are running around in circles, yipping loudly, wagging his tail, and nipping at the ankles of opposing players (OK, I just made that last part up). Chico is quite a dog about town as he is seen frequently at schools, social events and even birthday parties (for a price) all over El Paso.

Over in the state of Florida we have the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. Their mascot is a pink Muppet looking creature called Scampi. According to his page on their website, Scampi’s favorite food is plankton, and his favorite movie is Forrest Gump. When asked what he likes most about being a mascot for the Jumbo Shrimp he replied, “When foul balls hit the net and not me.”

Also in the Southeast is the state of Alabama. The capital of Alabama is Montgomery, home of the Montgomery Biscuits. The Biscuits are part of the Tampa Bay Rays organization. Their logo includes a smiling biscuit with Muppet style eyes and two white gloved hands. Now you might think that their mascot would also be a giant biscuit, but you would be wrong. Big Mo is a tall brownish orange biscuit eating aardvark. His antics at Biscuit’s games were impressive enough to earn Sports Illustrated’s Mascot of the Year award in 2017.

Further up the east coast in the state of Delaware we will find the Wilmington Blue Rocks. The name is derived from the blue granite formations which are found along the nearby Brandywine River. Again, you might be expecting to find their mascot to be a giant blue boulder, but you would be incorrect. Rocky Bluewinkle is a gigantic blue moose. Someone in their marketing department spent too much time watching Saturday morning cartoons.

Perhaps the most famous minor league team, at least to fans of the MASH TV show, would be the Toledo Mud Hens. Mud Hen is the common name of a marsh bird with short wings and long legs. They are not ducks but make their homes near the water and feed on aquatic plants and animals. As Toledo is located where the Maumee River flows into Lake Erie it is a natural habitat for these birds. Muddy the Mud Hen is a shaggy yellow chicken looking creature. He has recently learned Irish Clog Dancing which he enjoys performing on top of the visitor’s dugout.

Some other minor league teams with interesting names earn honorable mention on our list include the Albuquerque Isotopes, Daytona Tortugas, Fort Meyers Mighty Muscles, Greensboro Grasshoppers, Hartford Yard Goats, Hickory (NC) Crawdads, Hillsboro (Oregon) Hops, Lansing Lugnuts, Modesto Nuts, Omaha Storm Chasers, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Rocket City (Alabama) Trash Pandas, Sugar Land (Texas) Space Cowboys, and the Wichita Wind Surge. I wouldn’t want to share a locker room with the Wind Surge.

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High School Mascots

Let's talk about high school, now those were some fun days! For many people, a big part of the fun of high school came from participating in extracurricular activities. Whether it was in athletics, marching band, drill team or even chess club, these endeavors all come together under the common banner of the school name and the mascot. (Discuss – what were our high school mascot names?)

From usafootball.com we find an interesting article titled “Who Has The Most Unique High School Mascot in Each State?” Well, no, we aren’t going to cover all 50 of them, but there were a few that caught our attention that we would like to present to you now.

Let’s start way up in the northeast corner of the US in the beautiful state of Maine, specifically in the town of Brewster, Maine. A page on the website of local radio station Q106.5 details that in the early days of high school competition, the teams were simply known by their colors. Thus, you might have the Scarlet and Golds playing against the Green and Whites. In the late 1920s Brewster’s Black and Orange clad football was having a rough go. For more than two years they failed to win a single game. That all changed in 1931 when the team started winning. Local newspapers began reporting that they had “broken the curse, won with magic, and were no longer jinxed” Soon the connection was made between these references and their Black and Orange uniforms, and also, Halloween which occurred during football season. Nobody knows exactly when it started to take hold, but by the end of the decade the Brewster High School team became known as the Brewster Witches. It even fits nicely with the name of the town – as in Witches Brew(ster)

Now let’s head to the upper Midwest and find the town of Mount Clemens, Michigan which is located north of Detroit on beautiful Lake Saint Clair. In the late 1800s and early 1900s Mount Clemens was noted for the abundance of therapeutic mineral baths in the area. The first bathhouse was built in 1873, and by the 1900s the baths had become an important tourist attraction. Noted visitors included film actors Clark Gable and Mae West, athletes Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey, news magnate William Randolph Hearst, and the Vanderbilt family. To honor the popularity of the baths, a minor league baseball team in Mt. Clemens called themselves the Bathers. Then in 1924 the local high school borrowed that moniker but made one significant improvement. They wanted to be known as a tough team so they inserted the word “Battlin” before the name. This year, 2024 is the 100th anniversary of the inaugural Mt. Clemens Battlin Bathers. Congratulations!

Just next door to Michigan is Wisconsin, and just to the south of the Wisconsin city of Green Bay we find the town called Kaukauna. It sounds like it belongs in Hawaii rather than the upper Midwest. Nevertheless, Kaukauna High School has an interesting story behind their mascot. Back in the 1920s (it seems like that’s when a lot of these mascots got their start) the high school team was prepping for their big game against the Appleton Terrors. The game was played on Halloween and Kaukauna was dressed in white jerseys and white pants. Though Appleton’s players were bigger, Kaukauna’s were faster. According to one sportswriter for a local paper, the Kaukauna boys looked like Galloping Ghosts as they ran past the Terrors. This writer may have taken some inspiration from the famous professional player Red Grange who was nicknamed the Galloping Ghost. The teams have been called the Galloping Ghosts ever since. In 1940 the tradition was enhanced when a student cloaked himself and his horse in bed sheets and thundered onto the football field to present the opening game ball to the referees. According to the school’s website this tradition continues today.

From Wisconsin let’s travel to that famous Show Me state, Missouri where we find the town of Hickman located near Poplar Bluff. Now if you ask people around most any high school who the most powerful person in the building is, you will often hear the answer, “The School Secretary.” Those amazing women (usually women) can simultaneously answer the phone, make PA announcements, check a forehead for fever, write a hall pass, break up a fight, and give visitors a warm welcome without breaking a sweat or a fingernail. Students, teachers, and administrators all know that you want to stay on the good side of the School Secretary. Evidently the students at Hickman High School knew this back in 1914. You see, Kewpie Dolls were a popular fad at the time and the secretary at Hickman kept a special one on her desk. One day, for reasons unknown, the secretary decided to place her Kewpie Doll in the middle of the basketball court during a game. The doll sat there undisturbed as players from both teams dribbled and ran past, remaining unbroken throughout the game. As Hickman emerged victorious in that game, the Kewpie Doll was seen as a good luck charm. By the end of the season, the team adopted the Kewpie as their name and mascot. The Hickman Kewpies are thought to be the only team in the world with that name. That info came from the Hickman High School Wikipedia page.

And now to that Almost Heaven state of West Virginia to the region of the Pocatalico River. According to local legend, the river and a nearby community received their name from a Native American named Pocatalico who had lived in the area. Over time the community shortened its name to Poca. When the school was formed in Poca in 1922 the team chose to honor the town’s namesake by depicting their mascot as a Native American on a white horse. However, that changed in 1928 when the school fielded its first football team. Sporting their new bright red uniforms, the team stormed out onto the field. This sight prompted one local reporter to exclaim, “They look like a bunch of red polka dots running around on the field.” They have been known as the Poca Dots ever since. Their mascot is an angry looking red dot.

Though we won’t go into as much detail, a few of the other odd high school mascots on the usafootball’s list mentioned above do deserve honorable mention. These include the Jordan H.S. Beetdiggers (Utah), the Bishop H.S. Battling Bishops (South Carolina), the Tillamook H.S. Cheesemakers (Oregon), the Fredericktown H.S. Freddies (Ohio), the Stuyvesant H.S. Peglegs (NY), the Omaha Benson H.S. Bunnies, the Chinook H.S. Sugarbeeters,(Montana), the Frankfort H.S. Hot Dogs (Indiana), The Karo H.S. Syrupmakers (Georgia), and the Fordyce H.S. Redbugs in Fordyce, Arkansas.

Controversial Mascots

Unless you have been living under a rock somewhere for the past couple of decades you are probably aware that some team names and mascots have become controversial. Just since 2020 the Washington Redskins football team has become the Washington Commanders. Baseball’s Cleveland Indians are now the Cleveland Guardians. These names have been changed due to calls from some Native American groups who claim that the names were demeaning and offensive. However other teams with similar names have not changed. We still have the Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago Blackhawks. In the college ranks we find the Florida State Seminoles. However, this name continues as a result of an agreement between Florida State University and the Seminole Tribe.

Some other mascots are controversial for different reasons. The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, are called the Rebels. For many years they touted a mascot named Colonel Reb who was attired in a Confederate military uniform. Today African American students make up about 1/8 of the student enrollment, and several years ago many of these students took offense at Colonel Reb. Today the Rebel name is still used, but Colonel Reb has quietly disappeared.

While I was researching for this episode, I ran across a very interesting article written by a gentleman named Sam Greenspan. The article is titled Eleven Mind Blowing and Often Offensive High School Mascots. Mr. Greenspan has an entire series of “Eleven List” articles in which he provides commentary about a wide range of pop culture interests. Everything from Eleven Observations about the First Ever Simpsons Episode to Eleven Songs Ruined By Artists Revealing Their True Meaning. He even has one titled Eleven Astonishing Facts About the Number Eleven. You can find his website at 11points.com. We are grateful to Mr. Greenspan for allowing us to quote directly from his article about mascots.

We will get to his list in a little bit, but I especially thought his introduction was enlightening. He wrote:

“When I was growing up and a teacher wanted to make a point about offensive mascots, she’d always say, “How would you feel if a team was called the Fightin’ Jews and the mascot had a hook nose and a bagel?” We were supposed to be deeply offended, but I wasn’t. I wished that someone would think the Jews were tough and frightening enough to name their team after us. And not their legal defense team, their football team.”

His quote reminded me about a conversation I had several years ago with a young man in the Seattle area who was from the Muckleshoot tribe. I asked him what he thought about these mascots. He replied, “No one in the tribe really paid attention to them until a couple of the kids came home from college and told us that we should be offended.“

Well anyway, back to Mr. Greenspan’s list of mind-blowing and possibly offensive mascots. We won’t go through all of them, but touch on some of the more interesting ones. The first one is from the Arkansas School for the Deaf. Quoting Mr. Greenspan:

“This is, quite possibly, the best mascot selection IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. They are the Deaf Leopards. Def Leppard (the British rock group) met with the Deaf Leopards of the Arkansas School for the Deaf during their North American tour, and it was a match made in heaven.”

On a side note, did you know that the football huddle was invented at Gallaudet University for the Deaf in Washington DC.?

From North Dakota, The Wahpeton Wops. In case you’re unaware, Wop was once a commonly used derogatory slang for an Italian. Again, quoting from Mr. Greenspan, “They held out until the 1990s before they backed off the Wops and changed to the Huskies. It’s like neither of the Italians in North Dakota noticed before then, or something.”

Up in Idaho we find the Orofino Maniacs. This may not sound so bad until you learn that Orofino is home to the Idaho’s state mental hospital. Mr. Greenspan notes, “Apparently, the high school and the mental hospital are right next to each other. Who knows, maybe the Maniacs even have a friendly rivalry with the hospital’s own sports teams. Must make for some fascinating conversation at the fence dividing the two.”

Then from the state of Illinois we have the Pekin Chinks. The name was changed in 1980 to the Pekin Dragons. “Why a school in central Illinois is so determined to hang onto its (nonexistent) Chinese heritage is anyone’s guess. Perhaps the school board thought it would add an air of exoticism to their small town. Or maybe they just really liked the look of dragons on their sports uniforms.”

Also in Illinois are the Freeburg High School Midgets. “They aren’t just sticking with the now-antiquated term “midget”… their logo shows they decided to go for the ticked-off, angry midget stereotype.”

Down here in Texas we find the Frisco Fighting Coons. “In 2002, the school board decided that “Coons” was just too offensive, so they changed it to the “Racoons.” I’m pretty sure they didn’t realize that move was a tacit admission that, yes, they *were* being racist all of those years.”

And one more from the Lone Star State, the Robstown Cotton Pickers. “Interesting fact: Texas leads the U.S. in cotton production. Another interesting fact: “Cotton pickers” does not evoke images of the modern, booming cotton industry. It’s why this country doesn’t call its subways “underground railroads.””

The topic of controversial mascots will continue to surface in our national conversation as we take time to examine whether or not to continue honoring and valuing terminology and symbology that previous generations have passed down to us.

Once again, we want to thank Mr. Sam Greenspan for his fine article and for sharing it with us. Again his articles can be found at 11points.com.

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Corporate Mascots

Sports teams aren’t the only ones that have mascots. How about corporations and some of their corporate mascots. An article from a website called graphicmama.com details info about some of the most popular corporate mascots of the past century. Having a cartoon character as a brand mascot has bolstered the success of numerous corporations and brought ridiculously huge fame to the mascots themselves.

Perhaps the most identifiable corporate mascot seen today is the Geico Gecko. This little lizard with a British accent first appeared in 2000 and has maintained a prominent presence throughout the past two decades. One particular commercial involving the little green insurance expert which became a fan favorite involved the Gecko continuously flubbing his lines and then getting the giggles. (We can identify)

One of the oldest corporate mascots noted in this article goes all the way back to 1894. It was developed by two brothers in Paris. Any guess who I’m referring to? Developed for the Lyon Exposition by the Michelin Brothers, the Michelin Man boasted the new rubber tires that were all the rage for use on buggies. That’s right, the rubber tire predates the automobile!

We touched briefly on corporate mascots during the ODJ of our S3E10 (Geographic Oddities) so we won’t go into much more detail here other than to mention some of the most popular and successful corporate mascots. These would include Mr. Peanut from Planters, The Jolly Green Giant for B & G Foods, Poppin Fresh The Pilsbury Dough Boy, and my personal favorite, Mr. Clean!

OK, so what about when a corporate mascot is a crushing failure? It does happen, and you are aware of them. It is somehow inconceivable to us that a group of well dressed people sitting in an expensively outfitted corporate boardroom could look at the creepy plastic King from Burger King and go, “Yeah, we like him, it will be great!” But evidently that’s what happened. And this was not an isolated incident.

Jackson Blue, an afternoon DJ for Country 92.5 in Waltham, Massachusetts, felt compelled to pen an article on the station’s web page titled The 15 Worst Brand Mascots Ever. Mr. Jackson even ranks them in descending order. We will look at some of the items he listed and see if you agree with him.

The Charmin Bears: We get it, you’re furry, it’s hard to wipe. But we don’t want to see it.

Dos Equis Most Interesting Man In The World: A creepy old guy hanging out with women half his age.

Travelocity’s Roaming Gnome: Basically a garden gnome who gives travel advice without moving his lips or anything else.

Arby’s Oven Mitt: Are we supposed to wear oven mitts when we eat roast beef?

Mr Six Flags: Remember this weird little bald man with the red bow tie who always had the strange dance moves?

Chuck E Cheese: Yeah, let’s have a giant rat represent our restaurant.

Jared from Subway: That didn’t end well.

The Spongemonkeys from Quiznos: Who thought it was a good idea to have demonic looking creatures dancing all over the sandwiches.

Flo from Progressive: Perhaps too much of a good thing

Mr. Mucus from Mucinex: Just a big ball of snot.

Now of course the purpose of a corporate mascot is to increase the visibility of the brand and boost sales; especially to boost sales. However sometimes only half of this goal is met.

In 1997 Taco Bell introduced a new corporate mascot which turned out to be very popular. It wasn’t a cartoon character but rather an actual tiny chihuahua. The dog was featured in print and television ads along with the slogan Yo Quiero Taco Bell!. Today we would say that the slogan went viral as it appeared on T shirts and coffee mugs throughout the nation. However, by 2000 Taco Bell sales had not increased and the ad campaign was dropped. It was rumored that the dog had died, but that was not true. It just goes to show that even a great mascot may not be enough to bring in the customers.

Strange College Mascots

Ah college! So many fond memories, very few of which involved actually studying. In 1980 I graduated from Sam Houston State University named for the great Hero of Texas Independence, General Sam Houston himself. Now you might assume that our sports teams would be called the Generals or the Volunteers or even the Texians as Texans were known in his time. But no, we are the Bearkats, and that’s Kats with a K. What’s a bearkat? Nobody really knows. But someone created a big orange costumed character that sorta looks like a cross between a bear and a cat. His name is Sammy Bearkat.

Elsewhere in the Lone Star State we have the University of Texas Longhorns who have a live long-horned steer named Beevo as their mascot. About a dozen Beevo wranglers keep the steer in check along the sidelines during football season. Then of course there are the Fightin Texas A&M Aggies so named for the school’s agricultural beginnings. Their mascot is a collie dog named Revalee. You would be hard pressed to find a college that honors their mascot more than the Aggies do. Next to the stadium is a pet cemetery holding the remains of all the previous Revalees. A special scoreboard is mounted so that the dead dogs can keep up with the score of the game. (No, I am not joking about that!)

As mascots go these aren’t too far out of the ordinary. But there are some colleges and universities around the country that have some extraordinarily weird mascots. A website called collegeraptor.com recently posted an article touting several of the weirdest mascots in the country.

Let’s begin out west in the Bay Area at the University of California Santa Cruz. When this university began in the wild and crazy 1960s the counterculture centered student body selected the lowly banana slug as their unofficial mascot. According to the school’s website ucsc.edu the school began fielding sports teams in 1980. The administration decided that Sea Lion would be a more appropriate name and even had one painted on the basketball court. But the student body wouldn’t have it. They continued to loudly cheer for the Banana Slugs. The issue was put to a vote and according to their website ucsc.edu, “an overwhelming pro-Slug vote by students in 1986 convinced the chancellor to make the humble but adored Banana Slug UCSC’s official mascot.” A large yellow costumed character named Sammy Slug cavorts along the baseline during games.

Now way down south in Cleveland, Mississippi we find Delta State University. This institution began in 1924 as a teacher’s college. Blandly their sports teams are simply called the Statesmen. The women’s teams are the Lady Statesmen. But their mascot is not so bland. It is a gigantic angry looking green okra! “Fear The Okra,” Delta students shout in efforts to intimidate opposing players. This is one vegetable you don’t want to mess with!

Believe it or not, The Okra isn’t the only vegetable mascot on our list. Let’s head to the Southwest. Scottsdale, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, is the home to Scottsdale Community College. Back in the 1960s it was learned that school officials were improperly using scholarship funds intended for Native American students to bribe athletes to attend their school. When news of this scandal was reported in 1970, the angry student body voted to change the mascot to something so completely ridiculous and laughable that it would shame the school for years to come. Thus, Artie the Artichoke was born. Artie is an absolutely non-frightening looking smiling green blob roughly in the shape of an artichoke. The school’s teams continue to be called the Artichokes.

Now way up in New England we find quaint Williamstown, Massachusetts home of Williams College. In 1907 a campus publication containing humorous articles and poems written by students was titled The Purple Cow. It referenced an 1895 poem by Gelett Burges which goes as follows:

I never saw a purple cow.

I never hope to see one.

But I can tell you anyhow

I’d rather see than be one.

The name Purple Cow was so popular that when the Williams began organizing athletic teams the name was a natural fit. In 2011, Readers Digest declared the Purple Cow as the Most Lovable College Mascot.

Back to the Midwest in the Gateway City is Saint Louis University, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic universities. SLU has an unusual mascot, the Billiken! What is a Billiken? Well according to their website slu.edu a Billiken was an international good luck symbol in the 1800s. Cultural lore in Japan, Argentina and the U.S. all tout the positive benefits of buying a Billiken or even better having a Billiken gifted to you. No one actually knew what a Billiken looked like until a lady from St. Louis drew a picture of one and posted it in the newspaper. SLU’s association with the Billiken began two years later when someone commented to the campus paper that football coach John Bender sort of looked like a Billiken. The team soon became known as Bender’s Billikens.

Did you know that there is a college mascot that is based on a real person? That person was named Frank Eaton. He lived from 1860 to 1958 and here is his story. One night on the Kansas prairie in 1868 when Frank was just eight years old, he witnessed his father being shot and killed by an outlaw gang. Frank was then raised by his neighbor who taught him how to shoot a pistol and challenged him to avenge his father’s death. By the time he was twenty-five Frank had become a U.S. Marshall. He was so skilled with his gun that he earned the nickname Pistol Pete. And, yes, he made good on his neighbor’s challenge by gunning down the gang that had murdered his father. Later, Frank settled down near Stillwater, Oklahoma, started a family, and became a blacksmith. Due to his crusty appearance, fiddle playing, and colorful stories of the Old West, Frank became quite popular with the students of Oklahoma A&M College. He was so popular that in 1923 the students adopted the legend of Pistol Pete as their mascot. Today Oklahoma State University’s teams are called the Cowboys, and a specially selected student is chosen to wear the costume of Pistol Pete which was designed to resemble Frank Eaton. This info came from okstate.edu

And finally, up to the Pacific Northwest we come to Olympia, Washington, the home of Evergreen State College. Evergreen also represents somewhat of a counter-culture community of students. Rather than going with a vicious traditional mascot like the Washington Huskies or the Washington State Cougars, the Evergreen students have selected the geoduck (gooey duck) as their mascot. What is a geoduck? According to their website, evergreen.edu “The geoduck is the world’s largest burrowing clam. The Puget Sound geoduck weighs in at over two pounds on average. It’s so large, it can’t fit into its own shell!” Wow! Talk about thinking outside the box! “Geoducks live longer than humans. The longest ever recorded was 168 years old.” Evergreen doesn’t field any athletic teams which is too bad. I’d love to see the clam wranglers attempting to keep the geoduck from rampaging along the sidelines.

Speaking of the state of Washington, the Washington State University Cougars have the cleverest logo of any that I have ever seen. They have stylized the letters WSU to look like a cougar’s head. I can’t do it justice by describing it, you just need to google it and see for yourself.

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Uncle Sam

In this episode, we have covered minor league baseball mascots, high school and college mascots, and corporate mascots. So what could be left? What about our national mascot? No, not Taylor Swift, I’m referring to Uncle Sam.

According to history.com and nationalgeographic.org, the origins of Uncle Sam go back to the War of 1812. The image of Uncle Sam was based on a combination of two earlier American characters: Yankee Doodle and Brother Jonathan. Yankee Doodle was a derogatory term used by the British as a slander of Americans during the Revolutionary War. Brother Jonathan was a legendary Paul Bunyon type character that often appeared in early American newspapers.

The name Uncle Sam is most likely a reference to New York merchant Sam Wilson who was known by his friends as Uncle Sam. Wilson supplied beef and other supplies to American soldiers during the War of 1812. The supplies were transported in barrels that were stamped with the letters US for United States. But the soldiers began referring to them as “shipments from Uncle Sam.” By the end of the war the phrase Uncle Sam became synonymous with the United States government.

Soon after the war illustrations depicting Uncle Sam with a tall hat, long white hair, and a tail coat began appearing in publications around the country. In the 1870s political cartoonist Thomas Nast popularized the image of Uncle Sam by giving him a stars-and-striped suit and hat. Nast’s image is roughly the same as we know today. Interestingly, Nast also created our popular image of Santa Clause as well as associating the Donkey with the Democratic Party and the Elephant with the Republican.

In the early 1900s an artist named James Montgomery Flagg created the most familiar image of Uncle Sam that we know today. In Flaggs painting, Uncle Sam is looking and pointing straight at the viewer. During WW I, the U.S. Army used this depiction on recruiting posters along with the slogan, “I want You for the U.S. Army.” The poster was very popular and was used again during WW II. Today Uncle Sam is widely recognized throughout the world as representing America, Americans, and The United States Government.

Phil here reminding you to check out our Facebook and Instagram pages @RemnantStewPodcast. Drop us an email at StayCurious@RemnantStew.com just to say hi or to let us know about any topics you would like to hear us cover in an upcoming episode.

Remnant Stew is part of Rook & Raven Ventures and is created by me, Leah Lamp. Steve Meeker researches and writes each episode that we then host together. Our audio producer is Phillip Sinquefield. The Oddity Du Jour is brought to you by Sam Lamp. Theme music is by Kevin MacLeod with voiceover by Morgan Hughes. Special thanks goes out to Judy Meeker. For a complete list of sources for this episode please see this episode’s transcript, there’s a link in the show notes.

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--SOURCES ----------------------

https://www.milb.com/about/teams

https://blogs.usafootball.com/blog/4671/who-has-the-most-unique-high-school-mascot-in-each-state

https://q1065.fm/becoming-witches-how-brewer-got-their-mascot/

https://wfgr.com/the-10-most-unique-michigan-high-school-mascots/#:~:text=Hamtramck%20Public%20Schools-,5.,in%20the%20early%2020th%20century.

https://www.kaukauna.k12.wi.us/district/gallopingghost.cfm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hickman_High_School#:~:text=of%20the%20tunnels.-,Mascot,then%20as%20Columbia%20High%20School

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poca_High_School#:~:text=%22The%20Dot%22%20mascot%20was%20first,and%20is%20still%20currently%20used.West

https://11points.com/11-mind-blowing-often-offensive-high-school-mascots/

https://graphicmama.com/blog/21-famous-brand-mascot-designs-time/

https://country1025.com/listicle/15-worst-brand-mascots-ever-ranked/