Fun Facts About College Mascots
The NCAA Tournament is here—and so are the real stars of March Madness.
Howdy! It’s Joey, back with more Fun Fact Friyay. Before we dive in…
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Every UConn Husky mascot is named Jonathan in honor of Jonathan Trumbull, the Governor of Connecticut during the American Revolution.
The men’s NCAA Tournament tipped off yesterday and the women’s tournament gets going today. One of the many wonderful aspects of March Madness is learning about the backstories of mascots.
The University of Connecticut (or UConn, as it’s regularly called in college hoops) has won back-to-back titles in the men’s tournament, and its women’s team has won 11 NCAA championships, including four in a row from 2013 to 2016.
UConn’s team name is the Huskies, and it has a long line of stunning dogs with gorgeous eyes as mascots. Every single one of them is named Jonathan in honor of Jonathan Trumbull, who served as the Governor of Connecticut during the American Revolution.
Trumbull was the only Colonial governor to join forces with the Americans during the Revolutionary War. He became friends with George Washington, who called him “the first of the patriots.”
Trumbull has quite a few things named after him. In addition to Jonathan the Husky, Trumbull College at Yale University, the town of Trumbull, Connecticut, and Trumbull County, Ohio (originally a part of the Connecticut Western Reserve) all get their names from the man.
The current Husky mascot is Jonathan XV, who arrived on campus in 2023 and took over the throne from Jonathan XIV (pictured above) on March 3, 2024. They are both very good pups.
Jonathan the Husky isn’t the only mascot with extensive lore, however. Here are a few of my other favorites:
Another dog mascot, Reveille of Texas A&M, is the First Lady of Aggieland. If she attends a class and barks during it, the entire class is dismissed.
Emmit S. Burg is a delightful lumberjack for Mount St. Mary’s, a school that plays in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Big Al is an elephant for Alabama, whose team name is the Crimson Tide. As with much of the Crimson Tide’s history, Big Al came to be courtesy of football. In the 1930s, a fan called Alabama’s linemen “elephants” because they were so much bigger than their opponents. The university said, “That’s gold, Jerry. GOLD!” and created Big Al.
The Arkansas Razorbacks have an entire plethora of pig-related mascots. Big Red is most commonly seen, though there’s also Sue E, POЯK CHOP, BOSS HOG, and Ribby.
University of North Carolina’s team name is the Tar Heels, named for workers who made tar by distilling turpentine from pine tree sap and burning pine boughs. In the summer, they’d work barefoot, hence, “tar heels.” So, how did they end up with a ram mascot? They saw every other team had one, remembered their star player from the 1922 season, Jack Merritt, was called the “battering ram” of the team, and thought, “Hey, a ram works!”
The first day of the men’s tournament saw the Houston Cougars and SIU Edwardsville Cougars play each other, followed by the Gonzaga Bulldogs and Georgia Bulldogs playing each other. Both of these games were in the same region, in Wichita, Kansas. As far as I can tell, this is the only time a tournament has had two consecutive games in the same region where the teams had identical names. The games were both very noncompetitive, but still, what a quirky event we’ll be telling future generations to come.
Did you fill out a bracket this year? Is it already in shambles? Do you just want more shots of mascots during the broadcast? My answer to all three questions is a resounding yes!