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Bulldog Mascots
The Famous and the Infamous !!
UGA
In the last century of intercollegiate athletics,
no mascot in the country has become more well known than the University of Georgia's "Uga", a line owned since 1956 by the
Frank W. (Sonny) Seiler family of Savannah. The original Uga was given to Seiler’s then-girlfriend (and later his wife),
Cecelia, in 1955. The couple took the dog to a UGA football game, where it caught the attention of school officials, who asked
Mr. Seiler if the dog could be the university mascot. (The university had had two previous bulldog mascots—Butch, from
1947 to 1950, and Mike, from 1950 to 1955.) The Seilers agreed, and when the 1956 football season began, so did the reign
of Ugas. The current representative of the dynasty is Uga VI, who began his tenure in 1999.
Uga is undeniably
a member of the mascot elite. He was named best mascot in the country by Sports Illustrated, and also appeared on the magazine’s
cover for an issue devoted to the country’s best "jock" schools. He’s the only live mascot to ever travel to the
Final Four basketball tournament (in Albuquerque in 1983), and also appeared in a movie, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and
Evil."
Chesty The Marines Mascot
Sergeant Chesty XI is the official mascot of Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. The canine leatherneck
is affectionately referred to as "Molly" by her fellow Marines at the "Oldest Post of the Corps." Molly gets her name from
the term Molly Marines, the name given to the first women in the United States Marine Corps.
The brindle and white-colored pedigreed English bulldog enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Aug. 24,
1995 during a ceremony at Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C.
The duties of this devil dog include serving as official mascot of Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C.,
and appearing weekly at the renowned Friday Evening Parades held at the barracks during the summer months.
Handsome Dan
Yale's mascot, a bulldog named Dan, was established in 1889, when Andrew B. Graves (class of 1892)
bought a bulldog from a New Haven blacksmith and donated him to the University. Students dubbed him the "Yale mascot," but
later that year he became known as Handsome Dan and was established as Yale's official mascot.
Handsome Dan
was the first collegiate mascot in United States' history. Since his first appearance at Yale, he has not only been the focus
of collegiate but also national attention since appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1956.
Since
the late 19th century, there have been 15 bulldogs who have borne the title of Handsome Dan. The successors to the original
bulldog have been the pets of deans, directors, coaches and students. Today, Handsome Dan XV, who has represented Yale since
October 1996, makes appearances at many important Yale athletic events, especially football games.
Source:
Yale Daily News
Mack Truck Mascot
For many years the Bulldog has been associated with the Mack Truck also known as "The Bulldog". This
truck is often referred to as "the truck that built America" because of its wide range during the major construction period
in this country between the two World Wars. In 1914 genius Alfred Fellows Masury designed the powerful machine to be known
throughout the world as the Mack Truck. Of course he did not know that the truck and the Bulldog would lead to innumerable
replicas, toy trucks and reproductions of the Bulldog.
All of the early trucks models had sloping front
hoods to allow easy and clear views of the road ahead. Eventually the hood would be trimmed and shaped to allow the Bulldog
figure to stand out on the front of the truck as a radiator cap. In 1917 a British company referred to the trucks as Bull
Dog Macks because of their sturdiness. In the 1920s the name was changed to the single word Bulldog as used by dog fanciers.
The trucks were used everywhere: the US Army Corps of Engineers, firetrucks, fuel trucks, snow plows, rail cars and even to
haul circus equipment and a Wild West show through Oklahoma. Bulldogs began to appear in truck advertising: a white-coloured
Bulldog tearing apart a book titled "Hauling Costs". The message was that the ferocious Bulldog could slash costs of transport
merchandising and just about anything else. In 1920 The Mack Bulldog was edited, a Mack company house organ newspaper.
The first usage of the Bulldog as a symbol was on a sheet metal plate riveted to each side of the
cab. It was first drawn on June 3, 1921 and was released, printed, and specified for the ABE chain drive (CD) and dual reduction
(DR) carrier drive trucks. The plate shows the Bulldog as two words, i.e., a bull dog chewing up a book entitled "Hauling
Costs," "Mack" on his collar, and International Motor Co. of New York. This plate was used much later on M model off-highway
trucks, except that the plate then showed Mack Trucks, Inc., Allentown, PA.
Early in 1932, Alfred Fellows Masury,
Mack's Chief Engineer, was admitted to the hospital for an operation. Masury was one of those individuals who wasn't used
to his hands being idle for any period of time. During his recuperation in the hospital, Masury decided to carve a bulldog.
(Some rumors indicate that he carved the first bulldog from a bar of soap; other rumors indicate the first was carved from
wood.) Whether the first bulldog hood ornament was soap or wood, we do know that shortly after his release from the hospital,
he did in fact carve a bulldog in wood. Masury applied for and received a patent for his design; that Bulldog design has adorned
Mack trucks ever since!
During the following years there were several variations on the Bulldog mascot as the
truck models changed along with the times. The Mack Bulldog has come a long way since 1917. In 2000, Mack proudly celebrated
its Centennial anniversary with a wide range of activities, including the Centennial Trailer Tour, which toured North America
in 2001.
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