{"id":20990,"date":"2018-07-27T11:16:09","date_gmt":"2018-07-27T16:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/?p=20990"},"modified":"2020-06-16T13:10:43","modified_gmt":"2020-06-16T18:10:43","slug":"the-baylor-mascots-that-could-have-been","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/2018\/07\/the-baylor-mascots-that-could-have-been\/","title":{"rendered":"The Baylor mascots that could have been"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22516\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/newbear-drawing-june20-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Sketches of Baylor's current bear logo and other logos that might have been\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/newbear-drawing-june20-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/newbear-drawing-june20-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/newbear-drawing-june20-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/newbear-drawing-june20-768x384.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/newbear-drawing-june20-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/newbear-drawing-june20-2048x1024.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the late 1800s\/early 1900s, as college athletics began to develop and Baylor started to compete against other schools, different BU teams and sports often had different names and mascots. By the fall of 1914, Baylor students began to call for a single mascot, and it was proposed that a contest be held to determine what it should be. When it came time to vote, more than 20 animals had been suggested for consideration as the university\u2019s official mascot.<\/p>\n<p>As you know, &#8220;Bears&#8221; was the winner.\u00a0Proposed by San Antonio freshman Doyle Thrailkill (who won a five-dollar gold piece for suggesting the winning mascot), the \u201cBaylor Bears\u201d received 206 of the 406 votes cast.<\/p>\n<p>But what if another mascot had won? We took some of the runners-up to a designer, who mocked up what our logo might look like today if another name had emerged victorious. Here are some of our favorites:<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;The Baylor Buffalo.&#8221;<\/strong> The history of bison covering the plains of Texas, plus the alliteration here, made this a popular choice among students &#8212; but not popular enough, as it ultimately came in second place.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-21009\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Buffalo_A-july18.png\" alt=\"Baylor Buffalo &quot;what if?&quot; mascot rendering\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Buffalo_A-july18.png 1024w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Buffalo_A-july18-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Buffalo_A-july18-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;The Baylor Ferrets.&#8221;<\/strong> The ferret is fun &#8212; but it doesn&#8217;t exactly strike fear in the hearts of opponents.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-21010\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ferrets-july18.png\" alt=\"Baylor Ferrets &quot;what if?&quot; mascot rendering\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ferrets-july18.png 1024w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ferrets-july18-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ferrets-july18-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;The Baylor Eagles.&#8221;<\/strong> Maybe the claw we throw up would remain the same &#8212; but &#8220;Sic &#8217;em, Eagles&#8221; just doesn&#8217;t have quite the same ring to it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-21011\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Eagle-july18.png\" alt=\"Baylor Eagles\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Eagle-july18.png 1024w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Eagle-july18-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Eagle-july18-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;The Baylor Antelopes.&#8221;<\/strong> As majestic as they are, antelopes are symbols of peace and serenity &#8212; perhaps lacking the fierceness one would prefer in a mascot.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-21012\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Antelopes_B-july18.png\" alt=\"Baylor Antelopes &quot;what if?&quot; mascot rendering\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Antelopes_B-july18.png 1024w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Antelopes_B-july18-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Antelopes_B-july18-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;The Baylor Frogs.&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0If buffalo and antelopes aren&#8217;t ferocious enough, what does that say about frogs?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-21013\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Frogs-july18.png\" alt=\"Baylor Fighting Frogs &quot;what if?&quot; mascot rendering\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Frogs-july18.png 1024w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Frogs-july18-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Frogs-july18-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;The Baylor Bookworms.&#8221;<\/strong> I can&#8217;t imagine why this one didn&#8217;t win.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-21014\" src=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Bookworms-july18.png\" alt=\"Baylor Bookworms &quot;what if?&quot; mascot rendering\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Bookworms-july18.png 1024w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Bookworms-july18-300x150.png 300w, https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Bookworms-july18-768x384.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>All in all, it seems our students made a good call.<\/p>\n<p>Sic \u2019em,\u00a0<del>Buffalos<\/del>\u00a0<del><del>Ferrets<\/del><\/del>\u00a0<del>Eagles<\/del> <del>Antelopes<\/del>\u00a0<del>Frogs<\/del>\u00a0<del><del>Bookworms<\/del><\/del>\u00a0Bears!<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>You might also like:<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<em>* <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/2017\/10\/celebrating-100-years-of-on-campus-baylor-bears\/\">Celebrating 100 years of on-campus Baylor bears<\/a> (Oct. 2017)<br \/>\n*\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/2017\/09\/a-quick-look-at-baylors-bear-logos-through-the-years\/\">A quick look at Baylor\u2019s bear logos through the years<\/a> (Sept. 2017)<\/em><br \/>\n<em>* <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/2014\/07\/a-century-of-sic-em-celebrating-100-years-as-baylor-bears\/\">A Century of Sic \u2018Em: Celebrating 100 years as Baylor Bears<\/a> (July 2014)<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>[updated June 2020 with a new header image featuring Baylor&#8217;s current bear logo]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the late 1800s\/early 1900s, as college athletics began to develop and Baylor started to compete against other schools, different BU teams and sports often had different names and mascots. By the fall of 1914, Baylor students began to call for a single mascot, and it was proposed that a contest be held to determine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-just-for-fun"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20990\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/baylorproud\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}