four dogs, a hog, a tiger, a rooster and an eagle. No conference in college football features more live mascots than the SEC. by scott t. miller
photographs by jamie chung
TUSK
u n i v e r s i t y o f A R K A NS A S f o u r t h g e n e r at i o n In 1981, David Bazzel was a freshman Arkansas linebacker when a caged rust-color farm pig stared back at him as he walked to the locker room. Big Red, they called him. The pig seemed unkempt, unloved—and was decidedly not a razorback. So a few years after Arkansas football’s 1992 entrance to the SEC, Bazzel, an involved alum, helped reinvigorate the mascot program. “I’m from Florida, and I had seen the value of having live mascots and how much pride they took in those in the SEC,” he says. Tusk IV is a still-tuskless 2-year-old Russian boar. At 250 pounds, he’s powerful enough to outrun a human but also capable of giving a kiss on command. “It’s not the cleanest kiss in the world,” says Keith Stokes, owner of the farm where Tusk lives. Indeed, quite an improvement over that red pig.
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m ik e t h e tig e r l o u i s i a n a s tat e u n i v e r s i t y s i x t h G e n e r at i o n
It was Oct. 6, 2007, and undefeated LSU was hosting Florida in Death Valley. Normally, that’s all you’d need to know about a Saturday in Baton Rouge, but that day was different. It was the Bengal-Siberian mix tiger’s first football game as Mike the Tiger, LSU’s mascot for more than seven decades. An additional 40,000 fans flooded campus as Mike, then 26 months old, made his way toward Tiger Stadium inside his trailer. Now fully grown at 500 pounds, Mike can scarf up to 30 pounds of carnivore food a day and has the most spacious digs on campus with a 13,000-squarefoot enclosure. “He would love it if we would wrestle with him,” says David G. Baker, Mike VI’s vet. “But we just can’t take that chance. He’s so large that he could hurt us just playing.”
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SIR BIG SPUR
u n i v e r s i t y o f SOUTH C A RO L IN A T h i r d g e n e r at i o n It starts every morning around 5 o’clock—this loud, unceasing crow. But Mary Snelling and her husband, Ron Albertelli, are used to Sir Big Spur III’s wake-up call by now. Since helping to start the mascot tradition 16 years ago, Snelling and Albertelli have crisscrossed the South in their RV with Sir Big Spur—all because they love South Carolina athletics. The Old English red-breasted black gamecock almost never misses a trip. Snelling, a retired nurse, says Sir is a low-maintenance traveler—just food, water and fresh bedding. But then there’s the issue of his crow. Sir Big Spur sleeps outside in his storage area—unless it’s too hot. Then he’s inside, and 5 a.m. comes too quickly. “Sometimes,” Snelling says, “it would be a whole lot easier to be a normal fan.”
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WA R E A G L E A U B URN u n i v e r s i t y s e v e n t h g e n e r at i o n
This time of year, the hardest-working golden eagle in the South is at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium just after sunrise. Five days a week, War Eagle VII, also called Nova, flies three or so times in the Tigers’ empty home. “Sometimes on Saturdays, there are 87,000 of our friends cheering for us,” says Marianne Hudson, War Eagle’s handler at the Southeastern Raptor Center. “But for the bird, we hope it’s just another day at the office.” As a predator, all the eagle cares about is food. An array of meats—rats, quails and rabbits—is the lure after his traditional pregame fly. “He is intelligent enough to pick his handler out of a crowd,” Hudson says. “Not because he has any special affection for me but because I have his food.”
U G A’s S T A N D - I N (RUSS)
University of Georgia This isn’t the real Uga. This is Russ—the interim mascot, a role he’s played off and on since 2009. The 17-month-old Uga VIII died in February 2011 of lymphoma, and like every pup to serve before him, he’s buried in a marble vault near Sanford Stadium’s main gates. Founders and guardians of the 56-year tradition, Sonny Seiler and his son Charles have yet to pick the next pure English bulldog to continue Uga’s lineage. But one thing is certain: Russ won’t be the next Uga. He’s 8, which means he’s too old. Plus, traditionally Uga has been all white. So until the Seilers find the right fit, it’ll be Russ chilling in Uga’s on-field, air-conditioned doghouse.
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r e v e ill e
texas a&m University E i g h t h G e n e r at i o n
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They call her the First Lady of Texas A&M and Cadet General, and to the freshmen in the corps of cadets she’s “Miss Reveille, ma’am.” “Her rank is higher than any other student’s in the corps of cadets,” says sophomore Daylon Koster, Reveille VIII’s caretaker, who beat out 18 cadets for the job. She’s never crated, never ungroomed and never left alone. Koster even takes the 6-year-old American collie on dates and to class. It’s tradition that if Reveille barks during class, which happened in April, the professor dismisses the students for the day. Her sway doesn’t stop there. When Texas A&M flew to the SEC welcome party, Reveille had a seat on the university’s private plane. What, you thought royalty flew coach?
SMOKEY
u n i v e r s i t y o f TENNESSEE n i n t h g e n e r at i o n Bluetick coonhounds are bred to hunt. Raccoons, specifically. And when they find one? They alert their owners by howling to the treetops. Smokey IX doesn’t hunt raccoons these days. But that doesn’t keep him from howling after every Tennessee touchdown—just like the eight Smokeys before him. A combination of the applause and a signal from one of his handlers triggers the 8-year-old hound’s innate urge to howl. No raccoons necessary.
bully
M i s s i s s i p p i S tat e u n i v e r s i t y t w e n t i e t h G e n e r at i o n Bully XX was born into his role. In 2006, the son of Bully XIX began mascot training at just 6 weeks old. And before his father died in 2011, he and his trainer, Lisa Pritchard, began attending every MSU event imaginable. Band practices. Basketball scrimmages. Spring football games. The goal was to surround the English bulldog with as much noise and chaos as possible. But there’s no simulator for how a pup will react to a charging linebacker on game day. That’s why Bully has a few bodyguards flanking him at all times on the sideline. “It’s their responsibility to protect the dog and me,” Pritchard says. “But the dog comes first.”
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