From a Fighting Spirit to a Kentucky Tradition: The History of the Wildcat Mascot

Long before a costumed Wildcat danced across the floor at Rupp Arena, the name “Wildcats” described the fighting spirit of a Kentucky football team.

The nickname dates to Oct. 9, 1909, when Kentucky defeated Illinois 6–2 on the road. After the victory, Commandant Philip W. Corbusier, head of the military department at what was then State University, reportedly told students during a chapel service that the team had “fought like Wildcats.” The description caught on with students, supporters and newspaper writers, eventually becoming the official identity of the university’s athletic teams.

More than a century later, “Wildcats” means far more than a nickname. It represents the toughness, pride and competitive tradition shared by generations of Kentucky athletes and fans.

Kentucky’s First Living Wildcats

The university’s first physical mascot was not a student wearing a costume. It was a live bobcat.

According to the University of Kentucky Archives, assistant football coach Dick Webb purchased a bobcat named Tom in 1921. Tom was celebrated in the press and displayed in a cage during Kentucky football games. The arrangement was short-lived, however. Bobcats are naturally solitary, nocturnal animals that do not adapt well to crowds or captivity, and Tom died within a year.

Tom was succeeded in 1922 by another bobcat named TNT, followed by Whiskers and several other live mascots. Some died in captivity, while others were eventually released into the wild. The practice continued intermittently until shortly before World War II.

Interest in a live mascot returned in 1947 after the Kentucky Kernel published an article asking why the university no longer had one. Alumni helped obtain a 20-pound female bobcat captured in Whitley County. Despite being female, she was named the Kentucky Colonel and served as the university’s mascot for approximately seven years before being transferred to the state wildlife farm.

During the late 1950s and 1960s, Kentucky used a mounted wildcat known as Tucky at athletic events. The school briefly returned to a live animal in 1969 with a bobcat named Baby, but Athletic Director Harry Lancaster ended Baby’s appearances after only two games following a complaint about the animal’s treatment. The decision effectively closed the era of bringing live wildcats into crowded stadiums and arenas. (University of Kentucky Archives)

The Wildcat Comes to Life

Kentucky’s modern mascot tradition began during the 1976–77 academic year. Gary Tanner became the first student to portray the costumed Wildcat, entertaining fans at Commonwealth Stadium and the newly opened Rupp Arena.

Unlike the live bobcats of earlier generations, the new Wildcat could roam the sidelines, interact with children, perform with the cheerleaders and energize a crowd. The character quickly became part of Kentucky game days and eventually expanded beyond athletics to university ceremonies, community appearances and other special events. (UK Athletics)

The timing was especially appropriate for Kentucky basketball. The Wildcats had just moved from Memorial Coliseum into Rupp Arena, giving the program a larger and more theatrical home. The costumed Wildcat became part of that new era while preserving an identity that had already been associated with Kentucky athletics for nearly seven decades.

The Towering Big Blue

The move into Rupp Arena also produced one of the most unusual mascots in Kentucky history.

Big Blue was an enormous, basketball-themed Wildcat who walked the arena floor on drywall stilts while wearing blue-and-white striped pants. The character was developed in 1976 as a way to commemorate Kentucky basketball’s move into Rupp Arena and to create a mascot tall enough to tower over opposing players.

Dental student David Hardison and his cousin, Tom Cooper, were among the first people to perform as Big Blue. Hardison portrayed the character for five years, learning to navigate the arena despite the costume’s limited visibility and the inherent difficulty of walking among fans on stilts.

Big Blue remained a Rupp Arena attraction into the 1980s before quietly disappearing near the end of the decade. Although the exact reason for the character’s retirement is unclear, longtime fans still remember the sight of Kentucky’s giant Wildcat standing above the crowd. (WKYT)

UK Athletics also remembers a stilt-walking Cat associated with Kentucky’s “Twin Towers” era, when 7-foot-1 Sam Bowie and 6-foot-11 Melvin Turpin gave the Wildcats one of the tallest frontcourts in college basketball. It was an especially fitting chapter in mascot history: during the age of Kentucky’s Twin Towers, even the Wildcats’ mascot seemed larger than life.

The Wildcat and Scratch

Today, Kentucky’s mascot tradition is carried by the Wildcat and Scratch.

The Wildcat remains the primary symbol of the university’s athletic identity, combining a fierce appearance with the playful personality expected of a college mascot. Scratch was created as a younger, more child-friendly companion and became closely associated with the Junior Wildcat Club. With his backward cap and mischievous personality, Scratch helped introduce a new generation of children to Kentucky athletics.

Scratch earned national recognition in 2003 and 2004 when he was selected for the Capital One All-America Mascot Team and competed for Mascot of the Year. Both characters have become familiar ambassadors for the university, appearing at football and basketball games as well as academic and community events. (UK Athletics)

Kentucky has also recognized a live bobcat named Blue, housed away from athletic events at the Salato Wildlife Education Center near Frankfort. Unlike the live mascots of the early 20th century, Blue was not brought into stadiums or arenas—an acknowledgment that the natural home of a wildcat is not beneath bright lights and surrounded by thousands of spectators.

More Than a Mascot

Kentucky’s Wildcat has taken many forms: a phrase spoken after a hard-fought football victory, a succession of live bobcats, a mounted animal named Tucky, a towering figure on stilts and the familiar costumed characters seen by today’s fans.

Through every version, the meaning has remained remarkably consistent.

The Wildcat represents determination, independence and a willingness to fight—qualities first recognized in that 1909 football team and carried forward by Kentucky athletes ever since. It belongs not only to the players who wear Kentucky across their chests, but also to the generations of supporters who have filled Memorial Coliseum, Rupp Arena, Stoll Field, Commonwealth Stadium and Kroger Field.

From a single remark in a chapel more than a century ago grew one of college athletics’ most recognizable identities. The costumes have changed and the traditions have evolved, but the Wildcat remains a lasting symbol of Kentucky pride.