Name-a-Day Calendar, December 7: Bryant Bulldogs
Page 31 of 365
Chosen in: 1994
Chosen by: Protestant Chaplain Philip Devlin via student body vote
The sports teams at Bryant University had been known as the Indians for several decades before the school decided to move away from that branding in the mid-1990s. They evidently sought suggestions from students and other community members before putting it to a student body vote in 1994.
I could find no sources that listed any of the losing suggestions, but the winning name — as we know — was “Bulldogs”, put forth by Protestant Chaplain Philip “Rev. Dev” Devlin. According to school sources, Devlin’s bulldog Lester had already been casually seen as the school’s unofficial mascot for years, so the switch in official branding was seamless.
Bryant’s current mascot is a live bulldog named Tupper II. He has an active Twitter account and it’s exactly as cute as you’d expect.
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