Name-a-Day Calendar, December 8: Bucknell Bison
Page 32 of 365
Chosen in: 1923, kinda
Chosen by: Alumnus and math professor Dr. William Bartol
Bucknell University has a long, proud history of intercollegiate athletics stretching all the way back to the 1880s.1 They played their early years with no official mascot, switching between multiple unofficial nicknames including “Wildcats” and “Timberwolves”.
Around 1910, Dr. William Bartol — an 1872 alumnus who had since become head of the math department — started campaigning for Bucknell to clean up their branding and use exactly one name for their sports teams. His suggestion was “Bison” on account of the university’s location in an area of central Pennsylvania where bison may or may not have roamed prior to the arrival of colonial settlers in the 1700s.2
Bucknell dragged their feet on the branding issue for over a decade before finally declaring the bison the official mascot of the university in 1923. Their bison mascots have since made a rich history for themselves.
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They first played intercollegiate football in 1883 and intercollegiate basketball in 1896, the same year UChicago and Iowa faced off in the first 5-on-5 college basketball game ever played.
This claim is heavily debated and beyond the scope of this calendar. The area is still colloquially known as Buffalo Valley.