Marco the Buffalo
Encyclopedia
Marco the Bison is the official costumed mascot of Marshall University
in Huntington, West Virginia
. He is an American Bison dressed in the home uniform of the school. Marco's name developed from a mix of the university's name at the time, Marshall College. Marshall became University in 1961, but the name for Marco stuck.
Marshall's student body first got a bison in the 1930s, when an animal from the famous Marland 101 Ranch in Oklahoma was procured. The animal went along with the nickname then The Herald-Dispatch's sports editor started using for the team in 1928.
Duke Ridgley was a fan of Zane Grey
's novel, "The Thundering Herd
," and the silent movie that came out not long after the book was released in 1925. Bison had indeed roamed the Ohio Valley near Huntington, WV at one time.
While the student newspaper suggested "Judges" to honor the college's namesake, Chief Justice John Marshall, and the evening newspaper, The Huntington Advertiser, wanted "Boogiecats" or "Boogercats" to replace the name, "Big Green." It was a cat found in Scotland called a Boogie Cat, or mountain lion in the U.S.
Ridgley won out in the end and "Thundering Herd" became one of the most distinctive nicknames in sports, but there would be other challengers through the years.
The Big Green vs. Marco controversy was on-going, however. In 1958, the student body voted on three possibilities: Thundering Herd, Big Green and Green Gobblers. Big Green won, but many still referred to the team as the Herd. In 1964, Dr. Stewart Smith, President of Marshall University, gave student, faculty, alumni and others a chance to vote on three again: Thundering Herd, Big Green and the Rams, with Sam the Ram suggested by a former President of the MU Alumni Association, Leonard Samworth.
On January 5, 1965, over 85 percent of the voters went with Thundering Herd. Big Green was given to the scholarship foundation for athletics and is still used for that purpose. Sam the Ram went away forever, along with Green Gobblers, Boogercats, Indians and Judges.
Marshall's mascot Marco has made a lot of history and had many different looks since he was first put into costume in 1954. He started off as a four-legged, rugged looking bison of paper mache' in the 1930s in a homecoming parade skit, then progressed to Marco in a full football uniform, in furry full costume, adding a vest in the 1980s and then to how we know him now.
Marco has not always been the only mascot used at Marshall. During football seasons in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Marshall used two mascots: Marco, and another real bison, purchased by one of the doctors who died on the Marshall Football plane crash of Nov. 14, 1970, killing all 75 persons aboard including most of the football team and coaches. The two made regular appearances at football game: in fact, the real Marco got loose on the Astroturf in 1971 and delayed a second-half kickoff until he was returned to his cage. The real bison was retired to nearby Camden Park, a nearby amusement park which had a petting zoo in the 1970s and where he stayed when not at Fairfield Stadium for games. Marshall also had "Marsha," a female mascot in the wake of the women's liberation movement of the 1970s who was created in 1973 but only through the end of the 1970s.
There was even a "Buffy," a green-furred bison with the distinctive Marshall "beanie" who was added for a single year by the women's basketball program in 1979-80, along with a walking basketball with big eyes called "Bouncy." They both disappeared soon after the end of that season.
Marco was nationally recognized when he won the National Mascot Championship award in 1992, beating "Big Red" from Western Kentucky among others.
The university's beloved mascot has undergone a Marco makeover in 2008, thanks to a fundraising effort in the fall headed by the Marshall University Alumni Association in conjunction with the MU Athletic Department. His new costume was crafted by Dale Morton Studios in Hurricane, West Virginia
. He was revealed prior to the Marshall homecoming game on November 15, 2008 against the UCF Knights
.
. When the smoke cleared from the tunnel, fans saw a mascot with smaller feet, track pants, muscles and a face bearing an enormous nose, long nails on the fingers (supposed to look like hooves on the rare time the mascot held his fingers together and down towards the ground) and glaring eyes. Since then, feedback on the Internet has been overwhelmingly negative.
Of the 389 people who had responded to The Herald-Dispatch
's unscientific online poll question of whether they liked the new look, 81 percent said no. And more than 2,300 people had joined a Facebook
group called "Bring Back Classic Marco!"
Not all of the responses have been negative. There has been few who have jumped online to defend the new Marco suit.
For now, Marco continues to appear as he does in the photo at the right.
Marshall University
Marshall University is a coeducational public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States founded in 1837, and named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States....
in Huntington, West Virginia
Huntington, West Virginia
Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia, along the Ohio River. Most of the city is in Cabell County, for which it is the county seat. A small portion of the city, mainly the neighborhood of Westmoreland, is in Wayne County. Its population was 49,138 at...
. He is an American Bison dressed in the home uniform of the school. Marco's name developed from a mix of the university's name at the time, Marshall College. Marshall became University in 1961, but the name for Marco stuck.
Origin
Marshall's early sports teams were called Indians or "Normalists," as Marshall was a normal school, a two-year degree that qualified the degree holder to teach secondary school. When the team started wearing green and white in 1903 (a nice change from black and blue in the 1890s for the Indians), the team went by "Big Green" for a number of years.Marshall's student body first got a bison in the 1930s, when an animal from the famous Marland 101 Ranch in Oklahoma was procured. The animal went along with the nickname then The Herald-Dispatch's sports editor started using for the team in 1928.
Duke Ridgley was a fan of Zane Grey
Zane Grey
Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the Old West. Riders of the Purple Sage was his bestselling book. In addition to the success of his printed works, they later had second lives and continuing influence...
's novel, "The Thundering Herd
The Thundering Herd
The Thundering Herd is a 1933 Western film starring Randolph Scott, Buster Crabbe, Noah Beery, Raymond Hatton, and Harry Carey. The movie is a remake of a 1925 version, and both Noah Beery and Raymond Hatton reprised their roles...
," and the silent movie that came out not long after the book was released in 1925. Bison had indeed roamed the Ohio Valley near Huntington, WV at one time.
While the student newspaper suggested "Judges" to honor the college's namesake, Chief Justice John Marshall, and the evening newspaper, The Huntington Advertiser, wanted "Boogiecats" or "Boogercats" to replace the name, "Big Green." It was a cat found in Scotland called a Boogie Cat, or mountain lion in the U.S.
Ridgley won out in the end and "Thundering Herd" became one of the most distinctive nicknames in sports, but there would be other challengers through the years.
The Big Green vs. Marco controversy was on-going, however. In 1958, the student body voted on three possibilities: Thundering Herd, Big Green and Green Gobblers. Big Green won, but many still referred to the team as the Herd. In 1964, Dr. Stewart Smith, President of Marshall University, gave student, faculty, alumni and others a chance to vote on three again: Thundering Herd, Big Green and the Rams, with Sam the Ram suggested by a former President of the MU Alumni Association, Leonard Samworth.
On January 5, 1965, over 85 percent of the voters went with Thundering Herd. Big Green was given to the scholarship foundation for athletics and is still used for that purpose. Sam the Ram went away forever, along with Green Gobblers, Boogercats, Indians and Judges.
Marshall's mascot Marco has made a lot of history and had many different looks since he was first put into costume in 1954. He started off as a four-legged, rugged looking bison of paper mache' in the 1930s in a homecoming parade skit, then progressed to Marco in a full football uniform, in furry full costume, adding a vest in the 1980s and then to how we know him now.
Marco has not always been the only mascot used at Marshall. During football seasons in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Marshall used two mascots: Marco, and another real bison, purchased by one of the doctors who died on the Marshall Football plane crash of Nov. 14, 1970, killing all 75 persons aboard including most of the football team and coaches. The two made regular appearances at football game: in fact, the real Marco got loose on the Astroturf in 1971 and delayed a second-half kickoff until he was returned to his cage. The real bison was retired to nearby Camden Park, a nearby amusement park which had a petting zoo in the 1970s and where he stayed when not at Fairfield Stadium for games. Marshall also had "Marsha," a female mascot in the wake of the women's liberation movement of the 1970s who was created in 1973 but only through the end of the 1970s.
There was even a "Buffy," a green-furred bison with the distinctive Marshall "beanie" who was added for a single year by the women's basketball program in 1979-80, along with a walking basketball with big eyes called "Bouncy." They both disappeared soon after the end of that season.
Marco was nationally recognized when he won the National Mascot Championship award in 1992, beating "Big Red" from Western Kentucky among others.
The university's beloved mascot has undergone a Marco makeover in 2008, thanks to a fundraising effort in the fall headed by the Marshall University Alumni Association in conjunction with the MU Athletic Department. His new costume was crafted by Dale Morton Studios in Hurricane, West Virginia
Hurricane, West Virginia
Hurricane is a city in Putnam County, West Virginia, in the United States. The population was 6,284 at the 2010 census.-History:Hurricane was named after Hurricane Creek, which was, in turn, named after a group of trees at the mouth of the river bent in one direction...
. He was revealed prior to the Marshall homecoming game on November 15, 2008 against the UCF Knights
UCF Knights
The UCF Knights are the athletics teams of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. All of UCF's varsity sports teams are known as the Knights, with the women's teams sometimes referred to as the "Lady Knights." The Knights, which includes the university's 16 varsity sports teams,...
.
Criticism
An effort to change Marshall University's mascot from homecoming loss to the UCF at Joan C. Edwards StadiumJoan C. Edwards Stadium
The Joan C. Edwards Stadium is a football stadium located on the campus of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. It can hold 38,019 spectators and includes twenty deluxe, indoor suites, 300 wheelchair-accessible seating, a state-of-the-art press-box, fourteen concession areas, and...
. When the smoke cleared from the tunnel, fans saw a mascot with smaller feet, track pants, muscles and a face bearing an enormous nose, long nails on the fingers (supposed to look like hooves on the rare time the mascot held his fingers together and down towards the ground) and glaring eyes. Since then, feedback on the Internet has been overwhelmingly negative.
Of the 389 people who had responded to The Herald-Dispatch
The Herald-Dispatch
The Herald-Dispatch is a daily newspaper serving Huntington, West Virginia, and neighboring communities in southern Ohio and eastern Kentucky. It is currently a subsidiary of Champion Publishing, Inc., based in Huntington....
's unscientific online poll question of whether they liked the new look, 81 percent said no. And more than 2,300 people had joined a Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
group called "Bring Back Classic Marco!"
Not all of the responses have been negative. There has been few who have jumped online to defend the new Marco suit.
For now, Marco continues to appear as he does in the photo at the right.
Other institutions with a bison/buffalo mascot
- Bethany CollegeBethany College (West Virginia)Bethany College is a private liberal arts college located in Bethany, West Virginia, United States. Founded in 1840, Bethany is the oldest institution of Higher Education in West Virginia.-Location:...
- Bucknell UniversityBucknell UniversityBucknell University is a private liberal arts university located alongside the West Branch Susquehanna River in the rolling countryside of Central Pennsylvania in the town of Lewisburg, 30 miles southeast of Williamsport and 60 miles north of Harrisburg. The university consists of the College of...
- University of ColoradoUniversity of Colorado at BoulderThe University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
, called "Ralphie" who runs on the field before the team - Gallaudet UniversityGallaudet UniversityGallaudet University is a federally-chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, located in the District of Columbia, U.S...
- Howard UniversityHoward UniversityHoward University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
, the Buffalo Soldiers in the 1990s, after a famous African-American fighting unit - Lipscomb UniversityLipscomb UniversityLipscomb University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The campus is located in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville between Belmont Boulevard to the west and Granny White Pike on the east...
- Harding UniversityHarding UniversityHarding University is located in Searcy, Arkansas, in the United States, about north-east of Little Rock. It is a private liberal arts Christian university associated with the Churches of Christ. The university takes its name from James A...
- Nichols CollegeNichols CollegeNichols College is a private, co-educational, four-year institution of higher learning that is located in Dudley, Massachusetts.Nichols has many diverse majors that mainly focus on business and liberal arts. The school also offers an MBA program for graduate students.Nichols College athletics...
- North Dakota State UniversityNorth Dakota State UniversityNorth Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, more commonly known as North Dakota State University , is a public university in Fargo, North Dakota. NDSU has about 14,000 students and it is the largest university in North Dakota based on full time students and land size...
- Oklahoma Baptist UniversityOklahoma Baptist UniversityOklahoma Baptist University is a co-educational Christian liberal arts university located in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and owned by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. Established in 1910, OBU is ranked No.2 among baccalaureate colleges in the western region in the 2010 U.S...
- Southwestern Law School
- University of ManitobaUniversity of ManitobaThe University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...
in Canada - West Texas A&M UniversityWest Texas A&M UniversityWest Texas A&M University , part of the Texas A&M University System, is a public university located in Canyon, Texas, a small city south of Amarillo. West Texas A&M opened on September 20, 1910...