Washington State Cougars
Encyclopedia
The Washington State Cougars are the athletic
teams at Washington State University
; the term applies to any of the school's varsity team
s. Washington State University is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference, which participates in the NCAA
Division I. The athletic program comprises nine women's sports: basketball
, cross country
, golf
, rowing
, soccer, swimming
, tennis
, track and field
, volleyball
; and six men's sports: baseball
, basketball
, cross country
, football
, golf
, track and field
. The school also offers various intramural sports
.
and the school's colors are crimson and gray. Varsity athletics include men's baseball
, basketball
, cross country
, football
, golf
, and track and field
, as well as women's basketball, cross country, golf, rowing
, soccer, swimming
, tennis
, track and field, and volleyball
.
In the past, WSU had varsity programs in boxing
, wrestling
, and gymnastics
. In 1937, Roy Petragallo and Ed McKinnon won the NCAA boxing championship, WSU's first national championship. The men's track and field team won the 1977 NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championship
.
were distinguished by three ten-win seasons, three top ten poll rankings, and appearances in the Sun Bowl
, Rose Bowl
and Holiday Bowl
. The Cougars shared the Pac-10 title in 2002. Paul Wulff
, WSU's 31st head football coach, enters his fourth season as head coach with a 5-32 record. Paul Wulff was fired on Tuesday, November 29, 2011 after completing his fourth season with a 9-40 overall record. He has left the program in a good position for the future.
was head coach, the Cougars were among the Pac-10 Conference's top teams. Before becoming WSU head coach in 2005, Tony Bennett spent three seasons at WSU as an assistant to his father, Dick Bennett
. In both the 2006–2007 and 2007–2008 seasons, his Cougar teams had 26 wins each, tying the Washington State school record set by the 1940–41 team. Ken Bone
was tapped as the Cougars' head coach on April 6, 2009, after the younger Bennett accepted the head coaching position at Virginia
.
Washington State's biggest rival is the University of Washington
(UW) Huskies. One of the most important athletic contests for both schools is the Apple Cup
: the annual game between the Cougars and the University of Washington Huskies and is traditionally held on the third Saturday of November.
As the two main public universities in the state, WSU and UW have a geographic rivalry.
Strong rivalries also exist between WSU and the other Pac-12 teams of the Pacific Northwest: the University of Oregon
Ducks and Oregon State University
Beavers. Competition between the schools in football has been very competitive over the years, as the Cougars hold a 47-44-3 advantage in the series against OSU and trail UO by a tally of 38-42-7.
WSU’s closest geographic rival is the University of Idaho
, another land-grant school only eight miles (13 km) east in Moscow, Idaho
. The Battle of the Palouse
, the annual football game, was revived in 1998 for a 10 year run, and is usually held at Martin Stadium
in Pullman. The game was not played in 2008; WSU has won the last seven games and holds a 70-18-3 (.786) advantage in the series.
(currently recognized as the 1915 champions) and the University of Pittsburgh
. In 1915 Washington State College was awarded the opportunity to play in the Rose Bowl Game
and was set to play Brown University
, which had lost only one game, to Harvard University
(who in turn lost to Cornell 10-0) by a score of 16-7. Washington State beat Brown in the Rose Bowl
14-0. However a 1915 national championship was never awarded until 1935, when a Princeton University
graduate submitted the first national polling of that season. Cornell was given the championship twenty years after the 1915 season.
: Frank Shivley, William "Lone Star" Dietz and Gus Welch.
Following the first football game between WSU and California
in 1919, an Oakland
cartoonist portrayed the Washington State team as fierce Northwest cougars chasing the defeated Golden Bears. A few days later, on October 28, WSU students officially designated "Cougars" as their team mascot.
In 1927 during the Homecoming
football game against the University of Idaho
, Washington State Governor Roland H. Hartley
presented a cougar cub to the WSU students. The cub was originally to be called "Governor Hartley," in honor of its donor. The governor gracefully declined and suggested the name "Butch," in honor of Herbert "Butch" Meeker of Spokane
, who was WSU's gridiron football star at the time.
Governor Clarence D. Martin
presented Butch II to the student body in 1938. Butch III and IV were twin cubs presented by Governor Arthur B. Langlie in January 1942. Governor Langlie also presented Butch V in 1955. Butch VI, the last live mascot on campus, died in the summer of 1978. Governor Albert Rosellini had presented him to WSU in 1964 from Seattle
's Woodland Park Zoo.
Today, the mascot, named Butch T. Cougar
, is a student wearing a cougar costume. The student playing the mascot is anonymous; the student's identity is only revealed after the last sporting event of the school year, usually the last home basketball game of the season.
Win the victory!
Win the day for Crimson and Gray,
Best in the West, we know you'll all do your best,
So on, on, on, on fight till the end,
Honor and glory you must win!
So fight, fight, fight for Washington State,
and victory!
W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N S-T-A-T-E C-O-U-G-S Go Cougs!
The attendance prizes for attending women's games are the best. At the end of the season, those with the best attendance get better prize packages, including clothing and sports equipment. The top 10 members are entered into a drawing to receive two basketball tickets to the Pac-12 Tournament.
Currently, ZZU CRU has a count of 2,750 members for the 2008-2009 season. Members can be anyone from students to alumni, to visitors who just would like a shirt. The ZZU CRU was created by a 2005 Alumni during her time as a intern for Cougar Athletic Marketing. Her vision was to bring the deep Cougar Pride of the student body together to create a homecourt advantage in Beasley Coliseum.
College GameDay program has, , never been broadcast from WSU. An unofficial, but well organized effort to place the WSU flag in view of the GameDay cameras for every broadcast has been acknowledged by the GameDay crew, but the show still has no plans to broadcast from Pullman until Washington State is relevant in College Football.
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
teams at Washington State University
Washington State University
Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...
; the term applies to any of the school's varsity team
Varsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
s. Washington State University is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference, which participates in the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Division I. The athletic program comprises nine women's sports: basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
, soccer, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
; and six men's sports: baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
. The school also offers various intramural sports
Intramural sports
Intramural sports or intramurals are recreational sports organized within a set geographic area. The term derives from the Latin words intra muros meaning "within walls", and was used to indicate sports matches and contests that took place among teams from "within the walls" of an ancient city...
.
Varsity athletics
Washington State University is a member of the Pac-12 athletic conference. The school's mascot is Butch T. CougarButch T. Cougar
Butch T. Cougar is the mascot of Washington State University. As his name indicates, Butch is a cougar.-History:Though the cougar was adopted as Washington State University's mascot in 1919 it was not until 1927 when a cougar cub was presented to the student body of Washington State that Butch T....
and the school's colors are crimson and gray. Varsity athletics include men's baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, and track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, as well as women's basketball, cross country, golf, rowing
Sport rowing
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
, soccer, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, track and field, and volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
.
In the past, WSU had varsity programs in boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, wrestling
Collegiate wrestling
Collegiate wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the collegiate and university level in the United States. Collegiate wrestling emerged from the folk wrestling styles practised in the early history of the United States...
, and gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
. In 1937, Roy Petragallo and Ed McKinnon won the NCAA boxing championship, WSU's first national championship. The men's track and field team won the 1977 NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championship
NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championship
NCAA team champions for Men's Indoor Track and Field-See also:*NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship*NCAA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship*NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship*Pre-NCAA Indoor Track and Field Champions...
.
Football
During the 2001-2003 seasons, the Cougar football teamsWashington State Cougars football
The Washington State Cougars football team is the intercollegiate football team of Washington State University. The team is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference...
were distinguished by three ten-win seasons, three top ten poll rankings, and appearances in the Sun Bowl
2001 Sun Bowl
The 2001 Wells Fargo Sun Bowl edition to the Sun Bowl featured the Washington State Cougars, and the Purdue Boilermakers.Washington State's Jason David scored the game's first touchdown on a 45 yard interception return for a 7-0 WSU lead. Washington State quarterback Jason Gesser later threw a 46...
, Rose Bowl
2003 Rose Bowl
The 2003 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2003. It was the 89th Rose Bowl game. It was a match-up between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Washington State Cougars. The game was won by Oklahoma 34-14. Nate Hybl who played quarterback for the Sooners, was named the Rose...
and Holiday Bowl
2003 Holiday Bowl
The 2003 Holiday Bowl was a college football bowl game played December 30, 2003 in San Diego, California. It was part of the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. It featured the Washington State Cougars against the Texas Longhorns. Washington State pulled off a major upset by winning 28-20.The...
. The Cougars shared the Pac-10 title in 2002. Paul Wulff
Paul Wulff
-External links:*...
, WSU's 31st head football coach, enters his fourth season as head coach with a 5-32 record. Paul Wulff was fired on Tuesday, November 29, 2011 after completing his fourth season with a 9-40 overall record. He has left the program in a good position for the future.
Men's Basketball
In 1917, the Cougars won their only basketball National Championship. In the late-1970s when George RavelingGeorge Raveling
George Raveling is a former college men's basketball coach and FOX Sports Net color commentator. He was the head coach at Washington State University , the University of Iowa , and the University of Southern California . The Washington, D.C. native attended St...
was head coach, the Cougars were among the Pac-10 Conference's top teams. Before becoming WSU head coach in 2005, Tony Bennett spent three seasons at WSU as an assistant to his father, Dick Bennett
Dick Bennett
Dick Bennett is an American college basketball coach who is best known for revitalizing the Wisconsin Badgers basketball program...
. In both the 2006–2007 and 2007–2008 seasons, his Cougar teams had 26 wins each, tying the Washington State school record set by the 1940–41 team. Ken Bone
Ken Bone
-Coaching career:Bone graduated from Seattle Pacific University in 1983. He was an assistant coach at Shorecrest HS in Shoreline, WA and Cal State Stanislaus before returning to Seattle Pacific as an assistant coach in 1986, becoming the head coach in 1990...
was tapped as the Cougars' head coach on April 6, 2009, after the younger Bennett accepted the head coaching position at Virginia
Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball
The Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball program represents the University of Virginia in the Atlantic Coast Conference in the NCAA's Division I. The team is coached by Tony Bennett.-Statistics:-Retired numbers:-Retired jerseys:...
.
Baseball
Baseball was also popular during the Buck Bailey and Bobo Brayton eras. In 2006, the Cougars were ranked as high as 28th in the nation after winning the series against Stanford the weekend of March 26, 2006.Rivalries
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
(UW) Huskies. One of the most important athletic contests for both schools is the Apple Cup
Apple Cup
The Apple Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of an American college football rivalry game played annually by the teams of the two largest universities in the U.S. state of Washington: the University of Washington Huskies and the Washington State University Cougars...
: the annual game between the Cougars and the University of Washington Huskies and is traditionally held on the third Saturday of November.
As the two main public universities in the state, WSU and UW have a geographic rivalry.
Strong rivalries also exist between WSU and the other Pac-12 teams of the Pacific Northwest: the University of Oregon
University of Oregon
-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...
Ducks and Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...
Beavers. Competition between the schools in football has been very competitive over the years, as the Cougars hold a 47-44-3 advantage in the series against OSU and trail UO by a tally of 38-42-7.
WSU’s closest geographic rival is the University of Idaho
University of Idaho
The University of Idaho is the State of Idaho's flagship and oldest public university, located in the rural city of Moscow in Latah County in the northern portion of the state...
, another land-grant school only eight miles (13 km) east in Moscow, Idaho
Moscow, Idaho
Moscow is a city in northern Idaho, situated along the Washington/Idaho border. It is the most populous city and county seat of Latah County and the home of the University of Idaho, the land grant institution and primary research university for the state...
. The Battle of the Palouse
Battle of the Palouse
The Battle of the Palouse is an American college football rivalry between the Washington State University Cougars and the University of Idaho Vandals. The name of the rivalry is derived from the "Palouse", the rolling agricultural region in which both schools are located...
, the annual football game, was revived in 1998 for a 10 year run, and is usually held at Martin Stadium
Martin Stadium
Martin Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in Pullman, Washington, United States, on the campus of Washington State University. It is the home field of the Washington State Cougars of the Pacific-12 Conference, and is the smallest football stadium in the conference...
in Pullman. The game was not played in 2008; WSU has won the last seven games and holds a 70-18-3 (.786) advantage in the series.
1915 football national championship
The Washington State Warriors won the 1916 Rose Bowl, finishing 10-0 and outscored its opponents 204-10, was in fact one of three teams that went undefeated that year, the other two being Cornell UniversityCornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
(currently recognized as the 1915 champions) and the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
. In 1915 Washington State College was awarded the opportunity to play in the Rose Bowl Game
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...
and was set to play Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, which had lost only one game, to Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(who in turn lost to Cornell 10-0) by a score of 16-7. Washington State beat Brown in the Rose Bowl
1916 Rose Bowl
Originally titled the "Tournament of Roses football game," the second of what is now known as the Rose Bowl Game was played on January 1, 1916...
14-0. However a 1915 national championship was never awarded until 1935, when a Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
graduate submitted the first national polling of that season. Cornell was given the championship twenty years after the 1915 season.
Athletic Directors
Individuals who have served as athletic director for the Cougars, according to WSU Sports Information, include:- Bill Moos, 2010–Present
- Jim Sterk, 2000–2010
- Rick DicksonRick DicksonRick Dickson is the current athletic director of Tulane University. Since taking over in 2000, Tulane teams have won nine Conference USA Championships. They have advanced to NCAA postseason play 15 times...
, 1994–2000 - Jim Livengood, 1987-1994
- Dick Young, 1984–87
- Sam JankovichSam JankovichSam Jankovich, a Butte, Montana native is sports administrator that has held several positions including athletic director at the Washington State and the University of Miami...
, 1976–84 - Ray Nagel, 1970–76
- Stan Bates, 1954–1970
- Golden Romney, 1951–1954, both AD and Dean of Physical Education
- Robert Brumblay, 1949–50
- Lloyd Bury, 1946–1949, AD/Graduate Manager
- Earl Foster, 1925–1946, AD/Graduate Manager
- J. Fred (Doc) Bohler, Director of Department of Physical Education and Athletics, 1915-1948
Cougar mascot
The mascot became the Indians during the decade spanning 1910-1919. Three football coaches came from the famous Carlisle Indian College in PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
: Frank Shivley, William "Lone Star" Dietz and Gus Welch.
Following the first football game between WSU and California
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 1919, an Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
cartoonist portrayed the Washington State team as fierce Northwest cougars chasing the defeated Golden Bears. A few days later, on October 28, WSU students officially designated "Cougars" as their team mascot.
In 1927 during the Homecoming
Homecoming
Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni of a school. It most commonly refers to a tradition in many universities, colleges and high schools in North America...
football game against the University of Idaho
University of Idaho
The University of Idaho is the State of Idaho's flagship and oldest public university, located in the rural city of Moscow in Latah County in the northern portion of the state...
, Washington State Governor Roland H. Hartley
Roland H. Hartley
Roland Hill Hartley served two terms as the tenth Governor of the state of Washington from 1925 to 1933 as a Republican.-Early life:...
presented a cougar cub to the WSU students. The cub was originally to be called "Governor Hartley," in honor of its donor. The governor gracefully declined and suggested the name "Butch," in honor of Herbert "Butch" Meeker of Spokane
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
, who was WSU's gridiron football star at the time.
Governor Clarence D. Martin
Clarence D. Martin
Clarence Daniel Martin was the 11th Governor of the state of Washington. A Democrat, he served two terms from 1933 to 1941....
presented Butch II to the student body in 1938. Butch III and IV were twin cubs presented by Governor Arthur B. Langlie in January 1942. Governor Langlie also presented Butch V in 1955. Butch VI, the last live mascot on campus, died in the summer of 1978. Governor Albert Rosellini had presented him to WSU in 1964 from Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
's Woodland Park Zoo.
Today, the mascot, named Butch T. Cougar
Butch T. Cougar
Butch T. Cougar is the mascot of Washington State University. As his name indicates, Butch is a cougar.-History:Though the cougar was adopted as Washington State University's mascot in 1919 it was not until 1927 when a cougar cub was presented to the student body of Washington State that Butch T....
, is a student wearing a cougar costume. The student playing the mascot is anonymous; the student's identity is only revealed after the last sporting event of the school year, usually the last home basketball game of the season.
Fight song
Fight, fight, fight for Washington State,Win the victory!
Win the day for Crimson and Gray,
Best in the West, we know you'll all do your best,
So on, on, on, on fight till the end,
Honor and glory you must win!
So fight, fight, fight for Washington State,
and victory!
W-A-S-H-I-N-G-T-O-N S-T-A-T-E C-O-U-G-S Go Cougs!
ZZU CRU
The ZZU CRU is the official student fan club for WSU Basketball. The $20 membership fee gives students an official club t-shirt, discount card that is good for 15% discounts at various local businesses, exclusive access to prime seating at games, contests, and exclusive member opportunities for player autographs. The lower section of the arena, where the ZZU CRU sits, is called The Cage. ZZU CRU members' events throughout the year include a Pre-Season Party, ZZU CRU @ the COUG, and a Post-Season Party. Members earn prizes based on the number of basketball games they attend.The attendance prizes for attending women's games are the best. At the end of the season, those with the best attendance get better prize packages, including clothing and sports equipment. The top 10 members are entered into a drawing to receive two basketball tickets to the Pac-12 Tournament.
Currently, ZZU CRU has a count of 2,750 members for the 2008-2009 season. Members can be anyone from students to alumni, to visitors who just would like a shirt. The ZZU CRU was created by a 2005 Alumni during her time as a intern for Cougar Athletic Marketing. Her vision was to bring the deep Cougar Pride of the student body together to create a homecourt advantage in Beasley Coliseum.
Victory Bell
In the late 19th century the bell was mounted on the ground in the center of campus to start and dismiss class. Later, it was placed on top of Old College Hall when automatic bells were used, and then on Bryan Hall. The bell was first rung in victory after WSU beat the Washington Huskies by the women's basketball team in 1902. Later, the members of the Intercollegiate Knights rang the bell following a football win. It was subsequently moved to the present College Hall, and now rests on the west side of the Alumni Centre where it is rung by the Student Alumni Connection after each football win.Presence on ESPN College GameDay
The popular ESPNESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
College GameDay program has, , never been broadcast from WSU. An unofficial, but well organized effort to place the WSU flag in view of the GameDay cameras for every broadcast has been acknowledged by the GameDay crew, but the show still has no plans to broadcast from Pullman until Washington State is relevant in College Football.