We often talk about purebred dogs as mascots here, but did you know that it was Yale University that invented the mascot in 1889, and that its Bulldog, “Handsome Dan,” was the nation’s first live dog mascot?  Legend says that each subsequent “Handsome Dan” was selected on the basis of the dog’s tolerance for bands and children, as well as having a negative reaction to tigers and the color crimson  (symbols of rival schools, Princeton and Harvard).

The original Handsome Dan was purchased in 1889 from a New Haven blacksmith for $5.00. Students nicknamed him the “Yale mascot,” but the Hartford Courant described him as “a cross between an alligator and a horned frog…called handsome [only] through metaphysicians under the law of compensation.”  The Philadelphia Press reported that “a favorite trick of students was to tell [Dan] to ‘Speak to Harvard.’  The dog would bark furiously and work himself into physical contortions of rage never before dreamed of by a dog. Furthermore, Dan was peculiar in that he never associated with anyone but students. Needless to say, it endeared him to the student body.

Dan wasn’t just another pretty face. In his time, he really was a fine example of the breed who won at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Sadly, Dan failed his students as all dogs fail us: He didn’t live long enough. Dan died in 1898, his stuffed body gracing the the old Yale gymnasium for years until it was torn down. At that point, Dan was sent to the Peabody Museum for reconstruction, and today, he remains protected in a sealed glass case a trophy rooms of Yale’s Payne Whitney Gymnasium. He’s described as now being “a perpetual guardian of the treasures which attest to generations of Yale athletic glory.”

Image of the original Handsome Dan found on Pinterest and happily credited upon receipt of information.