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From
the March 7, 2005, edition of “Northwest This Week.”
by Dana Ternus
 Bobby
Bearcat is a common sight on the Northwest campus and around the
city of Maryville. But what is a Bearcat? And how did Bobby become
the school mascot?
Prior to 1916 the Fifth District Normal School had no mascot for
its athletic teams, which were referred to only as the “Normals.”
Then the 1915-1916 basketball season made many people start paying
attention to the school’s growing athletic prowess. That
year a tough, determined Normals squad posted several wins and
a number of close losses.
In January 1916, Coach Walter Henson’s normal school team
played the Drury College Panthers in Springfield. The story goes
that Drury Coach Dan Nee asked Henson if his “fighting bearcats”
were ready for the big game. Henson repeated Nee’s comments
after returning to the Maryville campus, and the student body
quickly and unofficially adopted “Bearcats” as the
team name.
By the end of 1916 the pep squad was using the chant, “Eat
’em up, Bearcats!” at football games.
The moniker persisted after the school changed its name to Northwest
Missouri State Teachers College, but in 1926 two members of the
coaching staff campaigned for a new mascot, arguing for a switch
to the Northwest Wildcats. They were bothered, it seems, by the
fact that the Bearcat is a mythical creature.
Students, however, proved fiercely loyal to their Bearcats, and
countered with “research” that “proved”
the animal’s existence, characterizing it as a beast that
is difficult to hold or capture.
Thanks to this scholarly endeavor, the Bearcat was retained as
the official mascot for men’s athletic teams.
The first drawing of Bobby Bearcat was completed in 1927 for Northwest
by the Dennison Manufacturing Company of Massachusetts. The rendering
was applied to labels used to promote school spirit and soon started
appearing on luggage, cars and school bags. Later versions of
Bobby were created by the Art Department.
Over the years several versions of Bobby have appeared, and in
1925 a live bear cub was brought from Omaha to serve as a living
mascot.
The first drawn version of a Bearcat appears to have walked on
four legs, but by the 1950s, Bobby was standing upright.
For a while in the 1970s, Bobby even had a mate – Roberta
Bearkitten, the symbol of women’s athletics at Northwest.
Now, of course, all University teams use Bobby as their sole mascot,
and he remains a proud symbol of school spirit and Northwest’s
continuing legacy of athletic excellence.
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