Birth of the Bearcat
The Bearcat was officially named the Willamette University mascot in November 1915. The football players at the time "were known for their tenacious, battling spirit" so President Carl Doney referred to them as "bearcats."
"A cornered cat will fight savagely and the bear is a symbol of strength; put the two together and you have a ferocious animal, a 'Bearcat,'" he explained.
Although this describes the nature of a bearcat, it does little to describe the appearance. Just what would a bearcat look like?
Bear or Bearcat?
Before there was a dedicated, costumed bearcat mascot, yell leaders had some unique ideas for how to get a mascot. In October 1947, a 100 pound bear cub, Boscoe, was obtained from the Portland Zoo by Scotty Washburn ’50. He was transported to the university in the trunk of a car. He had two 8-foot leads that were supposed to be kept taut so that Boscoe could not rush either handler, but photographs show that this rule was not always followed, with Washburn and others posing with the bear.
He went missing after the game, and according to the Collegian, “repercussions could be imagined by the entire student body as the university’s responsibility concerning said bear dawned upon its collective members, provided Boscoe wasn’t found.” Washburn and his cohort, Carl Kraus ’50, received a phone call that said that “the Phi Delts had kidnapped the bear” and that it was tearing up the furniture in their fraternity house. Luckily, no one seems to have been hurt and the only damage was to the furnishings.
“We returned Boscoe safe and sound to the zoo that afternoon, just like they had asked,” Washburn says in the Spring 2012 issue of The Scene. “But Kraus and I said to each other, ‘Whew - we’re never doing that again.’” However, a Collegian article in November 1947 mentions that Boscoe would be appearing at an upcoming game, so it may not have been a one-time thing after all.
Boscoe was also not the first time Willamette mentions a bear as its mascot. In 1915, before the Bearcat was officially adopted, the alumni mascot was "Maggie" the black bear, as mentioned in an article in the Collegian. Luckily, however, there is no evidence that Maggie was a real-life bear.