Willamette Bearcats
Willamette has had two different bearcat mascots over the years. Barney Bearcat was the mascot until 1997, and was replaced by Blitz in 1999.
Both mascots have been portrayed with multiple costumes and different two-dimensional representations. Early on, a common way that Willamette students envisioned a bearcat was as a bear with a long tail. These representations varied considerably, as dictated by imagination and artistic style. Some shared qualities with racoons or beavers, while others resembled large koalas.
In March 1950, an article in the Collegian that identifies the real life animal as a red panda, explains that at the time, "The picture usually is represented by the head of a bear, whereas the printed word is often shortened to 'Cats. Now it is quite incongruous to picture a bear head and call it a cat, but such as been going on for a long time." Such oddities would continue into the present day, with Barney becoming more bear-like over time, only for Blitz to resemble a different animal altogether.