What is a "Bearcat"?
When the word "bearcat" first appeared in print around 1889, it was a synonym for the giant panda. Xiong-mao, the Chinese word for panda, simply translates as "bear-cat." However, this hardly seems to have been the definition in mind when it was made Willamette's mascot.
The Willamette newspaper, The Collegian, lists a few definitions of bearcat over the years, such as "a powerful or enegetic person" and "a person or thing that fights or acts with force or fierceness." Neither definition specifies an animal.
Howere, there are two real-life animals that can be considered bearcats: the red panda, and the binturong.
In 1950, Wally Southard '50, writing for The Collegian, found that according to the Oxford Dictionary, "a 'red bearcat or panda' is a 'small raccoon-like carnivore of the southeastern Himalayas, with long reddish-brown fur, darker below, and ring tailed.'" Red pandas are also called lesser pandas, red bear-cats, and red cat-bears. They are slightly larger than cats, and are in fact specialized bamboo feeders. This is the animal that Blitz most closely resembles.
The binturong, on the other hand, is neither a bear nor a cat. Part of the family Viverridae, it is related to civets and genets. It is native to south and southeast Asia, and is larger than the red panda. Despite its lack of similarity to Blitz, this is the animal many refer to when discussing real-life bearcats.