University of Wisconsin’s mascot made his debut in 1940 at a home football game. Controlling a live badger on the field proved to be difficult, so he was replaced with a live raccoon named “Regdab” (which is badger spelled backwards!). Later, a papier-mâché headpiece was created and a naming contest followed. After tossing around “Benny”, “Bernie”, “Buddy”, and “Bobby”, “Bucky” was chosen to be the mascot’s name. Shop University of Wisconsin+ Bucky Badger gear here!
Huh … did not know about the “Regdab” raccoon part! Clever, but I’m *really* glad it progressed.