Big Red (mascot)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Big Red is the costumed male mascot of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The mascot is modeled after the wild razorback hog.
In the early twentieth century, wild razorback hogs were a common sight in rural Arkansas. After the team's fifth straight victory, over LSU in Memphis, to open the 1909 football season, coach Hugo Bezdek told a group of fans at the train station upon their return that the team played “like a wild band of razorback hogs.” [1] The name stuck, and "Razorbacks" replaced "Cardinals" (still the school color) as the school's nickname. Since the 1960s, live mascots have been kept, the current one being "Tusk I," a Russian boar which resembles the old razorback hogs.
There are currently four costumed mascots serving the University. "Big Red" is the original mascot, also nicknamed "the Fighting Razorback." A female mascot, "Sue E.," serves at all women's events, and is known for her dancing skills and costume changes. There is a child-sized mascot named "Pork Chop," popular with younger fans. And, as of 1999, "Boss Hog" (named for the character from "The Dukes of Hazard") has served as a nine-foot tall inflatable mascot.
