Wilbur and Wilma

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Wilbur and Wilma
University	University of Arizona
Conference	Pac-12
Description	Anthropomorphic wildcats
First seen	1959

Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat are the official mascots at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.

In 1915, the school's first mascot, "Rufus Arizona" was brought to campus. He was a live desert bobcat, named for U of A president Rufus von KleinSmid. For the next fifty years, the school used live mascots, a practice which was discontinued in the 1960s. However, in 1959, Wilbur, the costumed version of the live bobcat mascots, began appearing at football games. He was extremely popular, and has stayed ever since. In 1986, Wilma Wildcat was created, and was even married to Wilbur.

Originally, in honor of Arizona's Old West heritage, Wilbur wore a blue flat-topped cowboy hat, a blue vest, a cardinal bandana scarf around his neck and a holster with two pistols. Recently, Wilbur and Wilma have taken to wearing the teams' athletics jerseys instead of their traditional outfits, both as a sign of team spirit and to avoid references to gun violence. However, the hat remains on Wilbur, and Wilma wears a cardinal-colored bow.

The identities of the students portraying Wilbur and Wilma are kept confidential until the final home basketball game of the season.

External links

UA Traditions from Arizona.edu

The University of Arizona

Academics

Undergraduate	Agriculture and Life Sciences Architecture and Landscape Architecture Education Engineering Fine Arts Humanities Nursing Optical Sciences Science Social and Behavioral Sciences Natural Resources Physicial and Mathematical Sciences School of Natural Resources School of Public Administration and Policy

Graduate and professional	Graduate College Eller College of Management Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Medicine Pharmacy James E. Rogers College of Law Mel and Enid Zuckerman Arizona College of Public Health

Athletics and
traditions

Wildcats
Bear Down
Fight! Wildcats! Fight!
The Pride of Arizona
State Farm Territorial Cup Series
Territorial Cup
The Duel in the Desert
Football
Arizona Stadium
Men's basketball
McKale Center
Baseball
Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium
Hi Corbett Field
Softball
Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium
Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat
"A" Mountain
ZonaZoo

Campus

Student life

Arizona Daily Wildcat
Student Recreation Center
University Boulevard (Tucson)
Centennial Hall
Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park
KAMP

v t e Arizona Wildcats men's basketball

Venues	Bear Down Gym (1926–1973) McKale Center (1973–present)

Rivalries	Arizona State

Culture & lore	History Bear Down Wilbur and Wilma "Fight! Wildcats! Fight!"

People	Head coaches Notable players

Seasons	1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14

NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

v t e Arizona Wildcats football

Venues	Arizona Stadium (1928—present)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Arizona State (Territorial Cup) New Mexico: (Kit Carson Rifle, 1938–1990)

Culture & lore	Bear Down Wilbur and Wilma The Pride of Arizona "A" Mountain "Fight! Wildcats! Fight!"

People	Head coaches All-Americans

Seasons	1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Mascots of the Pacific-12 Conference

Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat (Arizona)
Sparky the Sun Devil (Arizona State)
Oski (California)
Ralphie the Buffalo / Chip (Colorado)
The Oregon Duck (Oregon)
Benny Beaver (Oregon State)
Stanford Tree (Stanford) (*unofficial)
Joe and Josephine Bruin (UCLA)
Traveler (Southern California)
Swoop (Utah)
Dubs I and Harry the Husky (Washington)
Butch T. Cougar (Washington State)

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