Rufus the Bobcat

Rufus the Bobcat
Rufus the Bobcat ignites a home football crowd!
University	Ohio University
Conference	MAC
Description	Bobcat
Origin of name	Winning entry in 2006 competition
First seen	1925

Rufus the Bobcat is the mascot for the Ohio Bobcats. Ohio University revealed the new mascot during a ceremony before the Bobcats' victory over Tennessee-Martin on Saturday, September 2, 2006. The ceremony began with a video of the mascot interacting with the football team and Head Coach Frank Solich culminating with Rufus roaring into Peden Stadium on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

In early 2006, Ohio University alumnus Michael A Massa, a communications graduate, penned a letter to the athletics department suggesting that the university provide a proper name and identity to the generic bobcat mascot, for branding purposes. The university then held a campus-wide competition to select a formal name. There were more than 500 submissions nominated for the name of the new Bobcat in May. Fans then participated in a naming contest on www.ohiobobcats.com from June through August, the chosen name of the Bobcats' new mascot was Rufus. The winner of the naming contest, Alicia Lagana of Hilliard Ohio, was recognized at the Ohio University home game versus Bowling Green on September 30, 2006.

Rufus was the popular choice for many fans because Lynx rufus is the species name for the bobcat. Other fans made the connection with Rufus Putnam, who presided over the meeting to form the Ohio Company of Associates that resulted in the founding of Ohio University. Rufus Putnam was also on the first board of trustees at the University from 1804 to 1824, and was given the honor with the naming of Putnam Hall in 1926.

In October 2014, coinciding with a major space conference being held on campus, Rufus the Bobcat was the first college mascot name to venture into deep interstellar space, after his name was submitted by Michael Massa to be included among the names of other individuals on a registry to be transported onboard the Mars-bound Orion NASA Spacecraft.

In 1925, the members of the Ohio Athletic Board thought of an official nickname for Ohio University to replace "Ohio," the "Green and White" and "The Nameless Wonders." The board members decided to begin a contest soliciting name suggestions for the Athletic teams of Ohio University and offered a $10 prize for the suggestion that best showed the fighting spirit of Ohio. Hundreds of ideas poured in, but it was "Bobcat," suggested by Hal H. Rowland, a former student and Athens resident, that suggested the winning name. The bobcat’s regal stature in Appalachia made its selection a highlight of Ohio University’s strategic partnership with the region.